Partners in crime get hitched in Vegas in middle of SoCal armed robbery spree, authorities say

An alleged modern-day Bonnie and Clyde have been charged with going on a two-week armed robbery spree across Los Angeles and Orange counties, pausing briefly to get married in Las Vegas before getting busted in Downey on Valentine’s Day, authorities said.

The North Hollywood couple — 36-year-old Antonio Lamar Bland and 49-year-old Abigail Luckey — were charged in a federal grand jury indictment with robbing 12 stores last year between Jan. 29 and Feb. 14, the Department of Justice announced.

A third accomplice, Ronnie Tucker, 23, of Long Beach, was also charged in the indictment and is accused of participating in the same dozen robberies.

The trio collectively targeted nine 7-Eleven stores in North Hollywood, Burbank, Torrance, Van Nuys, Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena; two doughnut shops in Los Angeles and Downey; and one smoke shop in Tustin, according to the criminal complaint.

The robberies followed a predictable pattern, according to the criminal complaint.

They all occurred after dark, with the earliest taking place at 10:35 p.m. and the latest at 3:43 a.m.

Bland and Tucker would typically enter the business wearing hooded sweatshirts and face masks, wielding firearms, the complaint says. In many of the robberies, they allegedly held the store employees at gunpoint and demanded they empty the contents of the cash register into a bag. They also stole wallets and phones from employees and bystanders in the stores, according to the compliant.

Luckey, meanwhile, is accused of working as the getaway driver, waiting to whisk the men away once the heist was complete.

Eights days into the crime spree, Bland and Luckey sped off to Las Vegas, where they got married Feb. 6. Two days later, the DOJ says they were back in California and committed three armed robberies at 7-Eleven stores in Burbank, Torrance and Long Beach in a single night.

Authorities say the criminal lovebirds saw their robbing run come to an end on Valentine’s Day, when they were arrested by Burbank police detectives after the attempted robbery of a Downey doughnut shop.

Burbank police had began investigating a series of robberies in Los Angeles and Orange counties believed to be the work of the trio on Feb. 2, according to the complaint. On Feb. 13, detectives installed a GPS tracking device on Luckey’s Chevrolet Cruze, which authorities say was being used as the getaway car.

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Around 1:14 a.m. on Feb. 14, Burbank detectives observed a Chevrolet Cruze park in a Downey alleyway and two men walk into the nearby USA Donuts, according to the criminal complaint.

The DOJ described the alleged incident:

One of the men yelled, “Open the cash register!” at an employee. The employee noticed that a man believed to be Bland had what appeared to be a handgun tucked into his front waistband with the handle visible.

The employee then ran toward the kitchen to retrieve his own firearm. The men jumped the counter in pursuit. To deter them from attacking him, the employee fired a shot, which hit a wall of the building. The suspects ran out of the building and jumped into the Chevrolet Cruze.

Burbank police then pulled over the car and found Bland, Tucker and Luckey and a firearm inside.

“Investigators from the Burbank Police Department spent hundreds of hours investigating this robbery series,” said Burbank Police Chief Michael Albanese in a statement. “The Burbank Police Department is grateful for the assistance from our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office for their work in holding these individuals accountable for their actions. Our community is safer because of it.”

Bland, Tucker and Luckey are charged with three counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit interference with commerce by robbery, according to the indictment. The men are also charged with four counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

In addition, Brand is charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition. He is not legally allowed to possess firearms or ammunition because of previous felony convictions in Los Angeles Superior Court for carjacking and possession of drugs in prison.

If convicted as charged, Bland, Tucker and Luckey face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each robbery-related count. Bland and Tucker would also face a minimum sentence of seven years in federal prison for each count of brandishing a firearm. Lastly, Bland would also face up to 15 years in federal prison for each count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a felon in possession of ammunition.

“Any time someone takes a gun into a place of business to rob it, victims are traumatized and there is a potential for tragic consequences,” said Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office in a statement. “If convicted, these individuals face significant prison time.”

The trio have been in federal custody since last year and will be arraigned in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks, prosecutors said.