Robbers Find Their Victims in Ads for Computers

Robbers have targeted at least eight owners of Macintosh computers who advertised in the weekly Recycler publication, Los Angeles police said Friday.

In the latest case, two men posing as buyers bound, gagged and blindfolded a victim at gunpoint Thursday night, then made off with a computer and other goods.

Police said essentially the same method was used in the other robberies, which took place at homes on the Westside of Los Angeles, in Culver City and in Santa Monica.

“This is very new to us as far as advertisements and robberies of this nature,” said Detective Robert Tapia of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Los Angeles station. “This is obviously someone who has a specific item they’re looking for and this is how they found it.”

The first of the robberies occurred in December. While three assailants were reported in one case, there were two robbers in most of the incidents, Tapia said.

In one case, a robber showed up alone at a computer owner’s home, then came back with an accomplice after saying he was leaving to get some money to make the purchase.

In addition to computers, the intruders have made off with jewelry, television sets and video recorders. In some cases, a knife was used instead of a gun.

Investigators speculated that the gang specializes in Macintosh computers because they are easy to to sell.

While he said there is no reason for sellers to stop advertising, Tapia suggested meeting with prospective buyers in a public place, or calling a neighbor or a friend over if the goods need to be examined in the home.

“Once they know they’re seen by a second person, they normally go on their merry way,” he said.

In a majority of the cases, the victims were alone at the time of the robbery, Tapia said.

At the Recycler, which features about 110,000 free advertisements a week, editor Dia Burke said she was only aware of only one of the computer robberies.

“We’re doing all we can to work closely with and help out with whatever the detectives suggest,” she said.