Recently in Robbery Category

Here's Part 1 of the latest Recent Law Enforcement Events report from Redondo Beach police. 

08-18-08 (Monday)

• On Monday, August 18, 2008 at approximately 4:34 p.m., three black males entered the T-Mobile store in the Galleria and stole five "Sidekick" cell phones. The suspects fled into the CompUSA lot, entered a vehicle and left the premises.  The description of the males is very close to another similar crime that coccured on August 17, 2008.

• On Monday, August 18, 2008 at approximately 10:31 p.m., the victim was riding his bike on the Redondo Beach bike path.  As he attempted to pass a group of five male black adults who were blocking the bike path, one of these suspects punched the victim in the head.  The victim fell off his bike and all five suspects began kicking the victim while on the ground.  When the victim finally got up and the suspects left, the victim realized he was now missing his keys.  The victim declined medical treatment after complaining of pain.

08-19-08 (Tuesday)

• On Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at approximately 2:11 a.m., Officers received a call of several taggers spray painting the building located at 2722 Artesia, near the railroad tracks.  As officers were arriving on scene, the suspects / taggers ran on foot in several directions.  Two of the responding officers pursued the suspects on foot but lost one suspect in the area of Grant/Firmona. The suspect disappeared in an unknown direction since he had about a 100 yard head start.  The officers' attention was then focused on capturing other suspects who were possibly hiding in a parked car at 2810 Artesia.  Two suspects were located within a parked van and detained. Officers located numerous items of evidence inside the van, including a camera that contained video and still footage of the suspects doing tonight's graffiti. 

• On Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at approximately 3:26 p.m., a patrol officer was flagged down by a victim who related she was robbed of her cell phone.  The victim was at the beach with some friends, observed a fellow (Parris School) student and had some words. A short time later, a female in a black SUV pulled up, told her not to talk "SH*T" about her sister and grabbed her cell phone out of her hand. The SUV fled and the suspects were not immediately located. 

• On Tuesday, August 19, 2008 between the hours of 10:00-10:20 p.m., three strong arm street robberies occurred on the upper and lower bike paths, between Topaz and Sapphire.  All three appear to have been committed by the same three suspects.  

A homegrown terrorist who plotted to attack military and Jewish sites in Southern California was sentenced Monday to 22 years in state prison for robbing a Torrance gas station.

Levar Haney Washington, 30, is now facing 44 years behind bars. He was sentenced in December to 22 years in federal prison for conspiring to wage war against the United States and a weapons charge.

Torrance Judge Mark Arnold imposed the 22 years in state prison today for the gas station robbery, which was one of about a dozen committed three years ago to obtain money to fund the terrorism.

Story coming.

A suspected robber who shot at a police officer was captured this morning in Inglewood.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, is suspected of holding up the El Pollo Loco restaurant at Manchester and Aviation boulevards about 11 p.m. Thursday.

A Los Angeles International Airport police officer who was nearby was flagged down and began chasing the man.

During the chase, the robber fired his gun at the officer. He missed.

Inglewood, Airport and Los Angeles police officers searched for the man and found him near Arbor Vitae Street and Aviation, police said.

We just got word that the two alleged Backpack 

Bomber Bandits were arrested and are each being charged today with four counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and five counts of commercial burglary. They are identified as Darryl Smock, 41, left, and Curtis Boyd, 47. Boyd, right, who has a previous robbery conviction, is also facing one count of being an ex-convict with a gun.

Their MO was to tell bank clerks around Los Angeles that they have bombs, then use their backpacks to take off with the cash.

The pair are supposed to appear for arraignment in Torrance Superior Court today.

Previously entries are here.

If you know these guys, call the Harbor Division at 310-522-2029. They robbed Unite Cars on Gaffey Street back on July 27. Story coming later to the Web site and print edition.

Here's some more stuff from Redondo Beach, as written by Capt. Jeff Hink:

• On August 7, 2008 at about 12:00 p.m. a female withdrew $850.00 from the Washington Mutual Bank in the 1600 block of South Pacific Coast Highway. The female exited the bank, drove about 50 yards to another business and went inside. Within ten minutes, an unknown suspect broke the back window of her vehicle and removed her purse which was hidden in the back compartment.

