Crime & Safety

Police Chase Suspect Connected to Armed Robbery/Kidnapping at Montrose Dental Office, Police Say

The crime occurs near the Montrose Shopping Park late Wednesday afternoon.

wild police chase that weaved through the Crescenta Valley Thursday morning is connected to an armed robbery that occurred in Montrose around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. 

The suspect arrested at the end of the chase is believed to have entered a dental office on the 3900 block of Ocean View Avenue in unincorporated Montrose, robbed the business and herded the people inside into a back room before stealing a car, Sgt. Mark Slater told Patch. 

"We had a report of a robbery and kidnapping at that location. Subsequently, there was a grand theft auto where the suspect took one of the victim's cars and fled the scene. The detectives are still working out the details, but the occupants of the dental office were robbed," Slater said. 

No kidnapping victims were removed from the building, and Slater said the suspect simulated a weapon during the robbery but the victims never saw it. 

"It was more of a kidnapping where the victims were relocated. Anytime a victim is moved during the commission of a crime, it constitutes kidnapping. He locked them in a back room, I guess," Slater said. 

According to information that was overheard on the police scanner, the suspect was a possible former patient at the office, but Slater declined to confirm this information. 

"Our detectives have been working on this all night long and following up on leads. They located the vehicle last night, and went in pursuit of it last night and lost it. They continued working at it throughout the night," Slater said. "More leads led them to the Sunland area where they located the vehicle. Ultimately a pursuit was initiated and at the end of the it the highway patrol pitted the vehicle." 

The suspect's name and identity have not yet been released. 


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