Deputies Round Up, Arrest Another Suspect In 7-Eleven Hold-Up

An alleged gang member was arrested Wednesday after deputies recovered a baseball bat believed to be used in the November armed robbery of a store near Santa Cruz, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies located Anthony Deponzi, 19, at his home in the 4000 block of Scotts Valley Drive in Scotts Valley and had him booked into the county jail on suspicion of robbery and participating in a criminal street gang, sheriff’s Lt. Kelly Kent said.

The bail for Deponzi, a suspected gang member, was set at $100,000, Kent said.

The teen is suspected of being one of six males who robbed a 7-Eleven store at 1875 Soquel Drive in the unincorporated Live Oak area just east of the city of Santa Cruz around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 26, according to Kent.

The entire robbery was captured on the store’s surveillance system and deputies who work in the Live Oak district immediately recognized the face of one suspect who was wearing a baseball cap in the video, Kent said.

The suspects entered the store wearing dark clothing, five of them with hoods covering their faces, Kent said.

A store clerk who noticed them started running toward a backroom and a suspect who wielded a baseball bat gave chase but the clerk was able to find refuge in the room and call 911, according to Kent.

“In the video, you see them run after him,” Kent said. “He saw them coming in and was lucky he was able to hide in the back room.”

Another one of the suspects carried a gun his waistband, he said.

The suspects then raided the beverage cooler and made off with about 10 cases of beer.

The one with the bat used it to smash a pastry cabinet before the group fled into the parking lot, he said. Surveillance video showed them loading the beer into a black SUV and a black compact car and then driving away, he said.

On Dec. 4, sheriff’s detectives identified and arrested 19-year-old Cristian Melgar, thought to be the one wearing the cap in the video, in connection with the robbery and booked him into county jail.

Bail was set at $50,000, Kent said.

Deputies recovered the clothing believed worn by Melgar and Deponzi in each of the suspects’ homes and located the baseball bat allegedly seen on the video at Deponzi’s home, he said.

The robbery may have been done in the furtherance of gang activity, he said. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the robbery or the outstanding suspects is urged to phone the sheriff’s dispatch number at (831) 471-1121.

--Photos from left: Cristian Melgar; Anthony Deponzi.

--Bay City News

• Get Patched in! Sign up for the daily newsletter from Santa Cruz Patch.

Also on Patch:

• Big Congrats! Annual Holiday Food Drive Totals Equate To 4 Million Meals
• 59 Measles Cases Confirmed in CA Including in 3 Bay Area Counties
• Take Care At Beach This Weekend, Santa Cruz! Steer Clear Of Rocks, Jetties
• Listeria Recall: Frozen Fruit
• Area Community Colleges to Offer Affordable 4-Year Degrees
• Check It Out: 25 Worst Passwords of 2014 (Not Still Using 123456, Are You?)
• Weekly Snow Report for Santa Cruz Residents Headed to Tahoe