Local News in Brief : 2 Are Charged in 35 Robberies of Valley Stores, Restaurants
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office Wednesday charged two men with a total of 56 felony counts stemming from 35 armed robberies of businesses in the San Fernando Valley since October.
Los Angeles police said the men, James Thomas, 24, of Van Nuys and Joseph Lewis, 21, of Panorama City, worked as a team in many of the holdups, the most recent of which occurred Feb. 3 at a water bed store in Granada Hills. During the robbery of Sun Valley Waterbeds, a store employee, Rudy Negrete, 21, was shot twice. He is still in serious condition at Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, Detective Rick Jamieson said.
Both men pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Van Nuys Municipal Court. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26.
Thomas, who is being held in lieu of $655,000 bail, faces 35 counts of robbery, two counts of attempted robbery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Rosenblatt said.
Lewis, who is being held in lieu of $208,000 bail, is charged with 18 counts of robbery, Rosenblatt said.
The robberies occurred throughout the Valley and included holdups of restaurants, furniture stores and kitchen appliance stores, Jamieson said.
The two men were arrested late Sunday night and early Monday morning in Van Nuys after police stakeouts, Jamieson said.
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