2 Held in Robbery of Elderly Man; Suspected in 30 Such Cases

Officers from Los Angeles and Beverly Hills have arrested two men suspected of more than 30 street robberies in the Los Angeles area, including purse-snatching assaults on two elderly blind women in June, police said Sunday.

The suspects, identified as Nathaniel Moore, 29, also known as Todd B. McGaughy, and Shawn Livingston, both of Los Angeles, were being held without bail at the Van Nuys jail. As of Sunday, they were being held only in connection with the Saturday robbery, police said.

The arrests came Saturday afternoon after Beverly Hills Officer Marcelo Rodriquez, who was off duty, reportedly saw one of the suspects rob an elderly man of his Rolex watch at gunpoint behind a supermarket on Olympic Boulevard.

Notifying the Los Angeles Police Department on a cellular phone, Rodriquez followed in his car as the gunman and a confederate drove off, Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Richard Westfall said.

One man surrendered to Rodriquez. After a search of dozens of buildings, the second suspect was found by LAPD officers in the back bedroom of a ground-floor apartment.

Searching their car, a gold-colored Ford Tempo that was seen near the scene of several similar robberies, officers found a .357 magnum and the stolen Rolex, said Sgt. Clancy Maihori of the LAPD’s West Los Angeles station.

“They are suspected in at least 30 to 40 street robberies in the Los Angeles city area,” he said. “These two guys had a particular MO of robbing elderly men and women on the street. They are suspected in the two blind lady robberies.”

The two women, one 86 and the other 92, were robbed within hours of each other on busy Westside streets on June 24. Detectives said at the time that the robbers probably chose their victims because of their distinctive red-tipped white canes.