Suspect Arrested In Market Robbery

  • This surveillance image of James William Brammer, 57 of  Reseda shows the suspect in the only armed robbery of Frazier Park Market in 60 years. He used a pistol, false mustache and beard in other robberies. Mountain Community residents helped make the arrest possible.

    This surveillance image of James William Brammer, 57 of Reseda shows the suspect in the only armed robbery of Frazier Park Market in 60 years. He used a pistol, false mustache and beard in other robberies. Mountain Community residents helped make the arrest possible.

By Gary Meyer

A suspect in the January 6 robbery of Frazier Park Market has been arrested in Los Angeles with the assistance of Mountain Community residents and the cooperation of law enforcement in three jurisdictions.

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) reports that a Santa Clarita deputy contacted the local substation while investigating the robbery of Vincenzo’s Pizza restaurant that occurred just two days after the armed holdup of Frazier Park Market. The robber in both cases used a false mustache and beard.

“The next morning, on my way to work, I drove straight past the Frazier Park exit and down to Santa Clarita,” Kern County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Brown said as he described what happened next.

“The L.A. County detective showed me surveillance video of this guy removing his disguise behind the pizza parlor he had just robbed and I said, ‘I think that’s our man.’”

Brown said the suspect then walked to a nearby 7-11 market to purchase a bottle of water. Surveillance cameras there captured well-lighted images of the man without his disguise.

According to the KCSO report, three mountain residents were able to identify the suspect as James William Brammer, 57 of Reseda by watching the video of the Frazier Park Market robbery at The Mountain Enterprise website (see it at www.MountainEnterprise.com).

A Frazier Park deputy quickly “obtained an arrest warrant calling for Brammer’s arrest.”

On January 23, the report says, “a [Kern County] deputy located Brammer in the Los Angeles area and passed that information on to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)…” But the suspect reportedly pulled one more heist, robbing a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills at about 9:40 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23.

On Sunday, Jan. 24, at around 2 a.m., Brammer was arrested near Vanowen Street and Quakertown Avenue in Winnetka.

Investigators searched the suspect’s Reseda home and found evidence used in the crimes. LAPD detectives connected Brammer to 14 robberies, including those of Frazier Park Market and the pizza restaurant.

The Santa Clarita Los Angeles County Sheriff’s station reports that 16 counts of robbery were filed against Brammer on Tuesday, Jan. 26, indicating that the parolee has been linked to additional robberies.

Brammer served 18 years in state prison, for armed robbery before being paroled in April of 2009. According to Sgt. Brown, Brammer was serving a 35-year sentence at the time of his parole. Brammer is now being held at LAPD Valley Jail in Van Nuys on $250,000 bail.

Frazier Park Market Manager Rick Johnson was happy about the news: “We want to thank all the community members who had a hand in helping to identify him.” Johnson said his employees were all greatly relieved, especially the young lady who was working the checkout counter on the evening of January 6. “Let’s hope this is the end of the robberies in Frazier Park for another sixty years,” he said with a touch of dry wit.

This is part of the January 29, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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