On July 6, 2014, at about 2:55 p.m., Northwest Patrol Sergeant T.L. Little was dispatched to a disturbance call at an apartment complex in the 3100 block of Webb Chapel Extension (Spanish Village Apartments).  The victim, an ice cream vendor, stated he was pushing his ice cream earlier that day in that apartment complex when he was approached by two young Latin males.  One of them stated, “You owe me ten dollars.”  When the ice cream vendor denied this allegation, the two Latin males proceeded to throw large rocks at him.  The vendor fought back; grabbed two bags of chips and threw them at the suspects, who then fled into the apartment complex.  A witness told officers, “One is a red-headed, freckled Latin male called ‘Pecas’ (Spanish for “freckles”) and the other is a Latin male called ‘Papas’ (Spanish for ‘potatoes’ or potato chips).

Sergeant Little recalled a robbery that had occurred about a month prior with the same M.O. (Modus Operandi) in the same complex.  Northwest Patrol Senior Corporal San Martino also recalled the same prior incident, researched it and found the report.  Sergeant Little, having full faith in Senior Corporal Dale Lundberg, the tireless and ever relentless beat officer, would be able to quickly identify the suspects, find their whereabouts and capture these bandits.  Sergeant Little had full confidence that Senior Corporal Lundberg’s rookie partner, Police Officer Beverly Ma, would be able to witness and absorb the investigative techniques and justice-seeking Lundberg was about to display…okay, may be too much here, but you get the picture.

Long story short, Lundberg and his rookie met with Gang Unit detectives and the assigned Robbery detective and were able to identify “Pecas” and “Papas”. Lundberg and Ma began to search for the suspects once the warrants had been issued for the two juvenile robbers.  Within two days, both suspects were arrested.  Justice served once again.