[StBernard] Two men arrested in Texas for robbery of St. Bernard diner

[Westley Annis]

Two men arrested in Texas for robbery of St. Bernard diner

08:38 PM CDT on Friday, August 28, 2009

Michael Luke / Eyewitness News 

ST. BERNARD, La. - A stolen license plate led St. Bernard detectives to
Houston and to the arrest of two men in connection with a robbery of a diner
in St. Bernard Parish, according to St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office
spokesman Steve Cannizaro. 

Darbin Maurisio Casto Santos, 22, and Selvin Torres Rodriguez, 24, both
Mexican nationals, were taken into custody after being stopped in a 2006
Dodge Durango that was used to rob the Gold Star Diner in July, police said.
The SUV had the same plates on it, when the driver was stopped by sheriff's
deputies in Medina County, Texas, near San Antonio, on traffic violations
Thursday night, Aug. 27, police said. 

"The license plate number of the SUV was copied by a witness as four men
left the Gold Star Diner in eastern St. Bernard on July 18 after tying up
the owner, his daughter and a customer, but forgetting a bag of stolen money
in their haste to leave," said Cannizaro in a statement. 

"We went the extra yard on this because we take it seriously when a
restaurant is robbed at gunpoint and the owner and others threatened and
tied up. We sent detectives to Houston after learning the vehicle had been
reported stolen there and new plates obtained there," said Deputy Chief
James Pohlmann.