Couple follows mom and kids home from post office before robbing them, CA police say
A California couple was arrested last week on robbery charges after police accused them of following a mother and her children home from a post office.
As the woman was getting her two children out from their car seats at their home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles, the male suspect exited a vehicle, a BMW 535i, and approached the woman, according to a release from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The man demanded the woman hand over her watch while pointing a gun at her and her children, threatening to kill them if she refused, police said. She complied, and the suspect returned to a BMW driven by a woman, according to the release.
Detectives learned the male suspect had been watching the woman and her children inside a post office before following them home, police said.
The Los Angeles couple, Ashton Dwight Carter, 38, and his girlfriend, Teresa Whitaker, 22, were arrested on suspicion of robbery Tuesday, May 17.
After receiving a search warrant, police searched Carter’s home, the BMW 535i, and an additional BMW and Mercedes owned by the couple.
Police said they found a semi-automatic handgun, jewelry and over $56,000 in cash at Carter’s home. The woman’s stolen watch, however, is still missing.
Carter was charged last Thursday with one count of robbery, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of making criminal threats and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, police said. Carter was out on bail for a prior felony arrest.
Whitaker was charged with one count of robbery.
Police believe the two may have been involved in similar incidents both reported and unreported and are asking victims to contact LAPD.
The incident is part of a recent uptick in follow-home robberies in Los Angeles, according to a police commission meeting in April. In early April, there were five follow-home robberies in Los Angeles within the span of 48 hours.
The department said it created the Follow Home Task Force in November in response to the increase in the number of follow-home robberies, wherein victims are followed home from places like “Melrose Avenue, the Jewelry District of Los Angeles, and high-end restaurants and nightclubs from Hollywood and Wilshire Divisions.”
Victims are often targeted because they wear high-end jewelry or drive a high-end vehicles.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore warned during the meeting that though Los Angeles is safe, residents need to be cautious.
“If you are a person who has the luxury of expensive jewelry, be mindful of your surroundings and be mindful of that today, unlike earlier periods in the last five to 10 years, you are being targeted,” Moore said. “You are being targeted by individuals who find a ready market on the internet to resell these goods.”
This story was originally published May 24, 2022 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Couple follows mom and kids home from post office before robbing them, CA police say."
