South Bay Cops Nab Alleged Robbery Getaway Driver

SOUTH BAY, CA -- Police on Jan. 12 arrested a man they believe was the getaway driver during at least two robberies that took place in the city recently.

Following a second purse-snatch robbery at Stanford Shopping Center within three days, Mountain View Police detectives tracked down the man in San Francisco and arrested him for allegedly being the getaway driver in both crimes.

At about 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 10, the MVPD's 24-hour dispatch center received a report of a robbery that had just occurred at the Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real in the parking lot on the mall's north side. The suspect fled the area in a vehicle prior to police arrival.

An investigation revealed that the victim, a woman in her forties, had been walking with her mother to her parked car when a vehicle pulled up next to her with its front passenger door already open. At the same time, a male suspect approached her from behind and tried to pull her purse off of her shoulder.

The victim held onto her purse, and the suspect kept pulling it in an effort to wrench it away from her. The victim fell to the ground, was dragged about three feet by the suspect, but retained control of her purse. When the victim’s mother began to scream for help, the suspect let go of the purse and got into the open door of the waiting vehicle and the vehicle then left the area.

The victim sustained minor injuries to her left hip and left knee from falling to the ground, but did not require medical attention at the scene.

No items were stolen from the victim.

During the course of the investigation, officers located an alert witness who had observed the suspect vehicle and wrote down the license plate. Officers later noted the striking similarities between this robbery and one that occurred on Saturday, January 7 at about 6:21 p.m. at Stanford Shopping Center.

On Jan. 11, detectives conducted surveillance in San Francisco at an address associated with the license plate. At about 11:10 a.m., detectives saw two men driving in the suspect vehicle in the 400 block of Andover Street in San Francisco, and stopped the car, a black 1996 Lexus ES-300 four-door sedan.

Detectives located the stolen purse and personal property of the victim from Saturday night’s robbery in the vehicle, and arrested the two occupants.

The ensuing investigation revealed that the driver of the vehicle at the time of the car stop, 38-year-old Delbin Noe Hernandez-Elvir of San Francisco, had been the getaway driver of the Lexus in both robberies. Police booked Hernandez-Elvir into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for one count of felony robbery for his role in the January 7 crime, one count of felony attempted robbery, for his role in the January 10 crime.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Palo Alto Police 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Or, anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the PAPD's free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.

Image via Palo Alto Police