HE’S COOKED

Renowned California Chef Arrested for Robbing Three Banks in One Day

“I thought it was a good plan, but it was not,” the suspect said.

A renowned California chef was arrested for allegedly robbing three banks in one day in San Francisco. Valentino Luchin, 62, the former executive chef at the popular Italian restaurant Rose Pistola, admitted to the robbery spree in a jailhouse interview with the East Bay Times. “I thought it was a good plan, but it was not,” he said. Police said the rampage began Wednesday afternoon when Luchin, dressed in a hoodie, dark shades, and white gloves, passed handwritten notes to bank tellers demanding money. He carried a weapon that was later determined to be a BB gun. “It was a fake gun,” he told the paper. “I don’t even know how to load a real gun.” The first heist took place near Grand Avenue in Chinatown around noon, when a frightened teller complied with his demand and handed over a bag of cash. Luchin was quickly tied to two more robberies in San Francisco’s Central District later that day, police said. Officers tracked him down within hours and booked him into the San Francisco County Jail on three counts of bank robbery.