Salon, Ice Cream Shop Robbed; Police Suspect 1 Man

Police believe that a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop and a Supercuts hair salon in Ventura were robbed Thursday by the same man, and they say he is responsible for at least four other armed holdups in the county since September.

The suspect, though, is not the same man who is responsible for a recent string of armed robberies at ice cream, pizza and sandwich shops in cities stretching from Moorpark to San Luis Obispo County, police said.

The Baskin-Robbins at 2853 E. Main St. in Ventura was robbed about 4 p.m. by a man who showed a handgun in his waistband, then left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Ten minutes later, a Supercuts at 4255 E. Main was robbed in the same manner, according to Ventura Police Det. Ralph Martinez. In both cases, the gunman fled on foot.

No one was injured in either incident. Officers stopped but released two men matching the suspect’s description.

The suspect is described as Latino, between 35 and 40 years old, about 5-foot-10, 180 pounds and has dark hair, a thick mustache and a mole on one cheek.

Martinez said a man with an identical description used a knife to rob a man of gardening equipment in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday afternoon and used a gun a day earlier to rob a Supercuts in Camarillo.

Officers also said they have linked this suspect to armed robberies at Jones Intercable in Oxnard on Sept. 28 and an accounting firm on Knoll Drive in Ventura on Sept. 24. Cash was stolen in each case.

“It’s pretty bold to walk into a lot of these businesses that have lots of customers inside,” Martinez said.

Although the suspect description is similar, it is uncertain whether the same man robbed a Baskin-Robbins in Oxnard on Oct. 14.

Officers are hoping that someone from the medical community may remember the suspect. During the Sept. 24 robbery, he had a gauze bandage wrapped around his hand and wrist.

“Perhaps he had sustained an injury. It looked like it was professionally” treated, Martinez said.

The cases involving the other robber are similar in method but appear to have been pulled off by another man, Ventura Police Det. Tom Randall said.

The man conducting the fast-food crime spree in the tri-county area is described as white, over 6 feet tall, about 180 pounds, 20 to 30 years old, and has a thin mustache and facial acne.

“He’s working his way up the coast,” Randall said.

The gunman in those cases was armed when he robbed three Baskin-Robbins shops, two in Ventura and one in Moorpark, and a Little Caesar’s Pizza in Ventura. The holdups all occurred in October.

Randall has also linked this second suspect to two armed robberies Nov. 6 at a Little Caesar’s Pizza and a McConnell’s Ice Cream shop in Santa Barbara, two more a day later at a yogurt shop and Subway sandwich shop in San Luis Obispo, and the armed robbery of a Baskin-Robbins in Grover Beach in San Luis Obispo County on Nov. 8.

Video surveillance tape from the Moorpark holdup and the Subway robbery in San Luis Obispo was used to make the link, Randall said.

Randall said he will meet with detectives from other agencies to discuss the likelihood that the same man committed two more armed robberies at fast-food restaurants in Santa Maria and at least one in the Antelope Valley.

Anyone with information on the two suspects is asked to call Ventura police detectives at 339-4472.