Baskin-Robbins Holdup Videotaped

A surveillance camera at a Baskin-Robbins recorded the face of the man that authorities say is responsible for robbing that store and two other Baskin-Robbins shops in the county this month, authorities said Tuesday.

The tape was made at the Baskin-Robbins at 563 W. Los Angeles Ave. as it was being robbed about 9 p.m. on Oct. 15. The man on the footage is the same person who robbed Ventura stores on Oct. 12 and 13, authorities said.

“It doesn’t look like he was aware there was a camera,” Ventura Police Det. Tom Randall said. “He might as well have waved.”

Four Baskin-Robbins stores were robbed that week, but city and county authorities say the suspect and style of robbery in an Oct. 14 holdup in Oxnard do not match the others.

The man in the video is white, 20 to 30 years old, between 6 feet 1 and 6 feet 3 and about 180 pounds. He is sporting a thin mustache, a dark-colored knit cap and sweatshirt and faded blue jeans with a torn right knee.

Employees at Baskin-Robbins stores on Main Street and on Victoria Avenue in Ventura have described the robber who struck those outlets in similar detail, Randall said. The man in the Oxnard case was Latino and shorter.

The man entered the stores, paid for a soda and then pulled back his dark-colored jacket to reveal the grip of a semiautomatic pistol, according to employee accounts and the video.

In each of the three cases, the robber left on foot after being handed cash that had been stuffed into a Baskin-Robbins paper sack.

“We know at this point the person we are looking at did all three,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Ernie Montagna. “We have the video coupled with the description coupled with the method. The only problem we have is putting a name to the face.”

In one or more of the holdups, the robber left behind partial fingerprints, authorities said. However, the prints were either incomplete for finding a match or the robber has no prior criminal history, Montagna said.

Authorities believe the robber is striking the ice cream parlors because employees are often only high school and college age.

“I would think [the robber] feels fairly safe doing a robbery there,” Randall said.