A distinguished Bay Space chef was arrested final week for allegedly robbing three San Francisco banks in a single day, authorities mentioned.
Valentino Luchin, 62, of San Francisco, was taken into custody on Sept. 10 after allegedly passing notes demanding cash to financial institution tellers at three separate places within the metropolis’s Central District, in response to the San Francisco Police Division.
The primary incident occurred round 12:02 p.m. when Luchin allegedly entered a financial institution in Chinatown and handed a notice to an worker demanding cash, police mentioned. After receiving money, he fled the scene. Two extra banks within the Central District had been allegedly robbed equally that very same day.
Valentino Luchin was arrested for allegedly robbing three banks in San Francisco on the identical day.
SFPD
Investigators, aided by SFPD Ambassadors and neighborhood ideas, recognized Luchin because the suspect and arrested him with out incident, police mentioned. He was booked into San Francisco County Jail on costs of theft and tried theft, authorities mentioned.
The arrest marked Luchin’s second brush with financial institution theft costs. In 2018, he admitted to robbing a Citibank in Orinda, California, making off with over $15,000, according to an interview he gave ABC Information-affiliated station in San Francisco, KGO, from the Martinez detention facility on the time.
Throughout that interview, Luchin, a distinguished Italian chef identified for his experience in regional delicacies and the previous proprietor of Ottavio restaurant in Walnut Creek, blamed monetary struggles after his institution closed in 2016.
“We have been struggling quite a bit financially and I’ve a household,” he advised KGO. “It wasn’t one thing I used to be planning or doing for a residing.”
Within the 2018 incident, Orinda police mentioned Luchin used what he later claimed was a BB gun and was arrested inside three hours of the theft at an athletic membership car parking zone in Lafayette.
Earlier than his authorized troubles, Luchin had constructed a fame within the culinary world, working in high eating places worldwide and specializing in menu design and culinary administration, according to Take a Chef. He beforehand served as govt chef at San Francisco’s Italian restaurant Rose Pistola, the place he was identified for combining conventional Italian cooking strategies with revolutionary strategies.
