Thursday, July 10, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.
Metro Police arrested 18 people believed to be responsible for more than 80 violent home invasions, business robberies and carjackings in northeast Las Vegas that took place between March and May.
The suspects, all male and most between the ages of 16 and 18, were allegedly members of three different groups of bandits who targeted people who were reportedly involved in the marijuana trade, Lt. Ted Snodgrass, commander of Metro's robbery unit, said. The arrests were made throughout June.
Just as the elderly are sometimes victimized because they're seen as more vulnerable and non-English speaking people are targeted because they may fear the police, those who sell drugs are less likely to report the crimes because they don't want to get arrested themselves.
"It's really ingenious when you think about it," Snodgrass said. "Drug dealers don't trust us."
It was a difficult, complex investigation with "lots of twists and turns," he said.
Over three months, an investigative team consisting of robbery detectives, gang detectives and beat officers put in long hours working on the investigation, sharing information and lending their expertise.
Because the crimes were concentrated near the North Las Vegas border, North Las Vegas detectives were also brought in, as well as a civilian investigative specialist with Metro.
The team was built after a suggestion from Lt. Tom Monahan, commander of the homicide unit, who Snodgrass said has experience with the investigative technique.
Combining investigators from different units is "a different way of doing things, but it worked out very well," Snodgrass said. "I'm very pleased."
It appears some of the suspects started out as burglars, he said, then became bolder and progressed to home invasions and other crimes. Home invasions are robberies in which the suspect or suspects force their way into the victims' homes, then use violence or threaten violence to overpower the occupants while stealing money or property, or both.
The three groups of bandits -- Snodgrass called them "cells" -- were probably aware of each other, but they weren't necessarily competitive or territorial. Although most were gang members, they didn't commit the crimes for the gang. It was business, Snodgrass said.
Investigators were able to determine that some victims and suspects were casually acquainted. Sometimes a girlfriend of a suspect would drop by and visit the victim, see how much money and drugs were in the home and what types of weapons were on hand, then report the information back to the suspects, who would then commit the home invasion, Snodgrass said.
After they discovered the bandits seemed to be focusing on known drug sellers, "some average Joe minding his own business" was the victim of a home invasion in the same area. At first investigators couldn't figure out why. Snodgrass said. That's where the beat officers, who know the streets, came in handy.
They realized the robbers had the address wrong; the known drug house was exactly one block away from the random victim's home.
As they got deeper into the investigation, they saw that a variety of crimes were on the suspects' menu.
"The interesting thing about these guys is they don't just do home invasions. They do carjackings, business robberies, including (targeting) a small casino," Snodgrass said.
He estimated that the 18 people arrested committed two to three robberies each. Most were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery with a deadly weapon and grand larceny auto.
The three groups of bandits are responsible for pushing up the number of robberies reported in March, April and May, Snodgrass said.
There were 248 robberies in February; 360 in March; 341 in April; 374 in May and 309 in June.
Investigators also nabbed three individual robbers allegedly responsible for a series of holdups in the past month and a half.
Jesus Benitez, 27, liked to rob cash and loan agencies; Larry Beavers, 26, targeted small electronics stores -- he was caught after he left his identification card at the scene of one of his robberies -- and Terrence Ford, 24, hit convenience stores, Snodgrass said.
Investigators are now working on solving a series of armed robberies and a violent home invasion between the hours of 1 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. July 1 in the northwest part of the valley.
The suspects are described as Pacific Islanders, possibly Samoan, between the ages of 18 and 21. One suspect is described as five feet, 10 inches and 180 pounds with bushy black hair, brown eyes, a dark complexion, medium build and a goatee, Sgt. Al Cervantes said.
He was last seen wearing a dark blue shirt, dark blue pants and white shoes. He may be in possession of a handgun, possibly a Smith & Wesson.
The other suspect was about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds with shoulder-length black hair in a ponytail, clean-shaven with brown eyes and a dark complexion. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, black or dark pants and black shoes. He had a large-framed, short-barreled blue steel revolver.
Anyone with information is asked to call Metro's robbery section at 229-3591 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.
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