CV Teens Arrested in Connection with LCF Starbucks Robbery

Two Crescenta Valley teenagers were arrested on suspicion of committing a takeover-style robbery of a La Cañada Flintridge Starbucks store early Wednesday morning.

Michael Lee, 18, of La Crescenta, and Min Kim, 19, of Montrose, were arrested outside the Starbucks Coffee Company store located at 475 Foothill Blvd. on suspicion of armed robbery, kidnapping, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.

Sheriff’s Det. Pat Murphy, of the Crescenta Valley station, said Lee and Kim allegedly waited in a Hyundai sport utility vehicle owned by Kim’s father as two female employees went through the process of opening the store at about 5 a.m. When one employee went outside to set up the patio furniture, the men allegedly approached her. Murphy said Lee allegedly pointed a handgun at her, forcing her inside the store.

Detectives suspect Lee and Kim forced one employee to punch in the number that would open the safe while they took money from four cash registers. Murphy said the pair allegedly forced the employees into a back restroom and shut the door.

The safe is equipped with a time-delay. The teens allegedly returned to the SUV and dumped the contents of the cash registers into a plastic bag before returning to try, without success, to open the safe, Murphy said.

The teens were apprehended upon leaving the store the second time, being ordered to the ground at the entrance by patrol officers from the Crescenta Valley and Altadena sheriff’s stations.

Murphy said deputies were tipped off by two Starbucks customers who called about the suspicious circumstances when they noticed the store where they get their morning coffee fix was dark and occupied by two men in hooded sweatshirts.

“We’re glad that they called us,” he said. If we hadn’t gotten that call, they would’ve left after they got the cash.”

Murphy confirmed one of the men is a former employee of the store but would not specify which one.

Lee and Kim are being held at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station in lieu of $320,000 bail each. They are scheduled for arraignment Friday morning in Pasadena Superior Court. Murphy expects them to be charged with felony armed robbery, kidnapping, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.

The store’s assistant manager said the store opens at 5 a.m. but could not comment on the incident. A Starbucks corporate media representative was unable to comment by press time.

-Jennifer Berry