Armed robbery

THE VICTIM: Frank Rosales

DATE: Friday, Jan. 27

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TIME: 6 p.m.

PLACE: Corner of Lakewood and Tokalon

Every day after work, Frank Rosales returns to his home on Lorna Lane, grabs his iPod and takes his pug on a 30- to 40-minute walk around the neighborhood. This particular Friday was no different, except that Rosales returned home so late that he didn’t take time to change or remove his wallet from his pocket.

“I never, ever carry it,” he says. “That was the first time, and it was the last.”

He was walking along Lakewood when he noticed a young Hispanic man about 20 yards behind him.

“I turned around saw him, and he put his head down like he was embarrassed or something,” Rosales says. Assuming the man was a worker at one of the nearby construction sites, Rosales didn’t think anything of it. He turned back around and moved onto the grass, politely assuming that the man would overtake him.

The next time he turned around, the man was right behind him. He had pulled out a gun and stuck it in Rosales’ face, saying, ‘All right man, hurry up and don’t say anything.’”

“I said, ‘OK, OK, OK’ and turned around for a minute — I didn’t want to see it there,” Rosales says.

The man reached into Rosales’ back pocket, took his wallet out, and ran away. Rosales ran to the end of the block in time to see the man jump into the passenger side of an older model, two-door sports car and the driver speed off.

“It happened so fast I was just shocked,” he says. “Then it hit me — oh my god, I got held up by gunpoint. This guy could have killed me.”

Rosales ran home and immediately called the police, who arrived within 15 minutes. Then he called his credit card companies to close his accounts, a process that took two hours. By that time, the robbers had already visited Target and NorthPark Center, ringing up hundreds in charges. Rosales forgot about an Exxon Mobil credit card that he hadn’t used in about a year until the company called him eight days later and asked about $800 worth of recent charges.

Understandably, Rosales is now paranoid about walking his dog after work. He has shortened the walk to only five or ten minutes and sticks to his own street and the alleyway behind it. And he’s ditched the iPod.

The police officers told Rosales that armed robbery hasn’t occurred in Lakewood for five or six years. They assume, Rosales adds, that it was a crime of opportunity — someone who had noticed Rosales listening to his iPod and carrying his wallet. Still, Rosales is concerned for not only himself but also his neighbors.

“We see the same people over and over every night walking their dog or walking with their kids in their stroller,” Rosales says. “It was sunny out, too. It wasn’t night or dark yet. Lakewood is so busy, and not one car or anything passed by while it happened.”

Rosales plans to take self-defense classes to overcome his paranoia.

“I don’t want to be stuck at home and afraid to go out, especially in my neighborhood,” he says. “I’m just glad he didn’t shoot me. They’ve killed people for a lot less.”