HAWTHORNE, Calif. -- A former Los Angeles Rams running back was arrested in a string of 18 motel and hotel robberies by authorities who lured him with a bogus sports promotional offer that included posing semi-nude for a calendar, deputies said Saturday.
Alonzo Fitzgerald Williams, 28, was arrested at his estranged wife's home in suburban Hawthorne about 11:30 p.m. Friday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Roger Hom said.
Williams is suspected of committing 17 robberies at hotels and motels throughout Los Angeles County and one in Orange County, Hom said. The holdup spree began in March with a robbery in Lawndale.
'Seventeen other robberies followed, with the most recent committed by Williams at the Days Inn Motel in Inglewood a few hours before his arrest Friday night,' Hom said.
The victimized establishments included Holiday Inns, Ramada Inns, Hampton Inns, Days Inn Motels, and Embassy Suites.
Hom said Williams played for the Los Angeles Rams as a running back in 1984 and 1985.
Media guides for the National Football League team list an Alonzo Williams as a rookie running back during the 1987 season. A game-by-game summary credits him with two carries for 9 yard against the New Orleans Saints Oct. 4, 1987.
He was a 10th-round draft choice from Mesa College in Colorado, where he was a first-team NAIA All-America pick in 1986. That year he rushed for 1,495 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Williams transferred to Mesa from Santa Monica College in Southern California.
Detectives and officers assigned to the multi-agency West Regional Burglary Team located Williams Friday at the Hawthorne home, which then was surrounded by a Hawthorne Police Department Special Weapons Team, Hom said. Officers telephoned Williams, who walked out of the house and surrendered.
In mid-September, the burglary team joined the multi-jurisdictional effort to apprehend the so-called Motel Changer Robber.
Hom said the bandit typically would enter a motel, flash a dollar bill and ask for change, then simulate a gun in his pocket and rob the cashier.
The combined investigative efforts of 10 law enforcement agencies eventually focused on Williams after determining the robber may have played for either the Rams or Los Angeles Raiders.
The burglary team formed a fictious sports promotional company and, with detectives posing as company officials and scouts, contacted Williams' friends and relatives, hoping they would reveal his whereabouts.
Hom said the detectives said Williams would have the opportunity to pose for a semi-nude photo calendar and participate in promotional tours in Las Vegas, Nev. and Atlantic City, N.J.
On Friday, Williams called the bogus company to say he was very interested in the program 'and couldn't wait to get started,' Hom said.
During a required 'pre-employement interview,' Williams provided the detectives with a detailed biography that allowed them to locate him at his estranged wife's house, Hom said.
Williams was booked at the Hawthorne jail on suspicion of robbery. Bail was set at $430,000.