A San Fernando Valley man has been charged in a case in which he is accused of a series of robberies and other crimes including the attempted heist of a Downey doughnut shop on Valentine’s Day when an employee grabbed his own gun and fired, chasing the alleged assailants out of the store, officials said.
A 34-year-old North Hollywood resident is charged with one count of attempted interference with commerce by robbery. He was in jail without the possibility of posting bail.
Two other suspected accomplices also face charges. One is a fugitive.
They are suspects in armed robberies of 11 other businesses, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14: a smoke shop in Tustin, nine 7-Eleven stores in North Hollywood, Burbank, Torrance, Van Nuys, Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena, and a doughnut shop in Los Angeles.
“We’ve seen too much violent gun crime in our community, and it has to stop,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the robberies typically occurred late at night and usually involved two men who entered each business wearing hooded sweatshirts and face masks. In several of the robberies, a getaway driver waited outside.
Related Articles
Fontana pays nearly $900,000 for ‘psychological torture’ inflicted by police to get false confession
Recent assaults on LA Metro transit prompt safety proposals at Thursday board meeting
UCLA police chief temporarily reassigned in wake of counter-protest violence
Uvalde school shooting: Families sue Texas state police over botched response
After American Airlines blamed 9-year-old girl for being secretly filmed, airline calls court filing ‘an error’
The last of the crimes was the attempted armed robbery of the Downey doughnut shop. An employee was being held up and ran toward the rear kitchen area from behind the main sales counter, authorities said, with the subjects jumping the counter in pursuit of him. The employee retrieved his firearm and fired at least one shot, hitting a wall.
The suspects fled, but law enforcement witnessed the attempted robbery and, authorities said, pulled over the suspects’ car.
If convicted, they would face up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.