2 Held in Series of Brutal Robberies : Crime: Police say the men preyed on the elderly. As many as 25 victims were beaten unconscious.

Police have arrested two Santa Monica men they say are responsible for as many as 25 brutal muggings of elderly people throughout the Westside.

According to police, the two men have been sneaking up on their victims, hitting them in the head without warning or provocation, slamming them to the ground and beating them unconscious. Most of the victims were walking alone in West Los Angeles.

“I think it’s pretty despicable, myself,” said Detective Mark Fuhrman, a robbery specialist in the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Los Angeles Division, who has been investigating the case.

“Of all the ways someone could do a robbery, this has got to be the lowest,” Fuhrman said. “Even though they don’t need to, and could probably get the money just by asking for it, (the muggers) are continually beating these people without any pity whatsoever.”

Because of the violence and frequency of the attacks, police said they were on the verge of using decoys--officers posing as senior citizens--to try to nail the muggers.

On Wednesday, however, police got a break that led to the arrests.

A witness in Beverly Hills watched as two muggers knocked an elderly man to the ground, beat him and took his money. The witness noted the muggers’ license plate number and told the victim, who in turn told the police.

Armed with the number and a description of the muggers’ car, Beverly Hills police arrested two men at about 11 a.m. in Santa Monica on suspicion of robbery. The suspects allegedly stole $120 from the elderly man, police said, and had allegedly taken a purse from an elderly woman in an earlier attack the same day.

Arrested were Lance Crosse, 22, and Carlos Nolasco, 21. Fuhrman said they would each be charged with several counts of robbery.

Police are now looking for the anonymous Beverly Hills witness, saying his testimony would be important in prosecuting Crosse and Nolasco.

The robberies have taken place since the beginning of June, most of them near Sunset Boulevard between Bundy Drive and Overland Avenue.

Many of the victims had to be hospitalized for their injuries, and one remains in a hospital in critical condition, Fuhrman said.

Police are trying to determine how much money and jewelry was taken from all the victims, and whether all the attacks can be connected to the suspects, he said.

In most of the cases, there are no witnesses because the victims were beaten unconscious so quickly, Fuhrman said.

“They just wake up in the hospital after going for a walk,” he said. “They have no idea what happened.”