Yorba Linda Man Arrested in 47 Robberies, Attacks on Women

A Yorba Linda man suspected of robberies followed by assaults on women employees at dozens of small businesses in Los Angeles and Orange counties was arrested Friday by a special investigations team of the Buena Park police.

Phillip Michael Gross, 27, was taken into custody at 9:30 a.m. while at work at a McDonnell Douglas facility in Long Beach, police spokesman Lt. Rich McMillen said.

McMillen said Gross was being held without bail in the Huntington Beach city jail on suspicion of 47 robberies and assaults between last November and this month.

Gross was taken to Huntington Beach because several of the robberies took place there, McMillen said. He said Gross was suspected of committing other robberies and assaults in Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Seal Beach, Cypress, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Long Beach and in other parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The total take in the robberies came to between $2,000 and $3,000, McMillen said.

Gross allegedly chose small businesses staffed by lone women to rob, using a steak knife to demand money and then taking the women into rear storerooms to attempt to molest them, McMillen said.

“The crimes were believed to be related due to similar circumstances and suspect description,” he said. “Common in most of the descriptions of the suspect was noticeable body odor.” In one of the robberies, McMillen said Gross allegedly wore a McDonnell Douglas work shirt.

Using information supplied by other police agencies, Buena Park investigators tracked Gross down to the McDonnell Douglas facility in Long Beach and arrested him without incident.