A rash of homicides has stricken South Los Angeles. And on Tuesday a 15-year-old was shot by cops because his friend was holding a toy gun.

But the big law-and-order news in L.A. is that the Westside's “tip jar bandit,” responsible for, like, several dollars worth of theft, has been captured, Beverly Hills police announced last night.

Westside problem solved. Cops identified the suspect as 20-year-old Jessica Shub, a Beverly Hills resident.

Investigators believe she's responsible for “two similar tip jar thefts in Los Angeles and three additional crimes in Beverly Hills,” according to a police statement.

The tip jar bandit struck early last month at at Seoul Sausage on Mississippi near Sawtelle Boulevard in West L.A., sources said. The same woman is believed to have plundered the tip jar at Komodo, an Asian fusion eatery in the Pico-Robertson area, according to that establishment.

“She was on a pretend phone call,” Komodo's Eric Tjahyadi told the Weekly previously. “That was her M.O. She didn’t purchase anything. She was asking about the menu.”


A suspect dipped her hand into the tip jar four times, folks at the restaurant said.

Then the tip jar bandit was suspected of hitting Slicetruck Pizza on Sawtelle.

Yesterday cops were called to a restaurant in the 9600 Block of Brighton Way, where the bandit is alleged to have taken tip cash once more. Beverly Hills police, with some of the swiftest response times in greater L.A., say they were on the scene within a minute.

Shub was nabbed nearby at Brighton Way and Rodeo Drive, cops said.

She was booked on suspicion of commercial burglary and jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail, according to police and L.A. Sheriff's Department inmate records.

A woman with the same name was also arrested in September by Los Angeles Police Department West Valley Division cops and booked in lieu of $20,000 for an unknown allegation, according to those records.

Whoever did this must have done so for the thrill, because the money is pocket change. Unless you work at a restaurant and depend on it to pay your bills.

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