Further inspection of her vehicle revealed that her right rear tire was slashed with a knife. The suspect possibly slashed her tire at the bank in the hope that she would drive from the bank and then have to pull over her disabled car, at which time he would rob her. An employee of the bank reported seeing a suspicious individual inside the bank at the same time the victim was conducting her transaction. The suspicious person was described as a male Hispanic adult, 25 years old, 5-07, medium build.

• On August 7, 2008 at 8:05 p.m. an officer conducted surveillance in the 2700 block of Artesia Blvd. A stucco wall dividing the condominium complex and the railroad tracks at this location was vandalized the night before by unknown suspects. A citizen had confronted the subjects the night before, and they ran south on the railroad tracks.

Here's stuff from the Redondo Beach Recent Law Enforcement Events report as prepared by Capt. Jeff Hink:

• On August 2, 2008, Redondo Beach Police Officer's were dispatched to a traffic collision at the intersection of Harriman Lane and Rindge Lane . During the course of the investigation it was discovered that one of the drivers involved in the collision possessed stolen items in his vehicle that were taken during previous vehicle burglaries in Redondo Beach. The suspect was arrested for possession of stolen property and gave consent to search his residence. The subsequent search led to the discovery of additional items that are believed to be stolen.

• On August 6, 2008 a plainclothes Manhattan Beach Police Department detective was in the 2500 block of Artesia Boulevard when he observed a group of male individuals on the sidewalk. He saw one of the males assault one of the other males and grab his iPod from him. The detective broke up the fight, detained the "aggressor" and determined that the suspect had committed a strong-arm robbery when he took the iPod. Ultimately, the juvenile suspect was arrested for robbery and taken to RBPD for booking.

Torrance police say the guy in the mask is Carlos Cisneros, 23, of Los Angeles. They busted him Wednesday as a suspect in a robbery at Washington Mutual Bank at 2750 Pacific Coast Highway. We'll have a story on the Website later tonight and all day Thursday.

These are the photos from the Wal-Mart robbery in Harbor Gateway. Three guys held up the store on Sunday. If you know them, call the police at 213-485-2511.

Redondo Beach's Recent Law Enforcement Events report for the week:

Monday 07/21
08:37 hrs - An area of the Public Works Department was evacuated briefly when a voice mail "bomb threat" message left over the weekend was received. RBPD and RBFD conducted dual inspections of the facility premises, the search came up negative for any bomb. The phone call is under investigation.

Tuesday 07/22
15:24 hrs - 2 juveniles were walking in the 2600 blk of Harriman when 2 males approached them. The males ordered them to give up their "stuff" and said they had a gun. The juveniles gave over their iPod and Zen MP3 players and the suspects fled. Based on a detailed description of the suspects by the juveniles, an alert RBPD officer soon located them, under the RR tracks on Grant. Both suspects, who also turned out to be juveniles, 17 years of age, were arrested and booked for robbery.

19:15 hrs - Officers responded to the report of a burglary in the 800 block of North Juanita which had occured sometime in the afternoon. No sign of forced entry could be located. The victim claimed to have lost $50,000 cash and $31,000 in jewelry.

Thursday 07/24
Subsequent to several incidents of illegal dumping of landscape debris at various locations in the city, RBPD Patrol initiated a surveillance of a possible suspect. They subsequently arrested Tom Healy, resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, for illegal dumping. Healy confessed to the earlier incidents and was charged with RBMC violations, as well as violation of probation and driving while unlicensed.

19:23 hrs - Officers were dispatched to a report of a suspicious person in a vehicle with the alarm sounding in the 600 blk of south Broadway. While en-route to the location, officers were advised that the license plate returned "stolen vehicle." Arriving officers detained the male driver and subsequently arrested him for vehicle theft. While still on-scene, officers were contacted by a nearby resident and advised that the same suspect had attempted to break into his residence earlier in the day. Attempt burglary charges were added to the booking.