Two men from the Los Angeles area are facing serious charges after a string of high-stakes heists targeting massage parlors across L.A. and Orange counties. Andy Cuellar, 28, of Hawthorne, and Arturo Morales, 27, of Downey were slapped with federal criminal complaints Wednesday, accused of pulling off over a dozen armed robberies, as reported by the Department of Justice.
Allegedly behind the wheel of a black Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cuellar and his alleged accomplice Morales were busted last Friday, with plans to appear before a judge in Santa Ana's United States District Court tomorrow. Both stand accused of interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence – charges that could land them behind bars for up to 20 years, and even life, respectively.
Details from an affidavit attached to the complaint describe a scene on the night of February 16: Cuellar drove and Morales rode shotgun before sticking up a Torrance massage business. Shortly after, police say they found the duo at a gas station, sifting through stolen goods just two miles from the crime scene. Though they tried to ditch the evidence and scurry away on foot, cops managed to nab them both—Morales with a stack of around $4,000 in cash and Cuellar sporting a blue Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap, similar to what was described in previous similar crimes, the affidavit details.
After the arrests, a thorough search of the Jeep turned up a .38-caliber gun, the origins of which were traced back to a 2018 theft incident. Tying these two to a wider spree, detectives believe Cuellar and Morales are also responsible for a rash of 12 additional holdups, victimizing massage parlors from Santa Ana to Redondo Beach between January 12 and January 29, according to the Justice Department's report.
The investigation that led to these arrests was a combined effort spearheaded by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Orange County Violent Crime Task Force, which includes federal and local law enforcement agencies. The Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin J. Butler and Jena A. MacCabe of the Violent and Organized Crime Section are on the prosecuting team. As these are mere allegations, Cuellar, and Morales maintain the presumption of innocence, unless proven guilty in a court of law.
