CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN GABRIEL
It was a good night for detectives. On an evening stakeout Thursday for the “ski mask bandit” wanted for a recent string of armed robberies, they spotted another crime in progress.
Police said a young man appeared to be accosting a woman in the 1700 block of Palm Avenue. Before officers could reach them, the woman escaped, and the man entered a business around the corner on East Valley Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Inside, the man allegedly dragged another woman into a back room and secured the door. Police broke in and arrested Kenneth Parker, 18, on suspicion of kidnapping to commit rape.
About two hours later, the detectives -- from the Sheriff Department’s major crime bureau and the San Gabriel Police Department -- arrested Mark Henry Cons, 47, at his home on Palm Avenue.
They believe he was involved in 30 armed robberies in Rosemead and San Gabriel over the last two months.
-- Alan Zarembo
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