Photo: Brian Ho
Security footage helped police identify one of the suspects who robbed two businesses in Santa Ana.
On July 4th, 2019, at 7:09 AM, a man armed with a black handgun entered M & Toi Café, located at 4702 West 1st Street in Santa Ana. After removing his weapon from a bag, he pointed it at victims inside the café and ordered that they hand over their cash. They complied, while a second armed suspect stood watch at the door. Both suspects quickly fled the scene on foot.
Ten minutes later, the two suspects began a second robbery at Dey’s Doughnuts & Croissants, located at 630 South Euclid Street in Santa Ana. The first suspect ordered a cashier to empty the cash register into a bag, to which the victim complied after a gun was held to his head. The second suspect again acted as a lookout at the front door until they both fled the scene.
Police released descriptions of the suspects as well as security footage of the robberies to the public in hopes of identifying the suspects. The community was able to provide information to identify the first suspect as Brian Ho of Garden Grove.
Detectives discovered that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department had arrested Ho on unrelated charges on July 9th, 2019. The weapon he possessed was identified as the same one used in the Santa Ana robberies on July 4th.
Police detectives from Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Westminster are working together on cases that may have been committed by Ho during that period of time.
The second suspect has not yet been identified and still remains at large.
