Arrested Pair Suspected in 32 Cases : Eatery Employees Foil Holdup

Employees of a fried chicken restaurant in Burbank wrestled a would-be robber into submission Wednesday, and police later chased down a man suspected of being his accomplice, authorities said.

Detectives said the two are suspected in 32 robberies of small restaurants and shops in Burbank and North Hollywood.

Detective Kevin Krafft said the incident began at the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Victory Boulevard at about 8 a.m. when a man brandished a .22-caliber pistol at an employee who was watering down the parking lot and ordered him inside. In the restaurant, one worker grabbed the gunman and five others joined in to wrestle him to the floor, the detective said.

He said Michael Scott Marine, a 22-year-old transient, was taken into custody.

The detective said the accomplice, who was in a car outside the restaurant, drove away. Police then staked out a house in the 900 block of Frederick Street in Burbank. The suspect got into a car after two hours, and nine police cars and three motorcycles pursued him through side streets and alleys for about three minutes.

The car ran into a brick wall near Buena Vista Street and Magnolia Boulevard. Officers arrested Carl Joseph Grago, 37, who lived at the Frederick Street house, Krafft said.

Bail for each man was set at $250,000.

Krafft said the two are suspected in 12 robberies in Burbank and 20 in North Hollywood in the last 10 months. Two holdup men evidently would watch small businesses to determine the pattern of bank deposits. When an employee went to the bank, they would rob him in a parking lot, the detective said.