Suspect Held, Tied to Series of Holdups of Armored Cars

A main suspect has been arrested in the investigation of an alleged robbery ring believed to be responsible for 10 armored car and three bank holdups in Los Angeles, Riverside and Ventura counties since December, 1987, Los Angeles police said Sunday.

Officers collared Steven Bernard Young, 29, when he visited an unidentified woman in South Los Angeles Friday night. Young eluded capture for more than a month, police said, by using several residences and aliases, including the pseudonym Bernard Jones. The Los Angeles resident was being held in lieu of $116,000 bail.

In the last year, armored car robberies have become increasingly common, armored car company executives have said. Police said the thieves have become bold enough to stage robberies in public places and desperate enough to start shooting.

“There have been sporadic robberies in recent years past, but none where it’s as organized as this,” Detective Norman Roberge said last week.

Bandits have hit at least 15 armored cars in Southern California this year, authorities said. In one robbery less than two weeks ago, Patrick Rooney, a 35-year-old security guard, died after being shot in the head at a Bellflower supermarket. Police have not said that they suspect Young in that holdup, although homicide detectives took part in the investigation that led to his arrest.

Arrest warrants sworn out last month listed Young as wanted for three armored car robberies, the most recent a June 16 North Hollywood robbery that ended in a shoot-out with an armored car guard at a Gelson’s supermarket. Authorities also wanted Young for allegedly robbing a Coast Federal Savings in Diamond Bar May 17 and an armored car at a Diamond Bar K Mart Dec. 22, 1987.

It was not clear whether officials had recovered any of the more than $75,000 taken in those thefts.

In June, officers arrested another suspect, who they said was wounded in the Gelson’s robbery. Police could not say over the weekend whether the second suspect was ever formally charged, but authorities said that Young did not act alone.

“We’re looking at possibly the same suspects being involved in some of these robberies,” Roberge said. “We’re also looking at where . . . robberies may have been committed by imitators.”

The lure of big money--seemingly poorly protected--prompts the armored car robbery attempts, said Dennis Casteel, safety director for Brinks Inc. in Los Angeles, in a recent interview. “If a guy is considering robbing a liquor store to get $200 or $300, I’d have to think that, from a criminal point of view, he assumes that if he’s going to take a risk at all, he might as well go for something bigger.”

Robbers take the risk despite safeguards which include camera surveillance and armed guards equipped with bullet-proof vehicles and vests. In addition, special guard teams often precede the trucks to scout out possible trouble.

“The only time you feel safe is when you’re in that truck and it’s a very few minutes until your next stop,” former security guard Nick Scarpelli told the Associated Press.