Sacto 9-1-1: Folsom police nab suspect in Jelly Belly store robbery

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September 3, 2010

Folsom police nab suspect in Jelly Belly store robbery

By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com

Folsom police say that the man known as the "Jelly Belly Bandit" has been arrested after a short chase.

On Aug. 18 police asked for help in identifying a big-bellied man suspected of holding up a Jelly Belly candy store.

A man walked into the jelly-bean outlet store about 1:40 p.m. July 28 and pointed a pepper-spray canister at the clerk.

The clerk at the Folsom Premium Outlets store, 13000 Folsom Blvd., complied with his demands for cash. The robber then strolled from the store with an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspect was described as 6 feet tall and weighing 270 pounds.

After media outlets ran stories and photos of the robber, a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy and a Citrus Heights security officer contacted Folsom investigators about a man who looked like the Jelly Belly Bandit and had been arrested Aug. 11 for a similar crime.

Investigators showed a photo lineup, which included the photograph of Todd Joseph Willis (photo right), to a witness of the Jelly Belly robbery. Willis was identified as the suspected robber.

On Thursday, police went to Willis' apartment in Fair Oaks to speak with him.

When they tried to place him under arrest, he fled on foot. He was subdued, police said, after a brief struggle.

Willis was booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of robbery and willfully resisting a police officer.

For the record, Willis' jail booking sheet lists him at 6 feet 1 inches tall and just 230 pounds.

Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.

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Q: In 1998 my friend Angela Elise Dvorsky was murdered. Her body was discovered in the river by Howe ave. To my knowledge there was never an arrest and I can find no information on the case at all. Not even from the original incedent. Please help thank you.

A: The body 18-year-old Angela Dvorsky was found May 1, 1998 floating in the American River near the Watt Avenue bridge. Sheriff's officials said she had been stabbed numerous times in the upper torso and was believed to have been in the water for about two weeks.

According to stories in The Bee, her parents said she had been a straight-A student, but they started noticing signs of drug use and the next thing they knew she was pregnant.

Dvorsky was described as a chronic runaway who often hung out on Croetto Way in Rancho Cordova. Her parents said she survived on the streets by running with robbery gangs.

Friends said they had last talked to her in mid-March 1998. They said she was holed up in a motel and seemed paranoid over the phone. She told them she had been involved in a robbery where somebody got hurt and that her "crew" was concerned about her being a witness.

Dvorsky died leaving a 2-year-old son.

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