California Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

A man suspected in a rash of bank robberies in Moreno Valley, Corona, Riverside and Norco was arrested last week by Moreno Valley police. According to The Press Enterprise, the FBI has been working on the case with police in Riverside and Corona--as well as Riverside County sheriff's deputies in Norco and Moreno Valley--to track the robber down.

The robber was nicknamed the “neck brace bandit” because the bank robber who entered the banks wore a neck brace, a floppy hat and a bandage over his nose, and handed over a note demanding cash and threatened tellers and customers. The Neck Brace Bandit was seen last driving an older Mercedes with black chrome rims.

This week, Moreno Valley police stopped a Mercedes that matched that description for a traffic infraction and arrested the driver on suspicions he was involved in one of the robberies. Police said they found evidence related to the robberies -- but not a neck brace -- at the driver's home.

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Two juveniles are in custody relating to allegations of a litany of street robberies committed over a one-month period in the Silver Lake and Echo Park areas of Los Angeles. The crimes appear to be gang related.

The L.A. Daily News reports that this weekend, LAPD gang officers arrested two juvenile gang members for allegedly committing a series of street robberies in late December and throughout January of this year. The suspects in the robberies targeted lone men walking on the street between midnight and 3:30 a.m. during this month-long time period.

Reports say that police served a search warrant at one of the juvenile's residence and evidence recovered may be related to the robberies. Some of the items recovered included cellular phones, walkie-talkies, and several knives and guns that are believed to have been used during the commission of some of the Los Angeles robberies.

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On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay nearly $13 million to people injured or mistreated in a 2007 May Day melee in MacArthur Park--bringing the total money spent over the last two weeks to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct to more than $30 million.

However, the L.A. Daily News reports that up until Wednesday's announcement, the amount of money the City of Los Angeles has paid in lawsuits against the Los Angeles Police Department dropped over 90 percent between 2000 and 2008. The Daily News also has a database of nearly 1,600 LAPD lawsuits. The highlights? Two $950,000 settlements for 1999 and 2004 civil rights violations as well as $900,000 settlement in a 2004 sexual harassment case. The database can be found here.

Continue reading " City of Los Angeles to pay out $30 million for LAPD civil rights violations " »