Investigators Close in on Suspects in Latest Verizon Robbery

Detectives with the San Marino Police Department are working with peers from other agencies to track down three men believed to have robbed Verizon Wireless at 2116 Huntington Drive in December.
This latest incident marked the fourth time the store was robbed in 2017 and fifth time overall that merchandise was stolen, including an overnight burglary.
Sgt. Tim Tebbetts with SMPD said on Tuesday that two of the three suspects have been identified with help from the other agencies. He noted they may be gang-affiliated — a survey of their Facebook pages had pictures of them with stacks of cash and a trove of guns and wearing primarily red clothing, suggestive of Bloods membership.
“We know that the crew that they’re involved with is made up of Crips and Bloods,” he added, explaining that individual members of the rival gangs will often collaborate on smaller crime schemes. “We don’t know if these robberies are actually gang-related.”
Security footage showed three black men between ages 19 and 25 enter the store at around 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 20. After looking around the store for a few minutes, they allegedly stole two display phones, cutting through security wiring, and also a box containing four smart watches.
“These same suspects hit Arcadia 20 minutes later,” Tebbetts said in a phone interview last week. “I believe it was a Sprint store. It wasn’t Verizon, but it was a cellphone store. We compared our footage with theirs and we confirmed it was the same people. The BOLOs (“be on lookout” alerts) went out and reached Riverside, where they had similar incidents with who we believe are the same people.”
The robbery in San Marino resulted in a $2,500 loss, according to SMPD. Aside from store employees and the security footage, there were no other witnesses. Crime scene technicians from Pasadena Police Department processed the store.
This robbery differed from the three armed robberies throughout 2017, in which the suspects each wielded handguns and also made off with dozens of cellphones. There were no injuries during any of the robberies. Tebbetts explained that Verizon stores are often targeted by thieves because their phones can still be used overseas even if their electronic serial numbers are red flagged.
Tebbetts said each of the agencies involved believe they’ve identified the three suspects and are hopefully closing in on arrests. He added there may be another cellphone store robbery linked to these three that would add Los Angeles Police Department in the collaborative investigation.
“There are four agencies involved,” he said. “We believe we know who [the suspects] are now. These are low-time people in this one. I think that’s why they were able to be identified so quickly. The security footage from both agencies and both detectives working together and sharing information so quickly is going to be a key reason for if we get these guys in custody soon.”