Crowbar-wielding, cross-dressing laundromat robbery suspect appears in court

A 62-year-old man faced a judge Tuesday on charges of trying to rob a laundromat in Covina, California, while dressed as a woman. Charles Durant, of San Jacinto was positively identified by an employee as the robber trying to break into a video game machine inside a laundromat on West Covina Boulevard, Covina police officials said.

Police say the robbery happened on Sunday at about 6:36am. An employee told police she watched a robber use a crowbar to pry open the video game machine on the laundromat’s surveillance system. The robber, who wore a dress and long hair, was initially believed to be a woman. But when the employee confronted the robber, she realised he was a man because the wig fell off.



During a brief struggle to detain the robber, he used the crowbar and struck the employee in the arm, police said. Police say the employee chased the robber out of the laundromat and saw him get into the passenger side of a vehicle. Responding Covina police officers saw the suspect vehicle later that morning and initiated a traffic stop, and found Durant in the passenger seat.

Durant was positively identified by the employee and arrested on suspicion of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, drug-related offenses and three felony warrants, police said. He is being held on $405,000 bail. Gabriel Curiel, 40, of La Puente, the driver of the suspect vehicle, was also charged with robbery and possession of burglary tools.

You can watch surveillance footage of the robbery here.