The Mount Vernon police made a major arrest on August 1. Carlos Rosales-Fausto, 28 has been charged with three robberies, one burglary and brandishing a weapon. And police say he is responsible for several more crimes that occurred in the Hybla Valley area in recent weeks.
“That individual being taken off the street was wonderful to this community and a big case for us in getting the arrest,” said Lt. Sean Bennett, assistant commander of the Mount Vernon Station.
Between July 23 and August 1, police said Rosales-Fausto robbed three stores in Hybla Valley and burgled another. In another incident, he fled from a police officer after being stopped on a bicycle because he matched the description of a man who had exposed himself to two girls in a playground on Arlington Drive, according to Lt. Michael Proffitt, of the Mount Vernon Police Station. As Rosales-Fausto fled the officer, he brandished a gun at two men in the neighborhood.
Rosales-Fausto was arrested on the night of August 1 after a police officer recognized Rosales-Fausto among the men he encountered in an apartment where he had been dispatched to investigate a suspected narcotics violation.
The officer recognized Rosales-Fausto from a photograph detectives had distributed to patrol officers after identifying Rosales-Fausto as a suspect in a robbery that occurred early in the morning of July 23. A 19 year old man drove Rosales-Fausto, “an acquaintance” according to the police report, to the 3400 block of Van Dyke Street. When they arrived, police said Rosales-Fausto threatened with a knife the acquaintance who had given him a ride and fled with money and jewelry. The detective who investigated this crime obtained a photograph of Rosales-Fausto and distributed it to patrol officers.
On July 31, Rosales-Fausto walked into the Iguana Shop convenience store at 11 in the morning. He browsed through the aisles then brought a can of soda to the counter. When the cashier opened his register, Rosales-Fausto brought out a pistol and demanded money. He left the store with cash and a piece of jewelry from the cashier.
Later the same day, at 8 p.m., a man exposed himself to two girls ages 8 and 11 as they played in a playground in Hybla Valley at the corner of Arlington Drive and Mount Vernon Square Drive. The man had ridden to the playground on a bicycle.
Four and a half hours later, an officer responding to another incident spotted a man riding a bicycle in the area of the playground. When he tried to question the man, the suspect fled by bike, then by foot. On his way to safety, he threatened two men with a gun. After speaking to people in the neighborhood, the officer identified the man as Rosales-Fausto.
THAT AFTERNOON, August 1, police said Rosales-Fausto struck again. This time he robbed the Carolina Beauty beauty salon, located at 8139-B Richmond Highway. He walked into the salon, drew his pistol and told the 27-year-old female employee in the store to give him money. She gave him some, and he left.
That afternoon, the police began drawing together the connections that would reveal the suspect in the brazen armed robberies that were afflicting the Hybla Valley area. The Police noted that the suspect descriptions in both the Iguana Store and Carolina Beauty Robberies were very similar. Both descriptions matched the photograph of Rosales-Fausto that had been distributed after the initial robbery on July 23. And Rosales-Fausto’s name had come up again after the brandishing incident earlier that day.
The police requested a warrant for Rosales-Fausto’s arrest on charges of robbery and brandishing.
But the warrants had not gone through when an officer arrived at 3603 Buckman Road, apartment 301 at 5 p.m., only a few hours after the Carolina Beauty robbery. The officer was responding to a suspected narcotics-related event, according to Proffitt.
The patrol officer recognized Rosales-Fausto from the photograph he’d been given, but could not arrest him immediately because the warrants had not been processed.
When the warrants went through, officers returned to the apartment and arrested Rosales-Fausto. <sh>
Rosales-Fausto has now been charged with three counts of robbery and one count of brandishing. He was also charged with burglary for breaking into Hybla Valley’s Todos Gift Shop early in the morning of July 27. Police said he broke a glass door and was able to steal some jewelry before fleeing after setting off an alarm. An outdoor video camera caught a man matching the description of Rosales-Fausto committing the crime.
PROFFITT credited Rosales-Fausto’s identification and subsequent arrest to good communication among officers and a willingness to work the beat.
“These officers know what’s happening out on the streets,” Proffitt said. “The key to any successful investigation is the sharing of information among patrol officers [and] getting out into the community and speaking to the law abiding citizens … they’re going to tell you what’s going on in their neighborhood.
“[Officers] gather that information bits at a time …There’s always a piece of information out there that you haven’t got. And once you find it, everything starts falling into place.”