S.D. MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SERIES OF ARMED ROBBERIES

A 38-year-old San Diego man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to robbing employees at a National City shoe store and a pair of grocery store bank branches in San Diego and La Mesa.

Ryan W. Nelson admitted to using a gun in last year’s shoe store robbery, during which he posed as a construction worker to gain access to the back of the store and threatened a pregnant employee at gunpoint.

During a pair of robberies the next month at bank branches inside Vons supermarkets, he held a cellphone to his ear, pretending to speak into it, but instead demanded cash from the tellers.

Nelson made off with $11,572 in the three robberies. He faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the three felony federal robbery counts to which he pleaded guilty.

Investigators were able to identify and track down Nelson because he rode the trolley shortly after robbing employees at the Wells Fargo inside a La Mesa Vons. While riding the trolley, he used a Compass Card from the Metropolitan Transit System that was linked to his name, prosecutors said.

Once investigators knew the identity of their suspect — surveillance footage from the trolley stop and Nelson’s driver’s license photo matched the surveillance footage from the robberies — they were able to track him to an address in Bay Terraces.

According to court documents, the raid turned up a loaded handgun, more than $2,000 in cash and several clothing items that matched those worn by the suspect during the two heists.

The first of the three robberies happened July 29, 2019, at the Shoe Palace inside the Westfield Plaza Bonita mall, where Nelson dressed as a construction worker and told an employee he needed access to an electrical breaker panel in a back room, according to a plea agreement cited by prosecutors. Nelson later returned to the front of the store, where he pointed a gun at a pregnant employee and demanded cash.

He made off with $600 and threatened the clerk that he’d return in five minutes if she called police, prosecutors said.

A few weeks later, on Aug. 15, Nelson held up the U.S. Bank branch inside the Vons at the Campus Plaza shopping center off El Cajon Boulevard and College Avenue. He wore sunglasses and held a cellphone to his ear as he told a bank teller to fill a bag with cash.

He made off with $1,372 and threatened the teller not to call police, claiming he had an accomplice in the store, prosecutors said.

Eight days later, on Aug. 23, Nelson again held a phone to his ear and demanded cash from all three tellers at the Wells Fargo branch inside Vons in the La Mesa Village Plaza at University Avenue and La Mesa Boulevard. Prosecutors said he threatened the tellers that he’d start shooting if they did not fill bags with money for him.

He made off with $9,600, but investigators soon learned he went directly to the nearby trolley station, and were able to identify him based on the surveillance footage and ridership records.

Suzanne Turner, FBI special agent in charge of the San Diego field office, said in a statement that “robberies committed with the threat of violence and while using a firearm (are) a top priority for our agents and (FBI Violent Crimes Task Force) officers.”

A few weeks after Nelson robbed the tellers at the Vons bank branches in San Diego and La Mesa, and while he was already in custody, a woman held up the same two branches. A San Diego police robbery lieutenant said at the time that there was no known connection between the two sprees.

“Both locations have been robbed frequently, unfortunately,” Lt. Julie Epperson wrote in an email. “So it appears to just be a coincidence.”