Soldier, 2 others held in robbery
A U.S. Army soldier from Barstow and two of his cousins have been arrested on suspicion of following patrons from Los Angeles County casinos to their Orange County homes and robbing them.
John Atkins, 21, and his cousins, Raymond Little Jr., 18, and Gary Smith, 20, were arrested over the weekend through a coordinated effort between the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles Police and the Justice Department Bureau of Gambling Control.
The men are suspected of following a Mission Viejo couple home from the Hustler Casino in Gardena in October, and a Lake Forest man home from the Commerce Casino about a month later. On Saturday, surveillance teams tracked the trio as they allegedly followed a Hollywood man out of the Commerce Casino.
The Sheriff’s Department and the other agencies are investigating whether the trio may be responsible for five similar robberies of Hustler patrons between September and November and whether additional suspects were involved, according to sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.
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