Retrial Ruled Out in Pizza Parlor Holdups

A week after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, prosecutors announced Tuesday they will not retry a Simi Valley man on charges he robbed two Thousand Oaks pizza parlors.

However, Keith Groom, 21, could be sentenced to five years in prison on May 3 for his conviction of robbing a third pizza parlor.

Last week, jurors deadlocked 6 to 6 on a charge that Groom robbed Lamppost Pizza on Lindero Canyon Road in Thousand Oaks, and 8 to 4 for not guilty on a charge he held up Domino’s Pizza on Michael Drive in Newbury Park.

The same panel unanimously found Groom guilty of the June 18 robbery of Pizza Hut on Avenida de las Arboles in Thousand Oaks.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said she believes it would be difficult to win a conviction on the Lamppost and Domino’s holdups because the robbers were masked and no one has been able to identify them.

The robber in the Pizza Hut holdup also was masked, but a store employee saw Groom in the parking lot just before the robbery, according to trial testimony.

“The count that he was convicted on was the strongest of the three locations,” Fox said.

She said that if more evidence is uncovered in the Lamppost and Domino’s cases charges can be refiled against Groom.

Groom’s co-defendant in the Lamppost and Domino’s robberies is Christopher Bass, 21, of Goleta. Bass, who is awaiting trial, also is charged with a Camarillo yogurt shop robbery, during which two female employees were sexually assaulted.

Groom was tried separately so jurors would not be prejudiced against him by hearing the evidence in the yogurt shop case.