Well-known chef facing charges in San Francisco after 3 bank robberies

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A well-known chef who robbed a northern California bank in 2018 is facing charges again after three bank robberies in central San Francisco last week, according to police.

Officers responding to a bank alarm around noon on Sept. 10 learned that a man passed a note demanding money to an employee, who complied in fear for their life, according to a San Francisco Police Department news release. The man then fled with a bag of money, police said. With help from the community, investigators identified the suspect as Valentino Luchin, 62, of San Francisco and arrested him, police said.

There were two other bank robberies in the central district that day involving a suspect with a similar description and methods and police also charged Luchin with those robberies, police said.

Luchin was charged with robbery and attempted robbery, police said. He’s being held on $200,000 bail, according to the San Francisco Sheriff’s website. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Luchin is a talented chef and kind person who found himself in a “desperate” financial situation recently, Deputy Public Defender Kwixuan H. Maloof said in a statement. The restaurant industry has been difficult in recent years and Luchin was offered a position that was later withdrawn, putting him into a “state of depression,” he said.

“The charges against him are totally overblown, and the government is trying to stretch the law to fit facts that simply are not there,” Maloof said, adding that he intends to challenge the charges and “expose prosecutorial overreach.”

Local news outlets report that Luchin was known for his work at Italian restaurants such as Rose Pistola and Ottavio. He was charged in a 2018 bank robbery in Contra Costa County and told KGO-TV during an interview at a detention facility at the time, “I went inside and said ‘Good morning. Nobody move. This is a robbery.’”

Luchin said he was desperate after his restaurant Ottavio in Walnut closed in 2016.

“We’ve been struggling a lot financially and I have a family,” Luchin said. “I feel bad. It wasn’t something I was planning or doing for a living.”

Luchin pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree robbery in 2018 and was sentenced to one year in county jail and three years probation, according to Contra Costa County District Attorney’s spokesperson Ted Asregadoo.