Local News in Brief : Police Arrest One in Theft
Los Angeles police have arrested a man who they said may have robbed as many as a dozen harbor-area businessmen by pretending to sell discount goods along the docks.
John Paul Jackson, 41, was arrested Wednesday morning at a motel near downtown Los Angeles and was held at the police lockup in San Pedro on suspicion of grand theft, according to Harbor Division Detective Chuck Hart.
Jackson was arrested in connection with the theft of $1,169 from a San Pedro caterer on Oct. 30.
Jackson allegedly posed as a trucker with an excess shipment of computers for sale at a cut rate. Police said he took the caterer’s cash but disappeared without delivering a computer.
Detectives said they used a fingerprint to identify Jackson and then traced him as he moved among downtown motels.
As many as 12 similar crimes have been reported in the harbor area in the last six years, according to Hart. In each case, a truck driver offered to sell businessmen damaged or excess goods at low prices. Police said the driver would then disappear with cash payments without delivering any goods.
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