Robbers guilty of stealing high-end liquor to sell on Instagram

A federal jury on Thursday convicted two men of hatching a plot to rob local BevMo stores so they could sell thousands of dollars worth of liquor on Instagram.

Prosecutors said the defendants in May 2023 stole $2,604 worth of high-end liquor from a BevMo in Long Beach and another $800 from a store in Lakewood. They followed up with more robberies from BevMo stores in Pasadena and West Covina.

Their downfall came when they tried to rob a Canyon Country store where they “physically subdued” an employee and fled in a stolen Dodge Charger, prosecutors said.

Police were close behind. During a chase through Los Angeles County, the robbers crashed into a tree, forcing them to flee on foot across six lanes of rush-hour traffic on the Antelope Valley Freeway, authorities said.

Police later found them in the bushes “in a desolate area,” according to federal prosecutors.

After a three-day trial this week, jurors convicted the duo, identified as 28-year-old Anthony Flores and 32-year-old Ivin Kitu Sanford, of Hobbs Act robbery.

Charges against a third defendant are still pending.

“Callous disregard for the law undermines our community’s sense of safety,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “These defendants’ violent robberies and attempts to evade officers put lives at risk.”

Flores and Sanford are scheduled to be sentenced in October.

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