NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Man Sentenced in String of Robberies
A North Hollywood man was sentenced to 13 years in state prison Friday for committing eight robberies, including a carjacking, during a 10-day period in May.
Arthur Thomas, 40, told authorities that he committed the string of robberies to support a “severe drug problem,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert R. Lapin.
Thomas was arrested May 18 after a high-speed chase that ended in Hollywood. He had just finished committing four robberies in less than one hour, including the carjacking on Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys, authorities said.
Thomas then used the car to rob two drugstores and a liquor store in North Hollywood, authorities said.
The robbery spree started May 9 at a 99-Cents Only Store in the 6200 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, prosecutors said. This was followed the next day by a robbery at a North Hollywood doughnut shop.
Thomas also used a gun to rob two markets May 16 and 17, investigators said, adding that a clerk at the Food Kart Market in Burbank was injured May 17 when Thomas hit him on the head with his weapon.
Had he gone to trial and been convicted on all charges, Thomas would have a faced a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison.
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