‘Pockmarked Bandit’ Case : Suspect to Stand Trial in 3-Month Rash of Holdups

A 20-year-old Los Angeles man was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on 30 felony counts stemming from a series of holdups at convenience stores and fast-food outlets in the San Fernando Valley, Westside and South Bay.

Andre Johnson was originally charged with 37 counts involving thefts from 23 locations in what police began calling the “Pockmarked Bandit” robberies, because of the holdup man’s scarred complexion.

After a seven-day preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court, Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz ruled that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to hold Johnson for trial on seven charges of armed robbery.

He faces trial on 26 counts of armed robbery, two counts of attempted robbery, one count of robbery and one count of auto theft.

Johnson, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is to be arraigned Oct. 21 in Van Nuys Superior Court. He is being held in lieu of $128,000 bail.

The holdups occurred from May 19 to July 15, and most of the victims were working as cashiers in the stores, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle R. Rosenblatt. The holdup man would wander through the stores, collecting small items for purchase, then pull out a shotgun or handgun at the counter, Rosenblatt said.

Johnson was arrested July 17 near Inglewood on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle after police stopped him for a traffic violation, Rosenblatt said. A search of the vehicle turned up a telephone credit card belonging to one of the robbery victims, the prosecutor said.

Police then tied him to other robberies because of the similarity in the victims’ descriptions of their assailant’s pockmarked face, the clothes he was wearing and the methods used in the holdups, Rosenblatt said.