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'Customer' turns robber, holds up dry cleaner
Asks about leather repairs, then pulls pistol

by Glenn Wohltmann

A Monday night armed robbery at a dry cleaner netted an undisclosed amount of money, but left the owner, who was just closing, shaken.

The holdup took place at Holiday Dry Cleaners in the 3100 block of Santa Rita Road, just doors down from Gold Chopsticks Chinese restaurant, which was held up at gunpoint in December.

Sue Hwang, who owns and operates the dry cleaners with her husband, said a man came in at almost 7 p.m. and asked about dry cleaning and getting a leather jacket repaired.

"He pulled out a gun and pointed it at me and said, 'Give me money,'" Hwang said. "I gave him everything (from the cash register). He said sit down and I sat down."

She described the weapon the holdup man displayed as a small black pistol and said the robbery only took about three minutes.

Hwang described the robber as a thin white male, age 40 to 50, with "lots of wrinkles." He was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans at the time of the robbery, she said.

That description differs greatly from other recent Pleasanton holdups. In the Dec. 3 robbery at Gold Chopsticks, the armed robber was described as a thin black male, 18 to 25 years old; the suspect in a Dec 18 holdup at Dominoes, near both the dry cleaners and the restaurant, was described as an Asian or Hispanic man in his early 20s, 5 feet 5 and weighing about 120 pounds.

The Union 76 gas station in the 4100 block of First Street was robbed Sept. 23 by a man who pointed a handgun at the lone attendant and demanded cash. The suspect is described as a light-skinned male, possibly Caucasian or Hispanic, in his early twenties, 5 feet 7-9, 140 pounds.

Suspects in a June holdup at Sweet Tomatoes in the 4500 block of Hopyard Road were described as Hispanic males in their mid-20s, one described as 5 feet 6-7, 140 to 160 pounds with a medium build, and the other 5 feet 4-6 with a similar weight and build. Those suspects wore bandannas.