Bay Area celebrity chef robs 3 banks in one day, police say
A prominent Bay Area chef was arrested last week for allegedly robbing three San Francisco banks in a single day, authorities said.
Valentino Luchin, 62, of San Francisco, was taken into custody on Sept. 10 after allegedly passing notes demanding money to bank tellers at three separate locations in the city's Central District, according to the San Francisco Police Department. His bail is set at $200,000.
The first incident occurred around 12:02 p.m. when Luchin allegedly entered a bank in Chinatown and passed a note to an employee demanding money, police said. After receiving cash, he fled the scene. Two more banks in the Central District were allegedly robbed similarly that same day.
Investigators, aided by SFPD Ambassadors and community tips, identified Luchin as the suspect and arrested him without incident, police said. He was booked into San Francisco County Jail on charges of robbery and attempted robbery, authorities said.
The arrest marked Luchin's second brush with bank robbery charges. In 2018, he admitted to robbing a Citibank in Orinda, California, making off with over $15,000, according to an interview he gave ABC News owned station in San Francisco, KGO, from the Martinez detention facility at the time.
During that interview, Luchin, a distinguished Italian chef known for his expertise in regional cuisine and the former owner of Ottavio restaurant in Walnut Creek, blamed financial struggles after his establishment closed in 2016.
"We've been struggling a lot financially and I have a family," he told KGO. "It wasn't something I was planning or doing for a living."
In the 2018 incident, Orinda police said Luchin used what he later claimed was a BB gun and was arrested within three hours of the robbery at an athletic club parking lot in Lafayette.
Before his legal troubles, Luchin had built a reputation in the culinary world, working in top restaurants worldwide and specializing in menu design and culinary management, according to Take a Chef. He previously served as executive chef at San Francisco's Italian restaurant Rose Pistola, where he was known for combining traditional Italian cooking methods with innovative techniques.
