One man, 20-year-old Juan Akeem Ward, and two teens, all Long Beach residents, were arrested and charged with multiple felonies this week in connection with numerous commercial robberies and one street robbery, all in South Long Beach, according to the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD).
The LBPD account stated that an unsuspecting victim placed an item for sale on a local social media site on September 29. The victim met the suspects in the area of Lime Avenue and Broadway, near the downtown Vons, where he was subsequently robbed at gunpoint.
The victims was not seriously injured.
Later, on October 12 and 15, a male adult and two male juveniles robbed three commercial businesses on the 1000 block of Redondo Avenue, the 1700 block of East Broadway and the 800 block of East 4th Street. During the incidents, the suspects were armed and entered the premises, stealing glassware used to smoke tobacco products and demanding money from an employee.
The victims were not injured during the three separate armed robberies.
Upon investigation, detectives located one of the vehicles used during the robberies. The detectives were able to then arrest the three individuals, first Ward on December 13 on the 400 block of Lime Avenue, and then the two teens on December 15.
On December 15, the detectives presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration, with four felony counts of robbery being filed against Ward.
Ward is being held at Los Angeles County Jail with bail set at $200,000.
The juveniles are being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. The District Attorney’s Office filed three counts of robbery against each of the teens on December 19.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call Robbery Detective D. Collier or JJ Johnson at (562) 570-7464. Anonymous tips may be submitted through “LA Crime Stoppers” by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), downloading the “P3 Tips” app to your smart phone (available at the Apple App store and Google Play), or visiting www.LACrimeStoppers.org.