SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Coincidences Lead to Arrest of Suspect in Holdups

A series of coincidences helped police arrest a man who they say was responsible for about two dozen armed robberies of San Fernando Valley businesses, most of them on Ventura Boulevard.

Douglas McMann, 37, who police called a transient, was being held at the Van Nuys jail and was charged Tuesday with three counts of robbery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly robbing three merchants. Victims said that the robber would brandish a gun and, after taking the cash, forced them to lie on the floor.

Authorities first learned of the suspect’s identity Friday when a woman visiting the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division on other business happened to see a composite drawing of the robber and identified him as McMann to the desk officer, authorities said.

The desk officer, Ken Knox, did a computer check and found that police had briefly held McMann in custody for several days at the beginning of March for an unrelated crime.

The day after McMann was identified, police said, Knox spotted him walking along Roscoe Boulevard near Louise Avenue in Van Nuys and arrested him. McMann is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail.