LONG BEACH : Store Staff Undeterred by String of 5 Holdups

Employees of a neighborhood market that was robbed five times in less than three weeks returned to work recently, nervous but determined to keep the store open.

Owners of Hanson Market in central Long Beach gave employees a day off last week to recover from the stress of seeing the same gun shoved in their faces five times. But the following day, they all were back at work at the market, which was destroyed in the 1992 riots and recently reopened.

“We’ve all gotten comfortable working together,” store manager Tinh Nguyen said of his six-member staff, which includes Asians, African Americans and Latinos.

The market--a neighborhood fixture since 1966--had been held up only once in 26 years. Then on April 30, 1992, it was looted and burned during the riots that swept parts of Long Beach. The owners finally reopened the store at 2001 Atlantic Ave. in June.

On Aug. 6 the robbers hit the store the first time, holding clerks at gunpoint while grabbing cash. The second holdup occurred five days later. The robbers hit again on Aug. 17, 21 and 23. Sometimes only one man held up the store. Other times, a second man or teen-age boy would participate, said police detective Richard Birdsall. The same handgun was used in all the holdups, Birdsall said. They averaged about $200 per robbery.

On Aug. 23 police arrested Larry Scott, 29, and a 17-year-old youth as they fled the store. Kevin Eddie Moore, 36, was arrested within 24 hours. Police said Moore and Scott lived in the same block as the market. The youth’s identity was not released because of his age.

Scott, Moore and the teen-ager are suspected of at least 25 and as many as 40 robberies, mostly in central Long Beach, in about two months. “These guys were more prolific than anyone we’ve come across in a long time,” Birdsall said.

Only the market was robbed repeatedly, he said.

All three suspects have pleaded not guilty to charges of armed robbery. Moore’s bail was set at $500,000, while Scott is being held in lieu of $290,000 bail. The 17-year-old is being held at Los Padrinos juvenile facility in Downey.