Recent Rash of ‘Take-Over’ Robberies May Be Work of 1 Group of Bandits

Five “take-over” robberies in the San Fernando Valley since Aug. 20--in which armed men hold employees and customers of large retail stores at gunpoint--may be the work of one group of suspects, and Los Angeles police are advising chain stores of ways to increase security.

All five robberies have occurred at West Valley chain stores with easy freeway access. There were no injuries in any of the incidents.

In each case, between two and five men entered each of the stores near closing time, drew guns and herded together employees and any customers still inside, police said. The thieves then emptied cash registers and forced managers at gunpoint to open safes. They escaped with up to $10,000 in each robbery. Police said no suspects have been identified.

Police said robberies in which businesses are taken over by gunmen are extremely dangerous because of the number of weapons and victims involved.

“We hadn’t had any take-over robberies for a long time,” said Detective Robert Johansen of the West Valley Division. “Now all of a sudden we have all of these in two weeks. That is our concern. Why the West Valley?”

Police said the five businesses that have been robbed are located close to the Ventura or San Diego freeways, and the West Valley is home to numerous retail outlets that seem to fit a sketchy pattern favored by the robbers: They are open at night, have multiple cash register stations and deal largely in cash transactions.

The first two robberies occurred Aug. 20 on Fallbrook Avenue in Canoga Park. Police said two gunmen entered a Liquor Barn in the Fallbrook Square shopping center about 8:30 p.m. and held a handful of employees and customers at gunpoint while taking an undetermined amount of cash, believed to be several hundred dollars, from the registers.

About 20 minutes later and only a block away, two gunmen went into a Ralphs supermarket and robbed cashiers of about $2,500.

Two nights later, three armed men held up employees and customers at a Target store in the 20800 block of Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills. Employees and customers were forced to lie on the floor while the robbers roamed the store. The cash registers were cleared out, and a manager was forced to open a safe in the rear of the store. About $10,000 was taken, police said.

One customer said later that he did not realize a robbery was taking place until he walked from the rear to the front of the store to find an open register. When he found no cashiers at their stations and asked a manager for assistance, the manager whispered that there was a robbery in progress and advised the customer to return to the rear of the store.

On Aug. 27, three robbers struck at the Builders Emporium in the 17600 block of Sherman Way in Reseda, taking at gunpoint $10,000 from cash registers and a safe.

Manager Dave Beeman said the trio had entered the store about 15 minutes before closing and appeared to be customers, though one cashier said afterward that she thought they behaved suspiciously. One of the men even bought a portable phone but later took back the cash he used in the purchase when he rifled the register.

“Just as we were locking the doors to close, they pulled out the guns,” Beeman said. “They gathered everybody together and seemed to know how many were in the store. They took a head count. One customer tried to run out, but they stopped him.”

The fifth robbery occurred two nights later at Home Depot on Roscoe Boulevard near the Van Nuys Airport. This time, five robbers entered the store, held 10 employees and customers at gunpoint, and took about $6,000, police said.

Police said evidence and descriptions of the suspects and getaway cars link the first two robberies. The last three incidents also appear to be linked. Detectives assigned to the cases said their hunch is that all five might be the work of one group.

The robberies have occurred in roughly the same area that in recent years has been plagued by dozens of follow-home holdups and numerous Rolex bandits. In the earlier sprees, robbers cruised areas of Ventura Boulevard in the West Valley and demanded that owners of Rolex watches give them up, or followed luxury cars home and confronted their owners when they stopped. Police eventually made arrests that broke up the rings.

Police see no connection between those crime trends and the recent take-over robberies. Though no one has been injured, police last week expressed concern over the latest series of robberies.

“In any armed robbery, the potential for killing someone is always there,” said Detective Bud Mehringer, who with Johansen is investigating the first four robberies. “But I think that the more bandits and more guns and more victims you have, the greater chance there is of bodily harm.”

Detective Dan Riehl, who is assigned to investigate the fifth robbery, said he found the crimes “amazing” because the robbers didn’t disguise themselves, took numerous people captive and chose stores with numerous aisles and storage rooms, increasing the possibility that an uncounted employee or customer might stumble into the holdup and be harmed.

“This is not your normal stop and rob,” Riehl said. “It’s very dangerous. There are so many witnesses. You have a lot of people running around” in large stores.

Police said the fact that there are so many businesses in the West Valley similar to those that have been hit hampers their efforts to track the robbers or thwart their next move.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of stores that have multiple cash registers and safes and are near major on-ramps,” Mehringer said. “Where do we start? We can’t narrow it down to one chain or one kind of store.”

Mehringer said police have begun to contact the security offices of the chain stores to alert them to the robberies. He said the police detectives don’t tell the private companies how to provide security at their outlets but can suggest visible measures such as adding guards.

For the most part, spokesmen for the store chains declined to discuss the security of their stores. However, Beeman said guards have been added at the Builders Emporium that was robbed last week, and Tom Stone, a security supervisor for the store chain, said the rash of robberies has gotten the attention of large retailers in the Valley.

“Take-over robberies are not unusual in this business, but this many in so short a time is,” Stone said. “Any retail business in the area would want to be looking at security procedures. Now is the time.”