‘Peep Bandit’ ordered to trial in 8 robberies

A judge June 3 ordered a robber suspected of being the “Peep Bandit” to stand trial for five robberies of adult bookstores and three other hold-ups.

Four detectives who interviewed the employees of Mercury Books, Adult Emporium, 7-Eleven and two Subway sandwich shops were the witnesses in the preliminary hearing of Oscar Augustin Smith Jr., 28.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Lorna Alksne set a trial date for Sept. 16. Smith pleaded not guilty. He remains in jail on $150,000 bail.

San Diego Police Detective Wayne Glazewski testified the “Peep Bandit” robbed the same victim three times at Mercury Books at the location of 8081 Balboa Ave. It occurred April 7, April 26 and May 6.

“I don’t know why he keeps picking me,” said the Mercury Books clerk, according to Glazewski.

Glazewski, who said he provided the robbery series with its nickname, said the description was pretty much the same: A black male wearing a black and white sweatshirt, black rimmed glasses, black or green bandanna across his face while wearing a black hooded jacket with black latex gloves.

The robber always brought along a supermarket plastic bag in which the clerk was ordered to drop the money inside.

“Give me the money. I don’t want to have to shoot you,” the robber said to an employee at the Adult Emporium, at 3576 Main Street according to Detective Robert Anschick.

All of the eight businesses had security camera footage which was analyzed by police. A witness saw the license plate of a black Yukon driven by the bandit and it was registered to an El Cajon woman who knew Smith but didn’t know he used it for robberies.

Glazewski said all of the clothing seized matched everything in the video footage and what witnesses recalled. The green bandanna was also recovered, but it was used only in the first two hold-ups.

After he was arrested May 11, Glazewski said he showed all the video footage taken in the “Peep Bandit” series. “He admitted to every single robbery that I showed him pictures of,” he said, adding that Smith claimed “the (drug) cartel made him do it.”

Smith said three Hispanic men roughed him up, but he could give no description, no phone numbers or any way to identify them, said the detective.

When Glazewski talked to Smith a second time, he said Smith told him he had five children with three girlfriends and “he wanted to put food on the table.” The detective said Smith admitted he lied about the cartel forcing him to commit robberies and said he was remorseful.

At a Subway shop hold-up in Claremont Mesa he put a few dollar bills in the employee tip jar in front of the scared clerk, saying “don’t tell anybody,” said Glazewski.

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