Federal investigators say they have identified the culprits in a violent robbery ring that has nabbed tens of thousands of dollars from Virginia businesses. Members have robbed four Virginia stores at gunpoint and were conspiring to rob a Pennsylvania bank and a D.C. drug dealer when they were arrested, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Alexandria.
Four men are charged in the operation. They are Edgar Perez-Suniga, Vahelo Escobar, Serfido Florian and Estanislao Perez.
No attorneys were listed for them in court records.
According to the complaint:
The robberies started when three of the men robbed La Disperensa Latina in Woodbridge on Aug. 22. One pointed a gun at employees counting money, told them, “Don’t look at my face or I will shoot you,” then kicked a worker in the thighs, grabbed her hair and pushed her to the ground. Store employees handed over money they were counting and cash from the register.
In total, the robbers made off with about $32,000.
The next robbery happened Sept. 26 at La Azteca Latina in Woodbridge. Two men entered the store, and one pointed a handgun with a red laser toward a child’s chest. When the store’s owner moved the child behind him, the man pointed the gun at owner and demanded money. The owner gave the robbers $12,680 in cash.
Then, on Feb. 7, three of the men robbed Steven’s Shop in Falls Church. Two pointed guns at workers and demanded that they open a display case and safe. The men took trays of jewelry and $40,000 in cash before spraying an employee in the face with pepper spray and fleeing.
On Feb. 11, two robbed the Dollar City Plus in Dale City by placing a gun against an employee’s head and forcing the worker to open the register. They got $600.
The four men, plus two others who were not charged, met with undercover D.C. police officers in March to discuss robbing a bank in the Philadelphia suburbs and a drug dealer in the District, the complaint says. The men were arrested after leaving one of the meetings.
The complaint says Perez-Suniga operated the vehicle seen at the La Disperensa Latina robbery and owned a gun similar to the one used at La Azteca Latina. Florian identified himself in surveillance footage from La Azteca Latina, and Escobar’s fingerprint was found at Steven’s Shop, according to the complaint.
