Bail was set at $125,000 for a 45-year-old Los Angeles man who was arrested on Sunday, April 20 after a beanie he was wearing fell off during a robbery and assault, which linked him to the crime thanks to a DNA match.
This story starts way back on Jan. 5, 2014, when, at 4 am, officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to investigate a report of a strong-arm robbery that had allegedly occurred in the 1400 block of 12th Street.
At that time the victim had returned home from work and parked her vehicle in the carport behind her apartment building.
As she had exited the vehicle she was confronted by a man who punched her in the face and upper body several times.
The victim had struggled with her assailant, but he was still able to grab her purse and cellphone away from her and disappear into the dark of the night.
During the altercation the suspect’s beanie cap fell from his head onto the ground.
The suspect did not retrieve the beanie and forensic personnel attending from the SMPD took it away.
The beanie was later analyzed and provided all-important DNA (DNA is Deoxyribonucleic Acid, and is a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms) that detectives used to identify the suspect.
On April 20 officers arrested the suspect, a Los Angeles resident, in Hermosa Beach. This man was charged with robbery.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
