Fast-Food Store Raid Nets 16 in Fast Arrest

What, no Alka Seltzer?

Sixteen young men invaded a West Hollywood convenience store early Saturday, allegedly snatching up $32 worth of potato chips, candy bars, hamburgers and beer before sauntering outside.

But the night manager flagged down a sheriff’s deputy on the street, frantically telling him, “They are stealing everything out of the store.”

And before you could say “plop-plop-fizz-fizz,” the officer detained the pack of young men outside a 7-Eleven store at 1100 N. La Cienega Blvd., where the fast-food haul was reported found uneaten and strewn around three cars.

The 12:30 a.m. pilfering appeared to be well-planned and executed, said Sheriff’s Deputy Stan Garrett, who arrested the suspects on suspicion of burglary after watching a security system videotape of the caper.

Garrett said one suspect was stationed outside the store as a “lookout” while the rest were inside. Some of them tried distracting night manager Mark Paolino, 21, while others fanned out through the store, apparently grabbing items.

Garrett said one of the food raiders was particularly daring.

“He took some ‘Nachos Grande.’ He put the chips in a container, put the cheese on it, and melted it in the (store’s) microwave,” said Garrett. “So they were in there for awhile.”

Nine juveniles and seven adults between the ages of 15 to 20 years old were arrested. The adults were jailed at the West Hollywood sheriff’s substation in lieu of $2,500 bail each. The juveniles were released to the custody of their parents, department spokesman Bill Linnemeyer said.

Garrett said the suspects live in West Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades and Inglewood, and “most of them” were high school students. While some of them claimed to be members of a West Los Angeles gang, Garrett said the burglary was not considered to be a gang activity. Nor, he added, was it a prank.

“Absolutely not,” Garrett said. “I think they’ve done this before. It seemed to be pre-planned.”

When Garrett pulled up to the store, the “look-out leaned inside quickly,” and then all 16 strode to the three cars. In and around the vehicles were “some Grandma’s Cookies, candy bars, Fritos, Doritos, several quarts of beer, Old English 800, Beck’s and some Foster’s . . . Corona, three Miller beers, some Budweiser. Natural (undyed) pistachios. The 16-ounce size. Those were $5 alone.”

Total take: $31.89 worth of junk food and drinks.

While the actual dollar loss was not substantial, deputies said, the suspects were arrested on suspicion of felony burglary--the entering of a building with the intent to steal.

“After viewing the tape, seeing as how they had rushed in the store, bypassed the cash register and dispersed through the store, then exited without paying, that appeared to me that they had the intent to enter the store and steal,” Garrett said.

“That you have that many people in the store is intimidating. It’s terrorizing.”