#bank-robbery

#bank-robbery

Valentino Luchin, 62, was arrested in September after hitting three banks, San Francisco police said. According to police, Luchin passed notes to bank workers demanding cash. He allegedly robbed a bank on the 1100 block of Grant Avenue of $300 and stole about $2,500 from a Bank of America on Stockton Street. He also attempted to rob a bank on the 400 block of Columbus but failed to walk away with any money. The banks are all within a few blocks of one another.

Now, 63-year-old Valentino Giovanni Luchin has become known for something else being arrested for allegedly robbing banks without any of the finesse he's known for in the kitchen. On Thursday, a new federal indictment was unsealed, charging Luchin with a single-day robbery spree that netted barely more than $2,800. He faces two counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank robbery, alleged crimes that all occurred in San Francisco on Sept. 10, 2025, court records show.

At this point, it's probably safe to say that Valentino Luchin is better at cooking risotto, calamari, and grilled lamb sirloin than he is at robbing banks. In 2018, the celebrated chef and former owner of an Italian restaurant in Walnut Creek pleaded guilty to robbing an Orinda bank and received a yearlong jail sentence, followed by probation. Now he's back in jail, this time in San Francisco, where prosecutors accuse him of robbing three banks within a single day, court records show.

Lightning orchestrated a terrifying crime spree across San Diego County from 2019-2022, leading to multiple bank takeovers and significant terror among bank employees.

The released videos provide clear evidence of Vargas holding a gun during a high-stakes police pursuit.

It was offensive to me that a serial robber could victimize as many hard-working Americans as this guy did all across the country and only receive 17½ years from the federal government.