An ex-con was charged today with a series of armed robberies at businesses in Long Beach.
Bernard Jester, 56, of Compton, pleaded not guilty to six counts of second-degree robbery and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
In each of the holdups, the suspect entered the businesses with a firearm and demanded cash, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
The robberies occurred in the:
- 1400 block of Alamitos Avenue on Feb. 26;
- 600 block of East Anaheim Street on March 24;
- 1000 block of East Pacific Coast Highway on June 28;
- 1300 block of Long Beach Boulevard on July 1;
- 900 block of East Anaheim Street on July 1; and the
- 1000 block of East Pacific Coast Highway on July 7.
He was initially arrested during a March 25 traffic stop on an outstanding warrant along with other alleged offenses, including “possession of meth/ecstasy/GHB” and driving without a license, after a police officer spotted a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle from a robbery a day earlier, police said.
Detectives continued to investigate the series of robberies and “identified Jester as the suspect in at least six robberies,” police said in a statement released Friday.
He was arrested again Wednesday in Compton, according to police, who indicated that more charges could be on the horizon. Police said detectives “are actively pursuing all leads and are discovering more incidents that are possibly related.”
