By Neal Putnam
For The Alpine Sun
SAN DIEGO—A jury has convicted an Alpine man of three armed robberies and four burglaries which occurred in 2012 in a case where his ex-girlfriend turned in an anonymous letter to the Alpine sheriff’s substation which outlined the various crimes after five hours of deliberations.
Judge Melinda Lasater set sentencing for Nov. 19. Deputy District Attorney Dennis Panish said David Allen Grub faces a prison sentence of “30-plus years.”
By Neal Putnam
For The Alpine Sun
SAN DIEGO—A jury has convicted an Alpine man of three armed robberies and four burglaries which occurred in 2012 in a case where his ex-girlfriend turned in an anonymous letter to the Alpine sheriff’s substation which outlined the various crimes after five hours of deliberations.
Judge Melinda Lasater set sentencing for Nov. 19. Deputy District Attorney Dennis Panish said David Allen Grub faces a prison sentence of “30-plus years.”
Grub was convicted of robbing a real estate agent, Peggy Chodorow, after showing a La Jolla home for sale to prospective buyers. He was also convicted of robbing the homeowner, Jay Hawley, who testified he was wounded by pieces of pavement after Grub fired several warning shots into asphalt. Grub was also convicted of burglarizing a Pacific Beach home. Stephen Miller returned home and saw Grub carrying out a drawer containing jewelry from his dresser.
The jury also found Grub guilty of burglary at a La Jolla house. Grub accidently left his backpack and gloves inside the home and his DNA was recovered from those items. Grub was also convicted of burglarizing two homes in Rancho Bernardo. In both break-ins, Grub accidently cut himself and left some blood behind contained his DNA.
He was also found guilty of robbing a housekeeper at a home in Rancho Santa Fe. The homeowner, Jay Weinberg, testified more than $200,000 worth of jewelry, sterling silver, expensive clocks, and his wife’s purse were taken.
Grub’s attorney, Raymond Aragon, told jurors the eyewitnesses in the case were mistaken. He said Grub’s ex-girlfriend only wrote a letter to sheriff’s deputies about the crimes because “he took up with another woman.”
Grub did not testify and his attorney presented a physician as the only defense witness.
Sheriff’s detective Karen Bloch testified an anonymous letter written by Grub’s ex-girlfriend was found in the Alpine sheriff’s substation. The letter gave details about the crimes that Grub had told his ex-girlfriend and it included his car license plate number.
Bloch testified the ex-girlfriend wrote the letter because Grub had bragged about some of the crimes to her.
The letter identified Grub with his address in Alpine. Sheriff’s deputies searched his Tavern Road home and found stolen property that included a purse taken in the Rancho Santa Fe robbery. He was arrested.
Jay Hawley identified Grub as the man who shot a rifle into asphalt that ricocheted pavement into his face, knocking him down. Hawley said an ambulance took him to a hospital where doctors “took out a piece of street from my neck.” He said he got 8-9 stitches to close a wound near his eye.
