Opening statements and testimony began Oct. 14 in the trial of a man whose ex-girlfriend wrote an incriminating letter to the sheriff’s department detailing the man’s crimes, including allegations he accosted a La Jolla real-estate agent and pulled off a Pacific Beach burglary.
The jury and alternates in the trial of David Allen Grub were sworn in by San Diego Superior Court Judge Melinda Lasater. The courts were closed Oct. 13 in observance of Columbus Day.
Grub is charged and linked to four burglaries and three robberies. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody on $450,000 bail.
A mysterious letter was found at the sheriff’s station in Alpine that named Grub, 45, as responsible for various crimes, but initially the writer’s identity was unknown. Grub lived in Alpine at the time, and a search of his residence and car turned up stolen property in several cases.
A sheriff’s detective is expected to testify that the writer was Grub’s ex-girlfriend, who told the detective “she still loved him.” The detective testified in 2013 that the woman wrote the letter because “she felt what he was doing was wrong.”
Grub is accused of showing up with a rifle and confronting a real-estate agent in La Jolla on Aug. 1, 2012 after the agent had just finished showing the house to a prospective buyer. Witnesses said a man demanded jewelry and money, grabbed fur coats and jewelry and took the agent’s cell phone. The robber fired shots at the homeowner, dropped the fur coats and fled in a black car.
Grub is also accused of being one of two armed robbers on Dec. 20, 2012 in Rancho Santa Fe. The robbers handcuffed the maid to the front door and demanded jewelry, diamonds and cash. The home was ransacked, with a loss of $250,000 in jewelry, gold and other items, according to court records.
The first burglary occurred on May 24, 2012 on Loring Street in Pacific Beach, when the resident returned home and saw a man carrying a drawer from the victim’s dresser. The suspect fled in a black car, and the victim discovered a large amount of jewelry was stolen.
A detective testified that a jewelry box belonging to the Pacific Beach victim was found in Grub’s car.