Police Arrest Man Believed to Be the Splashing Bandit

Los Angeles police nabbed a robbery suspect Tuesday who gives new meaning to the term “packing heat.”

Instead of a handgun, his weapon of choice was steaming hot coffee, police said.

Police nicknamed him the “Minimarket Splasher” after the robber hit six convenience stores in a row. He would appear to be a commuter, stopping in at 5 a.m. for a cup of joe on the way to work. He would make his coffee and take it to the counter.

“He was acting like a customer,” said LAPD Det. Jack Giroud.

But when the clerk rang up the sale and the register drawer opened, the robber would toss his steaming java at the startled cashier, grab the money and run, police said.

Police obtained a warrant Tuesday and on Wednesday arrested Anthony Wafer, 33, of Van Nuys, as he sat in his car in a parking lot at Parthenia Street and Van Nuys Boulevard. He was being held on suspicion of two counts of robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon at Van Nuys Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail, Giroud said. Police say Wafer is a suspect in 22 robberies at businesses throughout the Valley ranging from 7-Elevens and AM-PMs to a 99-cent store and a flower shop.

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The robbery spree began May 15 and continued until June 3. Then the crimes stopped and for three weeks police thought the splasher had vanished.

“It was becoming very difficult. When he was hitting, he was very, very active,” Giroud said. “He would hit maybe two or three times a night. It baffled us when he went underground and stopped hitting. We couldn’t understand why he did that.”

But around the first of July the crimes started up again. Though he hit a variety of businesses, the splasher’s method of operation remained the same. When he wasn’t using hot coffee to injure his victims, he would hit them with a small crowbar, his fist or some object he picked up in the store.

In the flower shop, he hit the clerk in the face with a glass vase he had appeared to be purchasing. Other times he would say he had a gun in his pocket. No gun was seen.

“He’d strike with his fist or hit them with an object, whatever it took to get it done,” Giroud said. He would then flee in a black Mercury Mystique.

The most recent crime occurred Monday.

Police believe the splasher’s motive was to fund a drug habit.

“He wasn’t getting wealthy off it; he was getting $100 to $150 per robbery,” Giroud said.