Robbery

LA CRESCENTA — The number of violent and property-related crimes reported to the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station decreased by 11% for the first three months of the year, according to the most recent statistics. So far this year, the station has handled 152 violent and property crimes, 19 fewer than the 171 reported for the same period last year, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s preliminary crime data released last week. “I am not surprised,” said La Cañada Flintridge Mayor David Spence.

Police say they are continuing to investigate a robbery in which a knife-wielding man ordered a woman to stay in her bedroom as he ransacked her home and fled. The woman awoke about 10 a.m. Dec. 6 to the man entering the house through her bedroom window, according to Glendale Police Department reports. Police said the man likely cut the window screen and slid it open to enter her apartment in the 500 block of East Lomita Avenue. The man, who was armed with a four- to six-inch kitchen knife, reportedly turned to the woman and told her to "Stay there.

GLENDALE — Fearing that more jewelry stores may fall victim in a similar manner to a brazen Nov. 15 smash-and-grab daytime robbery, police have begun alerting business owners on how to prepare and immediately react. The alert comes after last month's robbery of the Glendale Jewelry Mart on Brand Boulevard in which a group of thieves bombarded the store in broad daylight, smashed several glass displays with hammers, stole an undisclosed amount of merchandise and fled in separate vehicles.

GLENDALE — A 46-year-old Los Angeles man charged with shooting a Glendale Pizza Hut employee during a robbery was finally nabbed Wednesday in Fresno after eluding police for more than a year. The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested Daryl Beulah after Glendale police detectives tracked him down using DNA evidence left at the scene, police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Glendale police presented DNA findings to the Los Angeles County district attorney office, which ordered an arrest warrant for Beulah on Nov. 12, according to court documents.

DOWNTOWN — Police are asking for the public's help in identifying the suspects who robbed a downtown jewelry store in broad daylight Monday. Police have detained a man and two women in connection with the robbery, which occurred about 1 p.m. at Glendale's Jewelry Mart in the 200 block of North Brand Boulevard. Immediately after the robbery, the trio led police on a chase from Glendale to South Los Angeles, where they were eventually detained, police said. Surveillance video of the incident released by Glendale police on Tuesday showed at least six people using axes and hammers to bust jewelry cases open while others scooped merchandise into open bags.

DOWNTOWN — Three people suspected of robbing a Glendale jewelry store Monday afternoon were detained on Interstate 105 following a pursuit into South Los Angeles, officials said. A man and two women are being held by police following reports that they may have robbed Glendale's Jewelry Mart at 12:59 p.m. Monday, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. "The reason we were able to get on it so quickly was because we had so many people calling us," he said. Police did not immediately release the trio's identities.

SOUTH GLENDALE — Two Glendale men arrested Saturday after they allegedly punched and robbed a 60-year-old woman may be linked to four other robberies in Glendale and Burbank, police said. Rafik Manouk, a 58-year-old handyman, and Gevork Sarkisyan, a 38 year-old tailor, were arrested on suspicion of robbing the woman and were booked into the Glendale city jail, where they were being held in lieu of $200,000 bail each, according to Glendale Police Department reports. Detectives believe they are responsible for three other similar street robberies in Glendale, police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

LA CRESCENTA — Crescenta Valley and La Cañada Flintridge saw an overall drop in crime for the first seven months of this year, according to figures released Tuesday. From Jan. 1 to July 31, there were eight arson fires, up from five, and violent crimes — rape, robbery and aggravated assault — nearly doubled to 43 incidents, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Station Capt. David Silversparre attributed the increase to recent bank robberies and shoplifting incidents in which the offender scuffled with officers and security guards.

GLENDALE — A parolee who allegedly robbed a woman outside a Glendale convalescent home at knifepoint is in custody after eluding police for several months, officials said. Glendale police detectives had been looking for Richard Lugo since DNA evidence retrieved from gloves used during the November robbery matched his own, Det. Keith Soboleski said. "He couldn't explain why DNA evidence was present," Soboleski said. Lugo reportedly entered the lobby of a convalescent home on the 3000 block of Montrose Avenue about 11:50 p.m. Nov. 25 and sat there as if he was waiting for somebody, Soboleski said.

GLENDALE — Charges were filed Tuesday against the "Fedora bandit" — so dubbed for the hat he wore while allegedly robbing nine businesses, including three in Glendale, officials said. Alex Tabatabaee, 31, who was on parole for committing seven other robberies, was arrested Sunday in Hollywood while allegedly robbing a Payless shoe store, Glendale Police Det. Keith Soboleski said. Soboleski is still investigating whether Tabatabaee robbed another business that same day in San Fernando, he said.