Homeless Man Linked to 18-Plus Robberies Captured In Pomona
POMONA (CBSLA) – A 33-year-old homeless man believed to be responsible for at least 18 robberies over three months, most of them within the city of Pomona, was captured last week.
Pomona police reported Friday that Jorge Armando Sanchez Frias is charged with 18 robberies which occurred between Jan. 5 and April 1.
Thirteen of the 18 robberies happened within Pomona, while the other five took place in surrounding cities, police said.
Frias was arrested on April 5 in the area of San Antonio and Towne avenues in the Indian Hill area of Pomona.
In the latest robbery, which occurred on the afternoon of April 1 and was caught on surveillance video, police allege Frias entered a market in the 1100 block of West 2nd Street and demanded cash at gunpoint.
During the robbery, the video shows the clerk pulling out his own gun, prompting a violent physical altercation in which the suspect can be seen grabbing, wrestling and punching the clerk until the gun falls from his hands and skids across the floor.
Frias eventually fled with the stolen cash and both guns, his and the clerk's, police said. He was arrested just a couple of miles from the store.
The L.A. County district attorney's office has charged Frias with 14 counts of second-degree robbery, one count each of assault with a deadly weapon with a firearm and grand theft of a firearm.
Longtime customer Richard Nuñez told CBS2 Friday the video was hard to watch.
"Somebody wants to go and hurt somebody after they robbed them?" Nuñez asked. "There's no use to beat him up. He got what he wanted, now leave and go."
The loyal customer said the clerk, who didn't want to speak to CBS2, was back at work the next day with a black eye.
"I've known him for, like, over 15 years. I used to live just down the street, and I come here regularly, and, yeah, he's a really nice guy," Nuñez said.
