Boy Charged as Adult in Foiled Target Robbery

A teenage boy suspected of participating in the attempted robbery of a Culver City Target store was charged as an adult Tuesday.

Charles Allison Bass, 16, was charged with four counts of armed robbery at the Airport Superior Courthouse, according to Sandi Gibbons, spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Bass, from Inglewood, pleaded not guilty, Gibbons said. He remained in custody on $300,000 bail.

The two other suspects in the robbery, both adults, will be arraigned today at the same courthouse, Gibbons said.

Laron Vashon Bass, 20, also of Inglewood and brother of Charles Bass, and Omar Ahda Samuels, 22, of Altadena, were being held at the Culver City jail, each on $500,000 bond. Gibbons said they also will face robbery charges.

Court records show that both currently are on probation for felonies. Samuels was convicted of robbery in March, and Bass was convicted of burglary in September of 1999. Each received jail time and three years’ probation.

About 4 a.m. Monday, robbers dressed as Target employees slipped into the massive Target store in the 10800 block of Jefferson Boulevard, about two miles south of Sony Studios.

Randi Joseph, spokeswoman for the Culver City Police Department, said police are pursuing the possibility that they had inside information about when alarms were turned off.

The armed trio rounded up at least 60 workers who were preparing inventory for the day. The Culver City Target is among the busiest Target stores in the country.

The robbery failed when police, called surreptitiously by an employee inside the store and by two who escaped, surrounded the building.

About 5 a.m., the robbers ordered everyone to run outside and tried to blend in with the crowd. But police stopped everyone and culled two suspects.

Charles Bass escaped briefly, but was captured by police as he ran along a nearby creek a few hours later, police said.