[StBernard] Suspect named in St. Bernard Parish armed robbery

[Westley Annis]

Suspect named in St. Bernard Parish armed robbery
by The Times-Picayune 
Monday July 20, 2009, 6:08 PM

St. Bernard Parish authorities have named a possible suspect in the
attempted robbery of a restaurant Saturday in which the two employees and a
customer were tied up.

The Sheriff's Office said four people broke into the Gold Star Diner at 11
a.m. Saturday and tied up two employees at gunpoint. The men also tied up a
customer who entered the restaurant and walked into the back of the diner
when he didn't see anyone in the dining room.

The men fled when the customer, a retired FBI agent, got loose and ran back
into the dining room. 



Fernando Cortez Lopez, suspect in armed robbery of St. Bernard
restaurant.Authorities on Monday named as a suspect Fernando Cortez Lopez of
Houston, to whom a grey 2006 Dodge Durango that sped from the restaurant is
registered. The vehicle bore a Texas license plate that read TFR014. 

The Durango had been reported stolen from the Houston area. St. Bernard
Parish sheriff''s officials said that even though the vehicle had been
reported stolen, Lopez was somehow able to register it through a Houston
title company.

Lopez used a Mexican driver's license during the registration process. 

Two of the four robbers acted as lookouts while the other two drew guns on
the owner and an employee, the Sheriff's Office. In their haste to flee when
the customer got loose, the robbers left behind the money they tried to
steal, the Sheriff's Office said. 

No other suspects have been named, although the Sheriff's Office said at
least one of the men involved might have been working recently on the boats
the sail from the fishing villages of eastern St. Bernard.

Anyone with information is asked to call the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's
Office at 504.278.7630.