Santa Monica Police on Monday nabbed a suspected armed robber within minutes after he allegedly held up the Mobil gas station on Cloverfield Boulevard.
At 1:28 a.m. a police officer on routine patrol noticed “suspicious activity” at the gas station, located at Cloverfield Boulevard and Michigan Avenue, on the city’s eastside. The officer witnessed a man covering his face while getting into his truck, parked in the gas station parking lot, said Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega.
The officer followed the truck to the 1800 block of Michigan Avenue where the suspect, identified as Los Angeles resident Yuseff Lateef Graves, 20, was stopped for a traffic violation. Graves pulled over but then quickly accelerated in an attempt to evade the officer. A chase ensued for about eight blocks before Graves crashed into a parked car on High Place, Fabrega said.
Graves then allegedly fled on foot, but was found hiding in an apartment complex’s laundry room. A second suspect who was a passenger in the car was never found, Fabrega said.
A short time later, an employee from the Mobil station reported to police that he had been robbed by two suspects who drove off in a white truck.
The officer apparently witnessed the men within seconds of them robbing the gas station, Fabrega said.
Graves was arrested for armed robbery and outstanding warrants. He was booked into Santa Monica Jail and his bail was set at $66,000.
Anyone with additional information should call the SMPD’s robbery/homicide unit at (310) 458-8451.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 27, 2002. Read the original PDF.