[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish father, daughter relieved after two men sentenced in 2009 armed robbery

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish father, daughter relieved after two men sentenced in 2009
armed robbery

Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 6:20 PM     Updated: Tuesday, January
24, 2012, 6:20 PM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

Two Honduran immigrants, Darbin Maurisio Santos-Casto and Selvin Rodriguez,
were sentenced Tuesday in Chalmette to 40 and 50 years respectively for
tying up a father, a daughter and a retired FBI agent and holding guns to
their heads during an attempted robbery at a diner in July 2009. Baker
Jaber, now 54, recalls the 10 to 15 minutes as the longest of his life.

His daughter, Amani Jaber, 22, says she still sees the men's faces before
she sleeps.

Santos-Casto last week was found guilty of two counts of armed robbery,
while Rodriguez pleaded guilty to the July 18, 2009 robbery several weeks
ago.

Three months after the incident, Jaber closed his Gold Star Diner in eastern
St. Bernard Parish because, he said, "people were just too scared to eat and
work there. We were too scared."

But on Tuesday after the convictions, the father was all smiles. "Now I feel
like I am on the moon, like I want to fly," he said.

The daughter, who was 18 years old at the time of the robbery and now is
studying to become an elementary school teacher, said she is happy and
relieved that the three-year drama is complete.

Both look to 27-year FBI veteran John Fleming, of Metairie, as their savior.

While Baker Jaber was in the kitchen setting up about 11 a.m. that Saturday,
a man approached his daughter, who was working as a waitress. The man asked
her if the diner cashed checks, and she said, yes, and called for her
father, according to the Jabers' account.

Then the man, later identified as Rodriguez, called for his three
companions, who quickly entered as Baker Jaber walked into the main room.
Santos-Casto pushed him to the ground, pressed a gun to his forehead and
tied his hands. His daughter also was tied and had a gun pointed to her.

After moving the victims to the back office, they asked the father to open
his safe. He struggled and Rodriguez placed a gun in his mouth and told him
to hurry up, Jaber recalled on Tuesday.

At that point, Fleming, along with Richard Angelico, a former WDSU
investigative reporter, and another gentleman, entered the diner looking for
an early lunch. After no one came to serve them, Fleming went in the back.

After knocking on the office door, two men rushed out, pushed him to the
ground, held a gun to his head and tied his hands. Fleming managed to get up
and ran back into the dining room, Fleming recalled.

Rodriguez jumped on his back, pushing him down once again, but apparently
seeing the others in the diner, the assailants decided the robbery was
botched and fled without the nearly $7,000 in the safe. Angelico pursued
them and wrote their stolen 2006 gray Dodge Durango's plate number -- TFR014
-- in the dirt so he wouldn't forget.

Using the plate number and the diner's surveillance tapes, authorities
captured the two men in Texas a month later. All three victims, though, say
there were four men involved in the robbery, meaning two others are still at
large.

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