Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Ski mask fails to hide identity

An alert Safeway clerk apparently foiled a robbery when he recognized the young man behind a ski mask as a store employee.

At 10:43 p.m. on July 9, 19-year-old Darren Andrew Devincenzi of Saratoga walked into the Safeway on Pollard Road wearing a ski mask and armed with a small handgun, according to Los Gatos/Monte Sereno police. When he confronted a clerk loading change trays in the money room, the clerk recognized Devincenzi and refused his demands for cash.

Devincenzi ran out the back of the store and met with 18-year-old Campbell resident Robert Allen Fernandez, police said. Another clerk recognized Fernandez as having attended a school in the area, according to police. The two ran across the Highway 85 footbridge and got into a waiting car driven by a 17-year-old male.

When Los Gatos police asked Campbell police to contact Fernandez at his residence, Campbell officers also discovered Devincenzi. Los Gatos police responded and arrested Devincenzi on charges of attempted robbery. After follow-up interviews and investigations, police detectives obtained enough evidence to arrest Fernandez and the juvenile on July 10.

The District Attorney was expected to issue a complaint July 14 charging the two adults with attempted robbery.

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