2 Men Pistol-Whip Metal Dealer and Steal $150,000

Two men pistol-whipped the owner of a scrap metal business as he arrived at work early Wednesday and escaped with the $150,000 he carried in his trunk, police said.

The robbers attacked Lawrence Kuda at Bruce Metal and Salvage Inc. at 920 E. 6th St., as he prepared to open for business at 6:30 a.m., before employees arrived. They bound his hands and feet with wire, put a plastic bag over his head, and beat him on the head with a handgun until he gave up the money, Sgt. Dick Faust said.

The company “pays cash for scrap metal,” Faust said. Kuda “takes the money home at night and returns with it in morning in two suitcases. That is a high sum of money, but he has been doing it that way for a long time and has had no problems.”

Faust said the robbers “knew exactly what they were looking for.”

The men, who wore no masks, fled in Kuda’s car. Police found it later Wednesday in the 2700 block of South Halladay Street in Santa Ana.

Kuda was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana for treatment of facial cuts and bruises, Faust said.

The business is located on a block with other salvage companies and is ringed by a high aluminum wall with barbed wire. The only apparent entrance is a large sliding door, secured with padlocks and chains. A “closed” sign was taped to the door Wednesday afternoon.