High-Pressure Water Hose Used To Fend Off Robber

A Lake Elsinore man who allegedly tried to rob a car wash customer should have seen it coming.

On Monday afternoon, Roth Steven Anderson allegedly ran up to a customer at the Allbright At-Last Coin-Op Car Wash Laundromat located at 41941 Moreno Road in Temecula and brandished what appeared to be a black semi-automatic firearm. The male customer was washing his car in one of the bays when Anderson demanded his wallet

But rather than hand over the wallet, the customer turned the tables and sprayed Anderson in the face with the car wash’s high-pressure water hose.

The wet robber ran off but police were able to find his backpack inside a nearby Denny’s restaurant.

“Inside the backpack officers located the replica firearm and the clothes Anderson wore during the attempted robbery,” a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department news release stated.

Anderson was located across the parking lot as he was leaving a convenience store where he purchased cigarettes.

The victim positively identified Anderson as the man who had attempted to rob him, police allege.