A Bay Area chef known for his groundbreaking Italian cuisine and a much-publicized bank robbery arrest in Orinda in 2018 has been re-arrested in San Francisco after allegedly robbing three San Francisco banks in a single day.
Valentino Luchin, 62, former executive chef at San Francisco’s Rose Pistola in North Beach and former owner of L’Ottavo in Walnut Creek, was taken into custody by San Francisco police last Wednesday after a flurry of three bank robberies during which Luchin allegedly passed a note demanding money to successive bank tellers.
Police say Luchin struck three banks consecutively in the Central police district, entering each in turn and passing handwritten notes to tellers demanding cash before fleeing with an unspecified amount of cash. In 2018, Luchin entered an Orinda Citibank branch, brandished what turned out to be a BB gun and fled with $18,000.
He was tracked and arrested at his Lafayette home, telling investigators and later journalists he was in deep debt following closure of L’Ottavo in 2016, in need of money and feeling “desperate.” Bankruptcy records Luchin filed with his wife revealed that the Luchins defaulted on a Chapter 13 repayment plan in 2015 – owing over $110,000 while reporting assets totaling just $27,000.
On Wednesday, police said Luchin entered a bank in the 1100 block of Grant Avenue near Chinatown, handing a teller a note and demanding money before leaving with an undisclosed sum. Police say they quickly linked Luchin to the two additional bank robberies and were able to identify and arrest him without incident.
Luchin apparently lived in the neighborhood where the robberies occurred.
Times is tough.
Not exactly clear on the bank robbery concept is he?
Robbery is wrong, of course, but I feel bad for him. He must have been in such a hopeless and desperate state to do this.
He robbed the banks in the same neighborhood where he lives???!!!! 🤦♀️
Non rubare dove mangi.
I feel bad for people who are truly in need. My heart goes out to them. If he’s a homeowner in Lafayette, cash out your equity or sell your home. Just quit robbing banks. There’s no excuse to rob a bank, and no excuse for soft on crime.
He is a bank robber. He chose THIS despite the idiocy of it. No one should feel sorry for the Bob Fritzkys of the world because what they perceive as desperation, as loss, is loss of privilege. If you want to see what true desperation for life and limb looks like, you don’t need to look far.
Not the smartest move. He seems like he had talent to bad he didn’t put them to better use.
Thanks for your flash on the Wells Fargo bank robbery yesterday in San Ramon. Apparently it’s a crime that works just enough to entice people to give it a go.
Glad you’re getting The Flash and, yes, it is a crime with a low probability of success. Though a quick perusal of our pages will support your observation that people are still giving it a try!