Six San Diego women were robbed of their gold necklaces while walking alone in neighborhoods east of downtown, according to police.
The crime spree spanned over a month, prompting CrimeStoppers to issue a bulletin Wednesday morning. Hours later, the arrests of three suspects were caught on tape, but it wasn't an informant responding to CrimeStoppers who broke the case.
Instead, it was a police captain who joined his officers in targeting a six-block area where the three most recent strong-arm robberies happened.
"We put some information out this morning about a series of robberies that we've had in the area and actually stopped a vehicle right here that appears to be some good 'possibles'," said SDPD Capt. Mark Jones. "There was probably cause for a vehicle stop, but one of the main reasons is: It does match the description of a vehicle that was seen in one of the prior robberies."
The vehicle in question was parked illegally in the roadway on Island Avenue, and its occupants included an 18-year-old man and two juveniles whom police snatched the necklaces from the necks of six Latina women in their 30s and 40s as the victims were walking alone in Grant Hill, Mountain View, Logan Heights and Valencia Park between Nov. 9 and last week.
The assailants, working in pairs, wore hooded sweatshirts.
"Women need to start looking around, watching their surroundings and all that, you know?" Grant Hill resident Donald Williams said.
CrimeStoppers had offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.
