Police seek hotel bandits

Police on Tuesday announced a $20,000 reward for information leading

to the arrests of two men suspected in 41 hotel robberies, including

two in Costa Mesa, over a span of seven months.

The reward was offered by a donor who wants to remain anonymous,

police said. The serial robbers have hit mid-size hotels in an area

from San Diego to Bakersfield.

Police have connected the robberies through surveillance tapes and

a pattern in how the thieves operate, said Orange County Sheriff’s

Department spokesman, Jim Amormino.

Although some images from surveillance cameras are clearer than

others, Amormino said there’s no question that the same suspect

appears in all the tapes.

In each robbery, a man with a mustache who’s wearing a baseball

cap, displays a handgun and demands cash from a clerk. A second man

-- who is younger and thinner -- sometimes assists in the robbery,

police said. Neither man makes an effort to conceal his appearance

during the robbery.

“They’re pretty brazen in that they don’t bother covering up,”

said Capt. Charlie Chavez of the Anaheim Police Department, which is

leading the hotel robbery investigation.

The robbers tend to hit the hotels in morning hours on Sundays and

Tuesdays. On several occasions, the men have hit several hotels in

one day, police said.

In May, two armed men robbed a Residence Inn at 881 West Baker St.

in Costa Mesa. The men took off with about $1,100 in cash, police

said.

More recently, a hotel robbery occurred Sept. 5 at the Best

Western at 2642 Newport Blvd. A man climbed over the hotel counter,

attempted to tamper with the safe and ended up stealing the cash

drawer from the register, said Sgt. Marty Carver of the Costa Mesa

Police Department.

Carver was unaware of any surveillance images taken from the Costa

Mesa robberies. The Costa Mesa Police Department did not know that

the two robberies were being investigated in connection with other

hotel robberies in the area, Carver said.

At a news conference held Tuesday in Anaheim, officers showed

pictures of the two suspects, including a video clip of a robbery

captured by one hotel security camera.

“Fortunately, to date, they have not hurt anyone nor have they

fired any rounds in any of the robberies,” Chavez said.

The man most often seen in hotel surveillance tapes is described

as Latino, 6 feet tall, 250 to 260 pounds, in his late 20s or early

30s. He has a mustache and a goatee, and he typically wears a

baseball hat and heavy clothing.