Arrest Made in Sunday’s Pedestrian Robbery Spree Which Began in Ocean Beach

UPDATE:  Here is an update on this developing story about a series of pedestrian robberies that began in OB on Sunday night.

• The arrest made Monday is now known to be that of the suspected getaway driver, Benjamin Hernandez, 23, who is from National City; he’s in jail with a $100,000. One of the victims luckily got the license plate numbers of the get-away car.

•  Law enforcement is busy trying to identify and locate the other new suspects.

• Authorities are still saying it was “six” robberies, but according to the various news sources, it could have included up to 8 actual thefts.

• Police are saying there was a total of 10 victims.

•  Also, it is being reported that the last robbery was up at UCSD, where 2 students were robbed around 11:20 a.m.

• Cellphones and wallets were among the items taken.

•   The descriptions of the two robbers were similar in all of the incidents, with them being described as Latino or Asian and wearing dark clothing, according to police.

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An arrest has been made by San Diego police of one of three suspects involved in a pedestrian robbery spree that began in Ocean Beach on Sunday night, February 2.   There were 6 robberies in all, and they stretched from OB to Mission Beach to Hillcrest and Golden Hill.

Police arrested one  Benjamin Hernandez on Monday in the Mid-City area when he was seen driving a vehicle that matched the description of the car used in the crimes.   Hernandez is 19.   Two other suspects are being sought by police.

On Sunday, at almost 7pm, the first robbery occurred in Ocean Beach on Cape May Avenue near Cable Street.  The second went down about 5 minutes later on Newport Avenue also near Cable.

Not too long after, two more robberies happened in the Midtown and Hillcrest communities, on Kettner Boulevard and Sassafras St. near Lindbergh Field, and then on First and Washington. Number 5 occurred around 9:30 pm in Golden Hill at 26th and E Streets.  The last one was at 10:45 pm in a Mission Beach alley at El Carmel Place and Mission Boulevard.

There was some confusion in the local media about how many and where the robberies took place.  The U-T San Diego reported on the two in OB but did not mention a possible other one on the 500 block of S. 30th St. in Logan Heights, whereas CBS8 did not report the Cape May Avenue one and did the Logan Heights one.  NBC 7 followed the CBS report.

The three suspects were reported to walk up to their victims and then demanded various things like  cell phones.  Police stated that at least two of the robberies were armed, one with a gun and another with a crowbar and a gun.