A fugitive suspected of being a ringleader of a prolific L.A. armored automotive theft crew was captured by the FBI on Wednesday night.
James Russell Davis, certainly one of at the very least seven alleged robbers concerned within the heists, was taken into custody in Rancho Cucamonga lower than per week after legislation enforcement officers publicized their seek for him, stated Donald Alway, assistant director in command of the FBI’s Los Angeles area workplace. Authorities disseminated his picture and characterised him as a mastermind behind a yearlong sequence of fastidiously deliberate armored automotive heists carried out with assault-style rifles.
The theft crew has stolen greater than $500,000, in accordance with the FBI.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Davis, 34, after he was charged final month in a federal legal grievance with conspiracy to intervene with commerce by theft.
An alleged confederate, 36-year-old Deneyvous Hobson, was taken into custody Feb. 21. At the least 5 others believed to be a part of the “Chesapeake Bandits” — so known as as a result of investigators say they devised the holdups at a house on Chesapeake Avenue in L.A.’s West Adams neighborhood — stay at giant.
A video of one of many heists exhibits masked bandits wielding weapons together with an AR-style rifle with a brief barrel, an optical sight and a big prolonged journal.
The bandits would drive safety guards to the bottom at gunpoint, zip-tie them, and seize the luggage of cash earlier than fleeing.
James Russell Davis faces conspiracy and theft prices, authorities say.
(FBI)
In asserting a reward of $25,000 for data resulting in arrests of any of the suspects final week, LAPD Chief Michel Moore stated detectives investigating the armored automotive robberies had discovered connections among the many crimes, which had been dedicated at varied banks final yr in Hawthorne, Inglewood and Los Angeles.
Alway stated the bandits would conduct surveillance on the areas, utilizing a number of autos and personnel. The group had drivers who would stay of their autos throughout the robberies, he stated.
Three weeks earlier than the primary holdup, at a credit score union in Hawthorne, two males — believed to have been Hobson and Davis — had been seen in a white Chevrolet Tahoe “for roughly one hour whereas a future sufferer, J.G. — a Sectran Safety, Inc., driver — parked his armored automotive and picked up money” from ATMs, in accordance with the legal grievance.
A financial institution worker observed the lads and known as police. A police officer questioned the 2, who supplied identification with the identical Chesapeake Avenue tackle, in accordance with an affidavit filed with the grievance.
“Three weeks later, to the day — and nearly the very same minute — … J.G. was robbed whereas accumulating money from the identical” ATMs, Elizabeth Cardenas, an FBI particular agent, stated within the affidavit.
The robbers had been three males who used what seemed to be an AR-15 rifle and a handgun throughout the theft, authorities stated. They stole the guard’s gun and about $100,000.
The crew allegedly pulled off the same heist about half a mile away in Inglewood on June 9, stealing almost $93,000, authorities stated. A car matching the outline of Davis’ Tahoe was “seen main a getaway automotive inside half-hour of the theft on a close-by Ring digicam.”
Based on courtroom data, Hobson has earlier convictions for theft and assault with a lethal weapon, and Davis has a conviction for receiving stolen property and possessing housebreaking instruments.
At the least 5 different people believed to be a part of the Chesapeake Bandits have but to be recognized. Surveillance images of them may be seen on the FBI’s web site.
Anybody with data is urged to name the FBI with a tip. A reward of as much as $25,000 is being supplied in trade for data resulting in an arrest within the case.
