5 Accused of Posing as Officers in Holdups

Five men suspected of posing as police officers in order to commit at least three residential robberies were arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles, officials said.

The most recent incident took place Monday morning at a home in the 2400 block of East 76th Street, where the suspects allegedly attempted to rob three residents and pistol-whipped a 31-year-old woman, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Wehner, who declined to identify the victims.

“Before they could collect any valuables, a Sheriff’s Department parking control officer drove up and ticketed their pickup truck for being illegally parked,” Wehner said.

The suspects, believed to prey on Mexican nationals, immediately left the home when the officer drove away, Wehner said, but their victims noted that the truck’s camper shell had the words, “One of a Kind,” in colorful letters on its window.

Deputies stopped the pickup in the unincorporated Firestone area of South Los Angeles on Tuesday and arrested four suspects: Joaquin Torres, 23; David Tolano, 19, Pablo Mendoza, 20, and Federico Quiroz, 29, all of Los Angeles.

Inside the truck deputies found two handguns, two fake police badges, an “LAPD” baseball cap, a pair of handcuffs and two walkie-talkies, Wehner said.

Investigators later went to a parking lot at 9th and Hope streets in downtown Los Angeles where they arrested the attendant, Eden Vargas, 42, of Montebello, and recovered a handgun stolen in the burglary of a Los Angeles police officer’s home, Wehner said.

The five suspects are being held at the Firestone sheriff’s substation in lieu of $500,000 bail on various charges, including suspicion of robbery and impersonating a police officer, the deputy said.