Man Held in Holdups of Teen-Agers

A 19-year-old West Hills man has been arrested on suspicion of robbing two carloads of teen-agers at gunpoint earlier this week after they left or entered drive-through restaurants, police said Wednesday.

James Robert Picard and an unidentified accomplice robbed nine teen-agers Monday night, Los Angeles Police Detective Robert Johansen said.

One of the victims, an 18-year-old West Hills teen-ager, gave police their break when he told them he thought he recognized the gunman, Johansen said.

“We were able to develop that name into a lead, and that lead into a picture,” Johansen said. By showing the picture around, detectives were led to Picard’s home, where he was arrested.

Picard, who is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, confessed to the robberies, Johansen said. Picard said he held up the first group of teen-agers after spotting them in a local McDonald’s and mistaking one for a tagger he disliked. Picard said he and a friend followed the youths back to their house where the robbery was carried out, even after Picard realized the youth was not the tagger he had sought, Johansen said.

Thirty minutes later, Picard observed a second group of teen-agers sitting in a car at a Jack In The Box restaurant and robbed them at the drive-through ordering station, Johansen said.