ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office handed down a 19-count indictment charging a man with numerous armed robberies of people and businesses in two south city neighborhoods. The suspect was finally apprehended after robbing the same store.
The robberies all took place between January 12 and February 15 in the Benton Park West and Dutchtown neighborhoods, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s probable cause statement.
In the first robbery, police claim Jose Diaz, 34, used a gun to steal a man’s car. However, Diaz forced the victim to ride in the car with him for an unspecified period of time. Finally, Diaz forced the victim to strip to his underwear before letting him out of the vehicle and driving off.
Other robberies would see Diaz steal cash, cellphones, and other personal property from various victims.
On February 4, Diaz stole cash from a cashier of one business in the 3400 block of Dunnica Avenue. He returned on February 15 and robbed the same business. However, Diaz’s face was caught on a security camera.
Police claim to have used facial recognition software to get a match on that face and a witness positively identified the image as Diaz.
Surveillance cameras also caught the license plate number of Diaz’s vehicle, which investigators used to track Diaz to his residence.
Police found clothing and property belonging to the victims inside Diaz’s home, as well as several firearms. Diaz has a prior felony conviction for domestic assault in 2015 and is not allowed to own or possess guns.
Prosecutors charged Diaz with six counts of first-degree robbery, six counts of armed criminal action, five counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of burglary, and one count of kidnapping. He remains jailed without bond.
