Hermosa Beach city police traced clothing worn during a November crime spree to a 38-year-old Gardena man who said “All right, you got me” and confessed to robbing banks in Hermosa, Torrance and Long Beach, authorities said.
Acting on a tip from a citizen, Hermosa Beach Police Detective Jon Sibbald identified a possible suspect in the Nov. 16 robbery of a Wells Fargo bank branch at Pacific Coast Highway and Pier Avenue.
The tip led to the search of an apartment and a vehicle, in which Sibbald found clothing worn during more than one bank robbery, Detective Mick Gaglia said. Sibbald gathered video surveillance of the robberies which showed the suspect, Michael James Schuetta, allegedly wearing articles of clothing recovered in the search.
On Dec. 1, Sibbald questioned Schuetta at the Los Angeles County Jail, where he was lodged after an arrest by Redondo Beach police in connection with a separate incident.
“Detective Sibbald interrogated suspect Schuetta and presented him with the abundance of incriminating evidence,” Gaglia said. “Suspect Schuetta stated to Detective Sibbald, ‘All right, you got me’ and then related the specific banks he robbed and the amounts taken.”
Schuetta confessed to Sibbald that he robbed the Wells Fargo branch along with a Bank of America branch in Torrance Nov. 4, and a Citibank branch in Long Beach Nov. 12.
In the Hermosa robbery, a man entered the Wells Fargo branch about 11:45 a.m., handed a teller a note stating “I have a gun give me the money,” and then made his escape with about $3,900 in cash. He was spotted running southwest through the parking lot towards Pier Avenue. ER
