Teen Suspect in Lake Elsinore Robbery Heads Back to Jail

By City News Service:

A young man accused of committing a half-dozen robberies throughout Riverside County, with the help of a teenage getaway driver, withdrew his motion for a bail reduction this week and was returned to county jail.

Josiah Justen Granillo, 18, was arrested earlier this month following a joint investigation by the sheriff’s department and Riverside police.

Granillo is charged with six counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted robbery.

His attorney, Michael Severo, last week submitted a request to Superior Court Judge Christian Thierbach for a bail review hearing based on the defendant’s lack of criminal history. However, when the hearing was called in Thierbach’s courtroom at the Riverside Hall of Justice on Monday, Severo announced that he no longer intended to argue the motion. There was no explanation why.

Thierbach scheduled a felony settlement conference for Thursday. Granillo was transported back to the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where he’s being held in lieu of $210,000.

The defendant, most recently a resident of Corona, is suspected of hold- ups in Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, Norco and Riverside.

Detectives said they were able to ascertain his identity following a Nov. 1 robbery at a business in the 1800 block of Hamner Ave. in Norco.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Justin Rowan alleged that Granillo rushed into the store brandishing a handgun and demanding that the clerk empty the cash register. The defendant allegedly grabbed the money and jumped into a waiting vehicle.

Rowan said investigators quickly developed leads and took Granillo and an underage boy, whose identity was not released, into custody in Corona.

The boy was booked into Riverside Juvenile Hall. His case is being prosecuted in juvenile court.

Court records indicate Granillo has several unresolved traffic-related infractions pending, but nothing more serious.