All-American Success Story Goes Sour for Student Accused of Holdups

Jose Luis Razo typified the all-American success story. Born in Mexico, he came to Southern California with his family and worked his way through high school, earning honors and praise as a top student and athlete. He was recruited by several Ivy League colleges and chose Harvard.

Now, police are calling him the “ski-mask bandit.”

La Habra police arrested the 20-year-old Harvard sophomore this week on suspicion of eight armed robberies. He was booked into Orange County Jail on Monday, and bail was set at $150,000. As a result of his own statements, he also is suspected of holdups in Costa Mesa, Whittier and Miami. Arraignment is scheduled today in Orange County Municipal Court.

The robberies, by a man wearing a ski mask and brandishing a handgun, occurred between December, 1985, and June 28, 1987. According to police, all of them were committed while Razo was on vacation from college.

Wednesday afternoon at the family’s La Habra home, Razo’s 19-year-old sister, Cecilia, pulled photo albums and scrapbooks from living room shelves and spoke softly but proudly about her older brother’s accomplishments. The albums contained high school academic commendations and certificates, newspaper clippings, a travel schedule from a visit to Dartmouth--paid for by Dartmouth--and letters of acceptance from Columbia, Princeton and Yale universities.

“He’s always been a scholar, so he’s been a great influence on the kids in the community,” she said. “He’s been a leader. He’s been fortunate and gifted enough to go to a good high school and college. He’s always been quite humble, meek and quiet.”

He was in Orange County for the summer and had planned to return to Harvard in the fall, she said.

“I was shocked and surprised,” said Richard Guthrie, director of the La Habra Boys Club, where Razo has been a member since he was 7 years old. “He’s an exceptionally bright young man who shows all the promise in the world. He’s been very active in our sports and leadership groups. Everyone knew he would be successful in life.”

Guthrie said Razo came from a working-class family that moved to California in the late 1960s and now lives in a modest La Habra neighborhood.

Defensive captain of the football team and an all-league linebacker his senior year at Servite High School in Anaheim--a private Catholic school--Razo was heavily recruited by Ivy League colleges because of his athletic prowess and his academic accomplishments, Guthrie said.

A Harvard spokesman said Razo had completed his sophomore year and was a linebacker on the varsity football team. Servite High School officials declined to talk about the case.

Said La Habra Police Capt. Mike Burch: “We have no idea why he might have done these things.”

Burch said Razo had been a suspect in several La Habra holdups for more than a year but declined to elaborate.

Razo was taken into custody after calling police Monday afternoon to claim he had information on the unsolved killing of a 9-year-old Santa Ana girl last month.

When Santa Ana police investigators questioned Razo, they discovered he had no new information on the death of Patricia Lopez.

“Once they finished, we began talking with him about the robberies,” Burch said. “Much to our amazement, he began making statements that only the police, the victims or the robber could have known. We were convinced he was telling the truth, so we arrested him.”

Burch said he had no idea why Razo was willing to discuss the robberies or why he may have committed them.

In addition to the eight armed robberies in La Habra, which netted $7,100, Razo told police he had participated in holdups in Costa Mesa, Whittier and Miami, Burch said, adding that he had not yet confirmed independently that the robberies he described in Whittier and Miami had occurred.