Police arrested a man and a woman last month in connection with an armed robbery at an East Manhattan cell phone store.
Fernando Andalon-Alvarez, a 22-year-old Torrance resident, and Rebeca Garcia-Aquino, a 21-year-old Lawndale resident, were arrested by in Torrance by Torrance Police Department officers during a traffic stop the evening of Dec. 21, said Sgt. Paul Ford of the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
Andalon-Alvarez and Garcia-Aquino are suspects in a robbery that occurred at a Verizon store in the 1700 block of Artesia Blvd. on Jan. 16 last year. Two male suspects armed with guns entered the store shortly after it opened and accosted a female clerk, who was the only other person in the store at the time, Ford said. The clerk was not harmed, but the men left with 25 cell phones, and fled in a waiting car.
Torrance police arrested the man and the woman in the same car thought to have been used as the getaway vehicle in the robbery, Ford said. Andalon-Alvarez is believed to have been one of the robbers, while Garcia-Aquino is suspected of serving as the getaway driver.
The nearly year-long delay between the crime and the arrest was attributable to the search for the suspects, as well as crime lab delays. MBPD officers were able to piece together identifications of the suspects and the vehicle, but were waiting for technicians to return DNA evidence for confirmation, Ford said.
“We already had them identified,” he said. “For us it’s just a matter of making sure.”
Police could not elaborate further on how the DNA evidence was collected or against what sample it was compared.
A third suspect, the other man thought to have been inside the store with Andalon-Alvarez, remains at large. Both robbers obscured their faces with bandanas during the crime, but the store clerk described the other robber as a male Hispanic, about 5’8” with a thin build, wearing a gray scarf and a black hoodie, Ford said.
Based on the suspects’ conduct during the robbery at the Verizon store, the remaining suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous.
