RivCo Jewelry Heist: Suspects Have LA County, San Bernardino Ties

PALM DESERT, CA — Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigators have narrowed in on two more suspects in a cross-county planned Oct. 5 robbery of a Palm Desert jewelry store, they reported Thursday. Two women, one from San Bernardino and another from Los Angeles were arrested this week on suspicion of participating in the robbery, according to Sgt. Rovann Cleveland.

Destiny Baca, 18, of San Bernardino, and 24-year-old Los Angeles resident Analea Miller were arrested and booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where they remain held on $2,500,00 bail bonds, according to Cleveland.

On Wednesday, Baca and Miller were identified as suspects and arrested after the Riverside County Sheriff's Department members served search warrants in the 600 block of West 8th Street in San Bernardino and the 9700 block of Budlong Avenue in Los Angeles.

Other robbery suspects are Los Angeles residents Julian Hermosillo, 18, Mason Barron, 21, Raymond Garcia, 24, and Byron Lee, 19, of Compton.

According to court records, all were charged with grand theft over $950 and organized retail theft. Hermosillo, Garcia, and Lee were also charged with one felony count each of robbery. Barron additionally faces two felony counts each of robbery, grand theft over $950, organized retail theft, and burglary.

They each have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges, Hermosillo in November and the other three in October, Cleveland said.

In October, deputies with the Palm Desert sheriff's station were assisted in serving four search warrants in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Retail Crime Task Force, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Office of Correctional Safety Fugitive Team aided in the warrant service.

"The search warrants stemmed from an extensive investigation into a robbery that occurred on Oct. 5, resulting in a significant loss of high-value merchandise from a business in Palm Desert," Cleveland wrote in a statement. "During the investigation, members of the Riverside Sheriff's Office developed leads and located evidence that helped identify the suspects associated with the robbery and two residential burglaries."

Garcia, Barron, and Lee were all arrested on Oct. 18 in different areas within Los Angeles County, jail records show. Hermosillo was subsequently identified as a fourth suspect in the robbery.

On Nov. 1, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office Special Enforcement Division assisted members of the Riverside Sheriff's Office in serving a search warrant in the 2500 block of Macy Street in San Bernardino and the 800 block of 99th Street in Los Angeles, according to Cleveland. After the warrants, Hermosillo was arrested, according to inmate records,

According to inmate records, Garcia, Barron, and Lee were booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio and Hermosillo into the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta. Barron was being held on a $2,588,000 bail bond, Garcia and Hermosillo on $2,490,000 bonds, and Lee on a $310,000 bond.

Barron has previously pleaded guilty to grand theft over $950. He has another active court case, in which he's suspected with a woman and two juveniles of robbing a jewelry store at the Palm Desert mall in July, according to court records.

Garcia previously pleaded guilty to a felony count of burglary, while Hermosillo and Lee had no prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

Anyone with information on the robbery and burglaries was asked to call Investigator Grasso with the Palm Desert sheriff's station at 760-836- 1600.