17 Los Angeles Gangs Target And Rob Rich People, Police Say

LOS ANGELES — At least 17 Los Angeles street gangs are behind a sudden spike in brazen robberies in which robbers follow people home from high-end locations and make off with expensive jewelry or other goods, police officials said Tuesday.

The gangs, mostly based in South Los Angeles, independently staged robberies and sometimes used spotters to target people wearing luxury watches or driving pricey cars, Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who spearheads an LAPD "follow-home robbery" task force, told the city Police Commission.

Michael Moore, chief of the LAPD, said they don't believe the robberies are spontaneous.

"We believe that many times, these offenders are scouting out locations, setting up advance people, may even have relationships with parking valets or store employees," Moore said.

Robberies happened in the San Fernando Valley, on the west side and downtown Los Angeles.

"No area is unique or been protected from this occurrence," Moore said, pleading with businesses to help police root out the violent robbers.

Moore said people thinking of wearing expensive watches and jewelry be "mindful" of the spate of "follow-home" robberies.

"It has persisted now for six months, going on a year," Moore said. "And we're concerned that the temperament of the offenders that are involved in this has not been changed by the enforcement efforts taken to date."

He advised people to be aware of their surroundings, walk in pairs, and recognize that no piece of jewelry or watch is "worth your life."

"The issue of struggling or fighting to retain a watch or a piece of jewelry is not worth it," Moore said. "We have seen a murder associated with these 'follow-home,' 'follow-up' bandits. Actually, we've seen two. And so we know the propensity for violence is ever present."

Despite a number of arrests over recent months, the threat of such violent robberies persists, he said, including two recent examples.

As many as five carloads of people have followed home some targets, swarming them to steal watches, handbags or cars before they have much of a chance to resist, said Tippet, the police captain.

In an October 2020 case, a man was arrested this month on charges of robbing two watches worth an estimated $600,000. The victim left a design school and was returning to his business when he noticed a white Maserati following him.

As the victim arrived at his business, the Maserati drove up alongside and three suspects got out and chased the victim, pushing him to the ground and robbing him. One of the suspects pointed a handgun at the victim's head, police said, and demanded the man hand over his watch.

"We have seen countless individuals traumatized by having a gun pointed at them," Tippet said. "Many others are dealing with the trauma and injuries from being tackled, kicked, beaten, punched and are pistol-whipped to the head."

Last year, police recorded 165 such holdups and 56 so far this year. Five occurred in the previous two days. Thirteen people were shot, two fatally. Fifty robberies took place in the LAPD's Hollywood Division and nearly as many in the Wilshire Division, along with many in an area that includes the downtown Jewelry District.

Such attacks were "almost unheard of" before last year, Tippet said.

"In my 34 years in the LAPD, I have never seen this type of criminal behavior" in such large, coordinated groups, Tippet said.

In a holdup Monday, robbers smashed the window of a car stopped at a light and struck the driver with the vehicle when she tried to run off, video released by police showed. The thieves got out and snatched the woman's watch, which she threw into the street.

The task force has made several dozen arrests for robbery, weapons crimes and attempted murder, along with four arrests on suspicion of murder, Tippet said.

Hamid Khan, an organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday the LAPD was being sensationalist about crime in the city, and suggested police blew crime trends out of proportion in an effort to keep a stranglehold on the city’s budget.

“LAPD has to constantly legitimize itself, constantly has to make itself useful to the community, by raising this specter of people running wild,” Khan told the newspaper.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.