Police Say 20 ‘Follow-Home’ Robbery Cases Appear Related

As many as 20 robberies, including five this month, in which motorists in expensive cars were followed to their hillside homes in the San Fernando Valley and held up at gunpoint appear to be related, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

The victims are mostly women from 40 to 70 years old who were driving alone, usually in Mercedes-Benzes, police said. The robbers took cash and jewelry from the victims after they had parked in garages at their homes, police said. No victim was injured, police said.

More than $250,000 in jewelry has been taken in the robberies, which have occurred from Sherman Oaks to Woodland Hills but primarily in Encino neighborhoods near Mulholland Drive and Sepulveda Boulevard, police said.

“It is creating a great deal of anxiety in the community,” Lt. William Gaida, said.

Discussed Robberies

On Dec. 30, a woman was followed to her Encino home and robbed after leaving a nail salon where she and other customers had discussed the series of robberies, Detective Randy Fredrickson said.

The victim told investigators that she frequently looked in her rear-view mirror while driving home and at one point thought she was being followed, Fredrickson said. However, when it appeared that the car she thought was following her had turned off, she continued home, he said. But after parking in her garage, she was robbed by a man with a gun, Fredrickson said.

Police said they are investigating whether five similar robberies in affluent areas of West Los Angeles, including one in which a victim was shot and wounded, are connected to the Valley cases.

A man and woman arrested Wednesday in another series of robberies in which victims were followed home from Studio City are not suspected of being involved in the hillside cases, police said.

The Valley robberies appear to be the work of three sets of suspects, police said. However, the method used has been so similar in each case that investigators think the robberies may be linked.

“They may know each other. They may come from the same neighborhood. They may be using the same fence” to sell stolen jewelry, Detective Chris Biller said.

Occurred on Weekdays

The robberies have occurred on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and in each case the victim was followed by two men from areas near Sepulveda Boulevard and Mulholland Drive or from areas along Ventura Boulevard, police said. Police said they believe the robbers have used the San Diego and Ventura freeways to make quick getaways.

Police said the robbers struck on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The latest robbery occurred minutes after two Los Angeles patrol officers on Beverly Glen Boulevard near Mulholland reported seeing a sports car and two men that matched descriptions from several of the robbery victims, police said.

The light blue Mercury Merkur, which had no license plates and was carrying two black men 18 to 25 years old, sped down the hill toward Ventura Boulevard and got away about noon Wednesday, police said.

Fifteen minutes later, a woman who had driven from a Ventura Boulevard shop to her Encino home on Corinthian Drive was robbed in her garage.