Four years prison for post-casino robbery in South San Francisco

Matthews was taken into custody along with 26-year-old James Louis Brisker IV and 32-year-old Eric Hamilton, also of Vallejo, by Daly City police officers who stopped them on Interstate 280 minutes after the March 31 robbery, according to prosecutors previously. 

The trio is believed to have observed a 62-year-old woman and her 61-year-old husband at the San Pablo Lytton Casino and followed them some 30 miles as they drove to their home in South San Francisco. The couple stopped in the parking lot of a Walgreens at 2238 Westborough Blvd. at around 6:50 p.m. and was blocked in their spot by the car Hamilton was driving with the other two as passengers, according to prosecutors.

Brisker and Matthews are said to have gotten out of the car and opened the driver’s door of the couple’s car. Brisker allegedly put the gun to the woman’s head and demanded she give him her purse and all her money. The woman tried to move away from the car, and they pushed her back into it and took her Louis Vuitton purse, which was valued at $2,700, and some $2,000 in cash, according to prosecutors.

The pair then demanded her husband give them all of his money, so the man gave them $400 in cash and the trio drove away from the Walgreens parking lot. The couple was able to take down the license plate number of the car Hamilton was driving and immediately called 911, which triggered a countywide “be on the lookout” alert, according to prosecutors.

The car was seen minutes after the alert was sent by Daly City police officers going northbound on Interstate 280. When they initiated a traffic stop, the men were allegedly found with the woman’s purse and a loaded 9 mm handgun in the backseat of the car, according to prosecutors.

Though the three men denied being involved in the robbery, the victims were able to identify Brisker as the man who held them at gunpoint, according to prosecutors.

Though Brisker pleaded not guilty to charges of armed robbery and possession of a firearm in April, a bench warrant with bail set at $125,000 has been issued since he failed to appear in court Aug. 2. Hamilton pleaded not guilty to two counts of robbery and possession of a firearm as an accomplice in April but his charges were dismissed by Judge Amarra Lee, who found insufficient evidence to support them, according to prosecutors.

Judge Lisa Novak said Matthews had not taken responsibility for the severity of his conduct, noting he was convicted of robbery in 2014 and was on probation for that conviction when he committed this offense, according to prosecutors.