Two Jailed After Series of Violent Robberies

Two men suspected in a string of violent robberies in which victims were kicked, beaten and, in one case, left for dead in a dumpster have been arrested, police announced Thursday.

Police said they tracked down the men using fingerprints and a cache of lottery tickets they stole and later tried to redeem.

Michael Lee Westbrook, 19, of Anaheim and Adrian Rashad Burgos, 25, of Los Angeles were arrested Wednesday and are being held on suspicion of four robberies in Anaheim and Stanton during a four-day stretch.

In one incident, a 16-year-old boy was robbed of $60, beaten unconscious and tossed into a dumpster. In another, the robbers snatched a video game console from a 13-year-old boy, and in a third, a clerk was beaten as he clasped his hands in prayer, begging his assailants to spare him.

“Usually all you want to do is steal or threaten, but these people don’t think that’s enough,” said Anaheim Police Lt. Harold Mittmann. “Violence was their M.O.”

Police said the first crime was reported last Saturday when the 16-year-old met the men at a Stanton motel, sharing drinks with them until he was intoxicated. The victim, authorities said, was eventually robbed, beaten and heaved into a dumpster when the robbers apparently spotted a car headed their way. The youth suffered head injuries and a broken jaw, police said

The next day two men held up a Stanton pizza restaurant, ordered employees to the ground at gunpoint and fled with several hundred dollars, plus a Sony Playstation that belonged to the owner’s 13-year-old son.

On Tuesday, the men allegedly grabbed a Rolex watch from a man and later stormed an Anaheim convenience store, where they jumped the counter and attacked the clerk.

The store’s surveillance camera shows two men throwing the clerk to the ground, kicking him and finally clubbing him on the head when he puts his hands together in prayer. The clerk suffered a broken leg, jaw and nose, police said.

Police said the bandits took stacks of scratch-off lottery tickets in addition to cash. One of the men later tried to cash several winning tickets at another convenience store. Police said the tickets were rejected by a lottery machine and a police officer, who happened to be waiting in line, became suspicious and asked to see the rejected tickets.

Armed with that information and fingerprints from one of the crime scenes, police were able to identify and catch up with the suspects Wednesday as they walked down a street in Santa Ana.

The two had been staying at motels in Anaheim, police said.