Bay Area chef who turned to bank robbery is back at S.F. restaurant
San Francisco Chronicle · Tara Duggan ·
Valentino Luchin, Bay Area chef who turned to bank robbery, is back cooking at an S.F. restaurant
Valentino Luchin downed a mini bottle of vodka one morning last September and walked into a bank in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He slipped the teller a handwritten note announcing a robbery, and she handed him back an envelope full of cash.
But as Luchin rushed outside, red ink exploded in his hands, staining the bills and creating a cloud that echoed the scarlet lanterns and banners on Grant Avenue.
The episode, recounted by Luchin and described in court filings, was one of three bank robberies prosecutors accuse him of committing or attempting that day. He pleaded not guilty, and after five months in jail, a federal judge released him into a long-term alcohol rehabilitation program in February.
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