Four Suspects in Custody After Plate Reader Alerts Monrovia Officer of Stolen Vehicle

Photo by Terry Miller

By Susan Motander

A suspected carjacker and three associates were arrested in Monrovia Thursday after a brief foot pursuit and neighborhood search, and with the assistance of local residents according to Lt. Heath Harvey, Watch Commander at Monrovia Police Department. A local elementary school was forced to go into lockdown mode during the incident.

A Monrovia police officer was on routine patrol on Thursday morning when his Automated License Plate Reader (LPR) reacted. The LPR scans license numbers of passing cars and cars it passes. The LPR indicated that a vehicle that had just passed the officer going in the opposite direction was a “stolen” from Arcadia.

The LPR alerts when it reads a license number of a stolen vehicle or one wanted in regard to an ongoing investigation. In this case, Monrovia police had been briefed, a usual, about the carjacking in Arcadia and when the LPR alerted on the vehicle, the officer realized that the car was the one carjacked in the neighboring community.

Since he was traveling in the opposite direction. the officer “lost” the suspect vehicle while turning around his patrol vehicle according to Harvey. Sometime later in the morning he noticed the vehicle again, this time recognizing the driver as a person of interest in a Monrovia case.

While requesting backup, the Monrovia officer went in pursuit while other Monrovia and Arcadia officers responded and set up a perimeter around the area. After a the suspect raced down an alley across Alta Vista at a high speed and emerged onto Mayflower, it came to an abrupt halt as the alley did not continue across that street. All four occupants ran from the vehicle in different directions in an attempt to evade police, Harvey speculated.

Two of the suspects were detained almost immediately. With assistance from members of the Monrovia Detective Bureau, officers from Arcadia Police and aerial observation from Pasadena P.D.’s helicopter, the third suspect was found. Residents of the area also assisted the officers in locating the first three suspects by related what they had observed.

The fourth suspect was seen to enter the schoolyard at Monroe Elementary School, and when that school was advised to go into lockdown mode, the police department was advised that an unknown man was seen entering the school auditorium, Harvey said. Several teams of Monrovia officers responded to the school and detained the fourth suspect.

Three of the suspects are juveniles and therefore their identities cannot be released. The fourth was Robert Owens, an 18-year old transient with no known address. All four remain in custody.

“This is the second time within two weeks that residents have stepped forward and aided police in locating suspects,” said Monrovia Police Chief Jim Hunt, alluding to the arrest last week of the arson suspect in the fire at Monrovia High School. “This shows that our residents are willing to assist their police department.”

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