Mother Turns In Suspect in 18 Robberies

A security guard suspected in at least 18 robberies in north Orange County since Thanksgiving was arrested in Stanton on Thursday morning after his mother turned him in, police said.

Richard Micah Mafa Tovale, 20, was arrested after his mother saw a security camera videotape of a Buena Park robbery and drove him to the Orange County sheriff’s Stanton station Thursday morning, authorities said.

Tovale fled from the car when his mother stopped in front of the station, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said. Deputies arrested him at his home on Grandoaks Drive in Stanton about 11 a.m., Amormino said.

A red Pontiac Grand Am that authorities believe was used in some of the robberies was found at Tovale’s home.

Tovale’s mother told sheriff’s deputies she recognized her son from a security camera tape that was broadcast after an armed robbery at a Buena Park liquor store Wednesday morning.

Minutes later, as sheriff’s deputies were at the store taking a report on the incident, an attempt was made, apparently by the same person, to rob a store nearby. Authorities said the would-be robber was scared off when the clerk activated an alarm.

Authorities said Tovale is suspected of stealing an estimated $7,000, as well as alcohol, cigarettes and root beer, since November.

Investigators said Tovale is a suspect in at least 18 armed robberies in Buena Park, Garden Grove, Cypress, Stanton and possibly Westminster. In most of the incidents, at least several hundred dollars was taken, police said.