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There were two other bank robberies in the central district that
day involving a suspect with a similar description and methods
and police also charged Luchin with those robberies, police
said.
Luchin was charged with robbery and attempted robbery, police
said. He’s being held on $200,000 bail, according to the San
Francisco Sheriff’s website. A preliminary hearing is scheduled
for Sept. 24.
Luchin is a talented chef and kind person who found himself in a
“desperate” financial situation recently, Deputy Public Defender
Kwixuan H. Maloof said in a statement. The restaurant industry
has been difficult in recent years and Luchin was offered a
position that was later withdrawn, putting him into a “state of
depression,” he said.
“The charges against him are totally overblown, and the
government is trying to stretch the law to fit facts that simply
are not there,” Maloof said, adding that he intends to challenge
the charges and “expose prosecutorial overreach.”
Local news outlets report that Luchin was known for his work at
Italian restaurants such as Rose Pistola and Ottavio. He was
charged in a 2018 bank robbery in Contra Costa County and told
KGO-TV during an interview at a detention facility at the time,
“I went inside and said ‘Good morning. Nobody move. This is a
robbery.’”
Luchin said he was desperate after his restaurant Ottavio in
Walnut closed in 2016.
“We’ve been struggling a lot financially and I have a family,”
Luchin said. “I feel bad. It wasn’t something I was planning or
doing for a living.”
Luchin pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree robbery
in 2018 and was sentenced to one year in county jail and three
years probation, according to Contra Costa County District
Attorney’s spokesperson Ted Asregadoo.
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