3 Arrested in $4,000 Holdup of a Depositor in Torrance Bank

Robbers pulled a daring Christmas Eve holdup, taking $4,000 at gunpoint from a man inside a Hawthorne Boulevard bank and then leading police on a high-speed chase through Torrance that ended with the arrest of three suspects, police said.

The victim, identified by police as Anil Patel, called out that he had been robbed and ran after two men who fled with the money to a waiting car. Patel managed to identify the car make, helping police find the suspects, police said.

The robbery precipitated a high-speed chase through streets clogged with holiday shoppers. At one point, the suspects were driving at 80 m.p.h. through a residential Torrance neighborhood, with police in pursuit, according to police reports.

Three suspects were caught and arrested on suspicion of robbery. They remained in jail Wednesday and were due to be arraigned today in South Bay Municipal Court.

Police officials identified the suspects as Stacysher Sativa Crandall, 20, David Johnson, 26, and Randy L. Williams, 29, also known as Randy Parker, all of Los Angeles.

The incident began shortly after 1 p.m. Monday inside a branch of the Sumitomo Bank of California, 21701 Hawthorne Blvd. Patel, manager of the Inglewood Travelodge motel, 4300 W. Century Blvd., was standing in line with $4,000 in receipts, Sgt. Ronald Traber said.

A man standing nearby grabbed Patel by the shoulder, placed an object in the small of his back and ordered him to hand over the money, police said. Patel obliged. The man and another suspect left the bank and ran to a car driven by the third suspect, a woman, police said.

The car headed east and was spotted soon after at Torrance Boulevard and Date Avenue by a Torrance police detective driving an unmarked car. The detective gave chase, and the suspects’ car took a circuitous route through residential areas, Traber said. At one point, the suspects turned onto Crenshaw Boulevard, heading south in one of the northbound lanes, police said.

The car eventually turned onto Monterey Street and accelerated to 80 m.p.h. as it sped west, police said. The driver then attempted to turn north on Hickory Avenue and crashed into a parked car. Police found a large amount of money lying in the street near the car, police reports said, and a .38-caliber revolver was recovered from one of the suspects.

Two of the suspects were stopped and held at gunpoint by an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer in the Iris Avenue area, Torrance Police Lt. Mike Hertica said.

The third suspect was caught as he tried to hide under a trailer in a back yard in the 1700 block of Greenwood Avenue, police said.

Patel was unavailable for comment Wednesday. A Sumitomo Bank assistant manager, Lorraine Hamada, declined comment and referred questions to police.