Former Bay Area Chef Faces Federal Charges After Alleged String of Bank Robberies

A former Bay Area chef is facing federal charges after authorities accused him of attempting — and in some cases succeeding — in multiple bank robberies in and around San Francisco last year.

Valentino Luchin, 54, is accused of trying to rob a Citibank on Wednesday, Jan. 7, in Orinda, Calif. Officials say police responded around 10:56 a.m. to a report of an “armed male suspect.” The suspect allegedly fled in a vehicle with “some cash.”

Investigators say the Orinda Police Department, with help from detectives in Lafayette, identified the suspect using witness descriptions and surveillance footage.

Luchin was later served a search warrant at his home in Lafayette and detained. He was then arrested and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on one count of robbery. Officials said he was being held on $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors also connect Luchin to three separate San Francisco bank robbery attempts in September 2025, alleging he passed notes to employees demanding cash. Authorities claim two attempts were successful, totaling about $2,800, while the third was unsuccessful, ABC News reported on Jan. 10.

Luchin was arrested later that month and has pleaded not guilty, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Prosecutors allege the robberies happened on the same day in neighborhoods near Chinatown, North Beach, and the city’s Central District — where Luchin lived at the time.

Court records cited by the Chronicle say Luchin is facing four felony charges tied to the alleged robberies. Prosecutors describe the incidents as involving “great violence” or conduct showing “cruelty, viciousness or callousness.”

In one incident, authorities allege a bank employee handed over a bag of cash after becoming afraid when a man believed to be Luchin passed a note demanding money. The amount was not disclosed, but prosecutors cited the alleged “great monetary value” of the crimes as an aggravating factor.

A trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 21, according to the Chronicle. Luchin remains in jail after a judge set bond at $200,000.

The case is not Luchin’s first encounter with law enforcement. The former executive chef of Italian restaurant Rose Pistola in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood was previously convicted in connection with a 2018 bank robbery in Orinda. In that case, authorities said he took more than $15,000 from a Citibank branch before fleeing. He later pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree robbery and was sentenced to one year in county jail and three years of probation, according to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office.

At the time, Luchin told ABC7 that financial pressure after his Walnut Creek restaurant, Ottavio, closed contributed to what happened. The restaurant shut down in 2016 after six years in business. San Francisco Eater later reported that Luchin and his wife had amassed more than $110,000 in debt after defaulting on a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan.

Meanwhile, Luchin’s public defender is now seeking a mental health diversion that would include substance abuse treatment, the Chronicle reported. A hearing on that request is scheduled for next week. The charges remain allegations, and the case is ongoing.