Witness’s Tip Leads Police to Suspects in 8 Robberies of Pizza Delivery People

Police arrested two men on suspicion of robbing eight pizza delivery people of their money and pizzas over the past two weeks.

Jason Cross, 18, of Garden Grove and Daniel Escobar, 23, of Anaheim were arrested at their homes Tuesday and Wednesday on suspicion of armed robbery after a witness to one of the robberies tipped police to the address of one of the suspects, Lt. John Woods said.

The men would call pizza parlors and order one or two pizzas to be delivered, Woods said. The delivery person would be met outside the address by one or two armed men and forced to hand over money and pizzas, according to investigators.

The pizzas were ordered for different addresses, all in Garden Grove, usually between 8 and 11 p.m., Woods said. The robbers also took personal property such as wallets, he said.

Police said they recovered the personal property and a fake semiautomatic handgun.

Cross and Escobar were being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond each.

It was the second recent arrest of pizza robbery suspects.

In Fullerton last month, Domino’s Pizza employees called police after receiving a suspicious call from an address where a pizza deliverer had been robbed a week earlier, according to investigators. Officers in Domino’s uniforms delivered the pizzas, then arrested several gunmen who tried to rob them, police said.