ROBBERS BAFFLE COPS SKI-MASKED BANDITS HIT ANOTHER VALLEY EATERY.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

SHERMAN OAKS -- The landmark Valley Inn is the latest target in a string of nearly 200 takeover robberies at upscale San Fernando Valley eateries, and police said Thursday that they remain stymied by the spree.

The Wednesday night stickup was like many of the others that were first reported in October 2004: Two gunmen wearing ski masks and gloves barge in near closing time on a weekday and are gone before the victims even know what happened.

``They jumped over the bar and held the bartender at gunpoint,'' Sophia Brodetsky recalled Thursday, standing in the dining room of the Sherman Oaks Avenue restaurant she's owned for eight years.

``They told everybody to get on the floor. The were yelling and screaming, `Put your money on the table!'''

Brodetsky said there were a couple of customers at the bar and a couple more in the dining room about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when the robbers came in the front door, holding a gun to the neck of a customer who had been standing outside smoking.

The pair robbed the customers in the bar of the cash in their pockets, plus about $200 from the cash register, before fleeing through the front door.

Los Angeles police don't know whether the Valley Inn robbers are the same duo that have terrorized customers at scores of other restaurants from Woodland Hills to Studio City, stealing thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry.

Police have tried stakeouts, computer analysis and task forces to catch the culprits, but the task has proved too daunting, said Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the Valley's commanding officer.

The Valley has hundreds of restaurants, he said, and the bandits wear disguises that make it impossible to discern anything more than their general height and weight.

``It's extremely frustrating,'' Moore said.

While the number of robberies is up, so is the use of ski masks -- about 50 percent more than last year. As a result, Police Chief William Bratton is seeking a law that would mandate longer prison sentences for robbers convicted of wearing a disguise.

While concern has increased among merchants, police said these types of restaurant robberies make up a small portion of the overall robberies that are increasing in the Valley.

So far this year, there have been 1,627 robberies in the Valley, compared with 1,409 for the same period last year -- about a 15 percent increase. Most are purse-snatchings and other street robberies, Moore said.

``It is not that we are unsuccessful in arrests,'' Moore said. ``But what's happening is we're seeing a proliferation.''

Local merchant associations are looking into forming watchdog groups and learning more about technology that can help identify the robbers.

``We're very concerned about it,'' said Brendan Huffman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. ``Restaurants and shops make up the success of the Valley.''

Members of the mid-Valley Chamber of Commerce recently gathered to discuss installing closed-circuit cameras, while the Encino Chamber of Commerce discussed sponsoring a business safety program.

``I was at one restaurant and they had security there,'' said Alan Ehrlich, executive director of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce. ``We shouldn't have (to have) security at a restaurant.''

Brodetsky said she isn't sure she's ready to take such a drastic step, but she's going to take more precautions at her 60-year-old restaurant, including locking back doors during business hours and speaking to police about security enhancements.

``The way these guys come in, there's nothing you can do,'' she said. ``When a masked man comes up to you, he looks huge.''

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Valley Inn owner Sophia Brodetsky gets a hug from customer Pete Miller outside the eatery, robbed by two ski-masked bandits Wednesday night.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer