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LOCAL : Granada Hills Holdup Leads to Suspect in Travel Agency Thefts

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<i> From Times Staff and Wire Service Reports</i>

A suspected member of a theft ring believed responsible for a rash of holdups at travel agencies was in jail today after being charged with a robbery of a Granada Hills agency, authorities said.

Ricardo Castro, 49, who lives in the Melrose District of Los Angeles, was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Los Angeles County Jail after being charged Thursday with robbery, Deputy Dist. Atty. Norm Montrose said.

Castro was arrested near his home Tuesday, a day after he allegedly took part in a robbery at Windsor Travel in the 17000 block of Chatsworth Street, Montrose said. Two men entered the agency Monday morning and at gunpoint took 500 blank airline tickets and then tied up a woman who was working in the office, Montrose said. The woman was unhurt.

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The robbery victim identified Castro, and he was arrested the next day. The blank tickets, which could be worth up to $1,000 each, have not been recovered.

Authorities said more than two dozen similar robberies have occurred at travel agencies throughout the county this year, and investigators suspect a large ring of thieves is responsible. In the course of the robberies, authorities said, there has been a murder of an agency owner, a stabbing and a rape.

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