'REAL TV' SUSPECT CAUGHT.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A national television show has aided local investigators in capturing a man wanted in connection with the robbery of a Lancaster liquor store nearly five months ago.

A ``Real TV'' viewer watching the Sept. 21 broadcast of surveillance video from Abe's Liquor 2 in Lancaster recognized one of the robbers and contacted sheriff's deputies.

``That was exactly what they had hoped for,'' said Deputy Bobby Rush. ``They were sure that someone would recognize him.''

Relonzo Richard, 26, of Lancaster was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and was being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles.

Richard's brother, Dannell Richard, 21, of Inglewood, also a suspect in the robbery, was arrested shortly after the holdup on a parole violation and is in Folsom State Prison.

Dannell Richard is awaiting trial on the robbery charge, authorities said.

Deputies say a ``Real TV'' viewer recognized the robber holding a clerk at gunpoint on the surveillance video as a man who rides a purple bicycle at night in his Lancaster neighborhood.

When two deputies went to the neighborhood with a surveillance video photo, they found Relonzo Richard riding a purple bike just a block from the location the viewer gave deputies.

The robbery occurred about 9:30 p.m. May 17 when two men armed with pistols entered the liquor store in the 1300 block of West Avenue I and ordered the cashier to turn over all the money in the register. The pair also removed a safe that contained a large amount of cash and several hundred lottery tickets.

On May 23, deputies learned that two men had cashed some of the stolen lottery tickets at the Superior Super Warehouse on South Avalon Boulevard and at other stores in Los Angeles.

The warehouse store provided more surveillance tape identifying the Richards as the men involved in the robbery, authorities said.