Orange County Grand Jury indictments unsealed today accuse 11 San Diego residents of a crime spree that included armed robberies at two jewelry stores, identity theft and street terrorism. They were named in a 20 count indictment issued last month.
Orange County prosecutors identified nine of the defendants as members of a San Diego criminal street gang.
They are accused of robbing Baca Jewelers in Laguna Beach at gunpoint on August 25th – just three weeks after allegedly robbing Tustin Village Jewelers, also at gunpoint.
The Tustin robbery netted the robbers more than $160,000 in jewelry and in Laguna Beach, the gunmen escaped with more than $1,000,000 in watches and jewelry
Michael Dennis Burgin, 30, is accused of taking part in both robberies. He is being held in lieu of $1,000,000 bail. Adam Weick, 28, and Aida Arroyo, 27, are both charged with only the Tustin heist. Here’s what prosecutors claim happened: Arroyo went into Tustin Village jewelers under the pretense of selling a ring. While negotiating the price, she asked to be buzzed outside to make a phone call.
When the owner buzzed the gate, prosecutors say Burgin and Weick rushed in, held a gun to the back of the owner’s head and threatened to shoot him if he did not open the safe. They then tied him up with duct tape and put him in the bathroom and left with the loot.
Three weeks later, Burgin, Pedro Avina Hernandez, 29, and Alonso Jose Lopez, 31, purportedly entered Baca Jewelers just before closing time.
Prosecutors say they robbed a store employee at gunpoint and when police responded to the alarm, the trio then led officers on a pursuit that ended when they abandoned their car in an Aliso Viejo parking garage and fled on foot.
Police traced the abandoned car to 28-year-old Sylvia Castaneda. She had claimed her car had been stolen in San Diego County but prosecutors say she had loaned it to the suspects and she is now under arrest, charged with impeding a police investigation, street terrorism, robbery and as an accessory after the fact.
The story now becomes even more complicated. When Castaneda went to Laguna Beach with Aida Arroyo and Daisy Oregon, 21, to pick up her impounded car, her friends allegedly stole mail from mailboxes in Laguna Beach for the purpose of identity theft. Arroyo is accused of using a credit card that had been stolen in San Diego the day before.
Meanwhile, investigators trying to trace the stolen jewelry found some of it at two second hand jewelry stores in San Diego County: J&L Jewelers and San Diego Jewelry and Loan. Jose Jesus Garcia is accused of grinding the identity markings off stolen jewelry to hide their origin and Touradj Barman is accused of knowingly purchasing stolen property.
All the defendants except Garcia and Barman are accused of being members of a criminal street gang. They are the only defendants who are out on bail The others are being held on bail ranging from $75,000 to $1,000,000.
The majority of the stolen property has not been recovered. There is an ongoing investigation to see whether these defendants were involved in any other jewelry store robberies in Orange and San Diego counties.
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on December 4th. If convicted, they face sentences of three years up to 35 years to life in state prison.
