By Mary O’KEEFE

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Glendale Police Dept. worked together to arrest an armed robbery crew on Feb. 1 in Glendale. The crew was apprehended within 24 hours of a heist that occurred in Tucson, Arizona. 

In October 2017, ATF began investigating an armed robbery crew targeting Verizon Wireless stores in Southern California. Approximately five Verizon store robberies believed to be related occurred across Southern California in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties in the last five months.

At about 7 p.m. on Jan. 31, a Verizon store in Tucson was robbed during business hours. ATF LA Field Division special agents working with ATF Tucson agents determined the Tucson robbery may be related to the series of robberies occurring in Southern California. Agents were then able to track and locate the crew in Glendale. 

On Feb. 1, four individuals, Zachary Wade, 41, of Long Beach, Gasper Khachaturyan, 23, of Glendale, Marques Pettywright, 30, of Long Beach and Randall Tate Jr., 29, of Long Beach were arrested without incident. A fifth individual from Glendale was detained and later released. 

AFT is asking individuals who have information on the robberies and communities that have experienced similar robberies at Verizon stores to call (888) 283-8477.