Alleged Serial Store Robber In Fullerton Snared In Stakeout

FULLERTON (CBS) — Police staked out a Fullerton grocery store and caught a man suspected of robbing the business for at least the third time this year.

Demetres Delvon Mitchell, 28, of Pico Rivera, was being held in the city jail on suspicion of armed robbery, Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said.

Investigators staked out HR Market, 253 S. Magnolia Ave., for about 200 hours before Mitchell allegedly struck the market again about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Goodrich says Mitchell hopped a counter and grabbed cash out of the register – the same as he did in January in March.

"He's a self-service kind of robber -- he doesn't wait for the clerk to give him the money," the sergeant said.

Police were waiting for the suspect, who was in the store for about 45 seconds, when he burst out the door.

Fullerton police assembled a special unit last year to respond to situations like the serial robberies of the HR Market, Goodrich said.

Investigators from throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties were going over the evidence in the HR Market robberies to see if Mitchell was involved in other stickups.

The suspect's method of operation appears to match multiple robberies in the Southland, Goodrich said.

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