For Metro task force, ‘tis season to thwart thieves

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Eighteen-year-old Joshua Soto and 20-year-old John Quijano had a plan.

They were going to rob the manager of a mall toy store as he made his nightly bank deposit on the day after Thanksgiving, when they figured at least $50,000 would be in the money bag, they allegedly later told police.

The two met at a fast-food restaurant that night and went over the details one last time before trying to carry out the robbery.

But Soto and Quijano had forgotten to nail down one last important piece of the scheme: They didn't know what the manager looked like. They weren't able to make their move before the manager made the deposit and left the mall.

There was something else the pair didn't know: Metro Police detectives were watching and following them.

Someone told police about their plans, so officers assigned to a special task force aimed at combating crimes linked to the holidays were on the case and arrested Soto and Quijano on a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.

When questioned by detectives, both Soto and Quijano said they would have committed the robbery if they had been able to identify the manager, according to arrest reports filed in the case.

Lt. Ted Snodgrass of Metro's robbery unit said the case is an example of how the "2003 Holiday Initiative" task force works. The program is new this year.

"In simple terms, what we're trying to do is move the resources where the crooks are at," he said.

At this time of the year, the crooks are in shopping centers and malls because that's where their potential victims -- shoppers and busy merchants -- can be found.

Catherine Levy, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, applauded Metro's proactive approach to combatting holiday crime.

"It sounds like a win-win situation for everyone involved," she said. "Merchants want their customers to feel safe."

Soto and Quijano's arrest report says they had been plotting the robbery for two weeks and picked the day after Thanksgiving, considered one of the busiest shopping days of the year, because they figured the store's bank deposit for that day would be very large.

They planned to assault the manager as he made the deposit and make off with the money, the arrest report says.

Robbery detectives "had constant surveillance of them while at the Wendy's and in transit from the Wendy's" to the mall, according to the arrest report, where detectives followed the pair on foot. They were taken into custody at the mall.

Three squads consisting of two plainclothes robbery detectives, two SWAT officers and two patrol officers -- 18 in all, plus a sergeant from each of the three units -- are roaming the valley's shopping centers in an effort to reduce the number of holiday season robberies.

In a typical month Metro investigates about 300 robberies, Snodgrass said. During October, November and December the number of robberies jump about 25 percent.

The number of robberies has increased slightly since last year: As of Nov. 19 Metro handled 3,534 robberies. During the same period last year police investigated 3,527.

Many of the offenders who prowl the malls during the holiday season are "multiple ex-felons," Snodgrass said. For that reason, SWAT officers are involved in case the team encounters any violent situations.

Around this time of year, many of the robberies start out simply as thefts, but escalate to robberies, Snodgrass said. It works like this: A crook will go into a store, grab an armload of merchandise and run. When a security guard tries to stop the thief, the thief will fight the guard.

Over the years store security officers have been stabbed and run over by cars driven by fleeing thieves.

The violence bumps the theft up to a robbery.

Snodgrass said the thieves may run from the Metro officers who confront them, but "they aren't fighting us." Especially not a uniformed SWAT officer.

"People are going to see us out there. We're really committed to this," Snodgrass said. "Our overall mission is to make people feel safer while they're shopping."