6 Suspects in Long Beach Bar Robbery Held After Traffic Stop

Less than an hour after allegedly staging a violent takeover robbery at a Long Beach bar, five men and a teenager were arrested in East Los Angeles early Friday when sheriff’s deputies stopped their car for a traffic code violation.

Police are investigating whether the suspects, all believed to be Long Beach gang members, committed a rash of similar raids at Mexican restaurants and bars in Los Angeles and Orange counties in the last six months.

“We’re looking into the possibility that these guys are responsible for some of those other instances,” said Long Beach Police Sgt. Steve Filippini.

One man was pistol-whipped and about a dozen customers were robbed during Friday’s raid of the Nugget in the 400 block of West Anaheim Street.

According to one victim, who asked not to be identified, the assailants burst into the neighborhood saloon about 1:20 a.m.

Armed with a shotgun, an assault weapon and pistols, they handcuffed the bar’s security guard and sprayed him with his own pepper spray, she said. Then they ordered the dozen or so customers sitting at the bar to fall to the ground.

“They hit the guy next to me over the head with a gun,” she said. “One of my friends, they pulled her hair and pulled her down to the ground and took her money.”

The thieves cleaned out more than $1,000 from the bar’s till and robbed customers of their jewelry and wallets before fleeing, she said. Paramedics later treated the man who was pistol-whipped for cuts on his head.

Less than an hour later, sheriff’s deputies on patrol in East Los Angeles noticed a minivan traveling along Whittier Boulevard, authorities said.

The deputies pulled the car over for a traffic code violation, said Sgt. John Saleeby, who could not say what the violation was. All six people in the car were booked on suspicion of armed robbery after deputies searched the vehicle and found wallets and jewelry belonging to the victims at the Nugget, he said.

The six are: Rene Aguilar, 19; John Guerra, 21; Edwin Garcia, 20; Guillermo Gomez, 19; Jose Acosta, 19; and a 17-year-old youth whose name was withheld because he is a juvenile. The adults were held Friday in lieu of $35,000 bail. The juvenile is in custody without bail, Filippini said.

The raid follows at least six similar incidents in Long Beach in as many months. Others have been reported in Paramount, Buena Park, Santa Ana, Westminster, Stanton and Garden Grove, Filippini said.

In January, Orange County saw nine such robberies, he said, adding that Long Beach investigators have been in contact with law enforcement agencies in those cities.

In Long Beach, the pattern of the raids has been fairly consistent, detectives said. The robbers target Mexican bars or restaurants. They rob patrons as well as the cash register. They frequently pistol-whip or manhandle victims and sometimes use pepper spray.

“Sometimes they fire a round into the ceiling to get everyone’s attention,” said Long Beach Police Det. Mike Allison, who is handling the investigation. “I would say these are very violent takeovers.”