Robbers Take Cash, Jewels at Charity Bingo Game : Van Nuys: Trio forces 215 patrons to the floor at gunpoint. The sponsor's request for security doors had been rejected.

Robbers Take Cash, Jewels at Charity Bingo Game : Van Nuys: Trio forces 215 patrons to the floor at gunpoint. The sponsor’s request for security doors had been rejected.

By CARMEN VALENCIA

March 13, 1993 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Three gun-toting masked men charged into a charity bingo hall in Van Nuys, ordered more than 200 players to drop to the floor and stripped them of jewelry and the contents of purses and wallets, police said.

In about 15 minutes Thursday night, the trio swiftly and methodically took $13,000 in bingo proceeds and about $4,000 in cash and valuables from many of the 215 players present, according to authorities.

“Have a good night. We’ll be back again,” one victim quoted a robber as saying.

“Everybody was shook up and afraid,” said a bus driver from Lancaster who was robbed of $200. “It was a scary situation.”

The games are operated three times a week at 7630 Gloria Ave. by United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles, which once asked the city for permission to install locked security doors but was turned down.

The games gross about $300,000 a year and are the largest source of funds for the charity.

Bingo manager Ruth Croutch, one of eight volunteer staff workers on duty, said she was sitting in the office when a robber stuck a gun through the window and said, “Give me the money.”

“They knew exactly what to do,” said Croutch. “They knew the office had money. My emotion is not one of fear. My emotion is one of anger. I’m furious that these SOBs can control the lives of these people.”

The robbery has prompted the nonprofit group, which operates more than 30 therapy centers and homes countywide, to consider stronger security measures, such as armed guards.

“I don’t want to start sticking guns on people,” said Ron Cohen, the organization’s executive director. “This is a charity. We shouldn’t be arming a charity.”

Detective Mel Arnold of the Los Angeles Police Department said that holdups of charity bingo games, which are played throughout the Los Angeles area, are rare. “This is the first one we’ve had in a long time,” Arnold said. “Hopefully, it will be the last.”

The volunteer-run bingo operation attracts an average of 220 people on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights.

The sessions run from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Last October, Cohen asked the city Department of Social Service, which licenses bingo operations, for permission to install security doors that lock.

When he was told he could not because inspectors required access for unannounced visits, he mailed the department a key.

The department mailed it back, Cohen said.

Shirley Flucus, the department’s principal investigator, said holding keys to any of the city’s 75 bingo operations would not work.

“We do not allow locked doors. We would need 75 keys,” Flucus said. “Can you see us going around with a ring of 75 keys to every hall in the city of Los Angeles?”

Cohen said that while the organization weighs further security precautions, the bingo games will continue.

The bus driver, who asked not to be identified, is not sure she will return to play.

“I’m debating whether I should play or not. You don’t know if it’s going to be tonight. You take a chance when you’re coming to play.”