Man arrested in Rancho Cucamonga accused of helping rob $550,000 in heists including in Hawthorne

A Los Angeles man was arrested this week for his suspected role in helping to steal $550,000-plus during five armored-car robberies last year in Hawthorne, Inglewood and South Los Angeles.

James Russell Davis, 34, was arrested on Wednesday, March 8, in Rancho Cucamonga by the FBI after he was charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, according to Donald Alway, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

A second suspect, Deneyvous Hobson, 36, of Los Angeles, was arrested on Feb. 21 and being held in federal custody in Los Angeles.

Authorities believe there are at least five other fugitives connected to the robberies, though they have not been identified.

The group is accused of targeting drive-thru ATMs, check-cashing locations and other businesses. The suspects followed a pattern of overtaking the armored-car drivers, who were zip-tied and held at gunpoint while at least one suspect entered the vehicle and took the money.

Investigators believe the group met and planned the robberies from a home in the 2900 block of Chesapeake Avenue in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles, so they gave it the moniker Chesapeake Bandits.

Multiple firearms were used in the five robberies — including a sawed-off AR-15-type firearm with a scope. A shot was fired by a suspect on one occasion but no injury was reported.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case. Brinks, one of the victimized armored-vehicle companies, is matching that. The agency did not disclose how it found Davis.

The FBI asked that anyone with information about the case to contact agents at 1-800-CALL-FBI or at tips.fbi.gov.

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