A California chef was arrested last week on suspicion of robbing three San Francisco banks in a single day, according to police.
Valentino Luchin, a 62-year-old originally from Italy, was booked on charges of robbery and attempted robbery after investigators were called to a bank on Grant Avenue on Sept. 10. According to the San Francisco Police Department, Luchin demanded money in a note to an employee.
That employee provided him a bag of U.S. currency because they feared for their safety, police said in a news release.
“On the same day, two additional bank robberies occurred in the Central District involving a similar suspect description and modus operandi (MO),” police said. “Officers determined that the suspect who committed these robberies was Luchin.”
Court records show Luchin was arraigned Friday and remained in county jail as of Wednesday.
In a statement, Luchin’s attorney described the defendant as a “talented chef and a kind person who recently found himself in a desperate financial situation.”
“The restaurant industry, as many are aware, has been especially difficult in recent years,” said San Francisco County Deputy Public Defender Kwixuan Maloof. “The charges against him are totally overblown, and the government is trying to stretch the law to fit facts that simply are not there.”
Luchin once served up delicious dishes at Rose Pistola, an acclaimed — and now shuttered — Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. A former owner, Laurie Thomas, said Luchin worked briefly as the restaurant’s executive chef more than 18 years ago.
“Sad to see this,” she said.
Luchin later opened his own Italian restaurant in Walnut Creek, which closed in 2016, according to local media reports from the time.
Two years later, Luchin was arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a Citibank in Contra Costa County. Court records weren’t immediately available in that case, but Luchin admitted to attempting to rob a bank in jailhouse interviews at the time.
He told ABC affiliate KGO that he used a BB gun and was handed thousands from the bank teller. Luchin described his actions as an act of desperation.
“We’ve been struggling a lot financially, and I have a family,” Luchin told the station then. “I feel bad. It wasn’t something I was planning or doing for a living.”
Luchin gave a similar account to the East Bay Times following his arrest, saying that he was unable to get work that paid enough after his business went under. He said he wrote a letter to the bank clerk apologizing for what happened.
“My action wasn’t aggressive,” he told the newspaper. “It was a fake gun. I don’t even know how to load a real gun.”