Robberies Cease as Investigators Close in on Chicken Bandits

A string of armed robberies recently came to an end as investigators moved in on a group they’ve dubbed “the chicken bandits”.

Over the span of eight days, two local fast food chicken stops were hit for their day’s cash count, beginning with Rooster’s on Oct. 29 and continuing with Golden Chick on Nov. 5.

Now, with the suspects booked on extraneous charges, detectives with the San Angelo Police Department are awaiting evidence to corroborate their suspicions that the group was behind the chicken chain heists.

“We think we know who it is,” said Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Sergeant Rusty Herndon. “That’s the frustrating part for us and the public is we’ve got a pretty good idea we know who it is. The bad part is we can’t prove it. So until we get some more evidence in that supports our suspicion—when suspicion becomes probable cause—then we can get a warrant and we can go from there. We’re still waiting on some evidence to come in.”

Subpoenas and search warrants for various evidentiary purposes have been sent out as the investigation has developed, Herndon said, and the two detectives working the case, Soto and Elkins, are waiting for those to return.

Throughout the investigation they’ve been met with hurdles, both on the technological side and due to the nature of the crime, but Herndon explained detectives “hit the trail hot and hard” and were able to obtain loads of information and a list of names.

With very few witnesses in both cases and either no surveillance footage or video of a very low quality, investigators hit the streets to acquire information, sifting through the statements of several individuals and checking it for validity and relevance.

“We have to refer back to old-style policing, getting out shaking the bushes, kicking the trees and see[ing] what falls out,” he said. “We get people who get arrested for various other charges unrelated that say, ‘Hey, I’ve got some information. Can we work a deal?’ We listen to those, but then we have to sift through what’s valid information and who’s blowing smoke at us to get out of the bind they’re in.”

Similarities in how the robberies were carried out quickly suggested the two were related, and both were executed in the evening at locations along Sherwood Way.

“The modus operandi seems to be consistent with both,” Herndon explained. “You’ve got two guys come in wearing masks or covering their face, wearing hoodie-type garments. In both incidents there was a gun displayed, both incidents they demanded money. [There were] a lot of similarities between the two.”

However, although only two suspects entered the stores, the investigation has developed a wider pool of suspects. 

“Let’s just say we’re looking at a group of them who are involved in a lot of criminal activity,” Herndon said. “You know, we’re doing something right when all of a sudden it stopped. We haven’t been able to come out and say, ‘Yeah, we made an arrest. These are the guys who did it,’ but we’re doing the best we can with the resources we have until we get some more evidence in.”

Although the chicken bandits have only been credited with the Rooster’s and Golden Chick robberies, another fried chicken eatery was burglarized on Oct. 16, when two males dressed in a like fashion demanded money from the staff at Popeye’s. Investigators are currently looking for any links between the Popeye’s and other chicken incidents.

“There were some similarities,” Herndon said. “The jury’s still out on that.”

Both of the chicken chain robberies are aggravated cases because a deadly weapon, in these instances a gun, was displayed.

On Dec. 9, a 17-year-old boy, Joshua Garza Delarosa, was booked into the county jail for robbery. Robbery is a broad term, Herndon explained, that is essentially a theft during which the suspect hurts another individual, be it cutting or pushing the person down, displaying a weapon or threatening to do harm.

Delarosa had made a threat to someone at the Stripes location he robbed, and two other juvenile suspects were involved. Police believe the Stripes incident was isolated and does not have anything to do with the group they are investigating in the chicken bandits case.

“We have robberies all the time at your businesses,” Herndon explained. “When an employee tries to stop them either physically or just trying to block them and they get hurt it becomes a robbery. We get those quite often, especially this time of year, Christmastime. A lot more merchandise is in and people tend to want to take things for various reasons other than drugs.”

Weather changes crime patterns, Herndon intimated, noting that in warmer weather officers sometimes see more criminal mischief, theft and burglaries, whereas in the colder months they may see more instances of family violence. All crimes are seen throughout the year, he said, but certain crimes tend to pick up at different times.

“I’ve been doing this for 28 years now and you always look at it as crime being seasonal in some areas,” he said. “For some reason, it seems like it’s (robbery) a Christmastime [crime]. I think it’s more because it’s darker earlier and longer as opposed to seasonal.”

Rooster’s was hit between 7-7:30 p.m., Herndon said as example. By then, it was already dark outside and there was a good amount of cash in the drawer from the day’s sales.  

“I don’t think this was a crime of opportunity; these guys had planned this out,” Herndon said. “They had some knowledge of the store, make-up, knew to hit later in the day as opposed to earlier because there was more money.”

While investigators have yet to determine the motive for the crime, Herndon said drugs are generally a foundation for such incidents and those involving more than one person are often committed for the sake of notoriety or to impress someone else. A group of people may be trying to one-up each other, he said, but stated that investigators have not determined whether this is the case for the chicken bandits.

“It’s either something that they’re comfortable with, something that they’re familiar with, something that they have some inside information on—there’s a lot of variables that play into factor,” he said. “Until we actually sit down with the suspects to find out why they chose those places [we don’t know], but it’s going to be one of those three.”

As investigators chase the lengthy paper trail, Herndon stressed that both cases are being thoroughly and actively investigated.

“These people are out there messing with the public,” he said. “They’re creating havoc. They’re infringing upon the safety of the citizens of San Angelo, and that’s what frustrates me and my guys. They want to catch them just as bad.”

To protect your business from robbery or other criminal incidents, Herndon suggests investing in a good, high-quality surveillance system that is regularly maintained and operated. Cameras are no longer a deterrent for crime, he said, and when an image is fuzzy, pixilated and unintelligible it does little to aid officers in finding the culprit of a crime.

Storing deposits in a secure safe and taking them to the bank the following morning in daylight is another means of protection, he said.

The San Angelo Police Department’s Community Services Division offers building and home security checks, and provides instruction on how to protect one’s assets.