Two Stockton men were caught in the act robbing a 7-Eleven clerk at gunpoint shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday.
Manteca Police officers had been alerted minutes before by Ripon police that an armed robbery had just occurred in that city at the Shell convenience store located near the northbound Highway 99 off ramp at Main Street.
Manteca patrolman Ian Osborn was enroute to Highway 99 in attempt to cut off the suspects if they were to come into Manteca. As he was eastbound on Yosemite Avenue crossing Powers Avenue, he said he looked over his shoulder to see two men in the 7-Eleven at that corner holding a gun on the clerk.
Osborn said he drove into the convenience store’s parking lot as the two suspects ran out the door and into the parking lot. They dodged away from the patrol car eastward toward Powers Avenue where police believed they had a getaway vehicle parked.
The officer chased them down in his patrol unit and apprehended the one suspect with the gun as the second man disappeared into the rear of the small shopping center. Other officers converged on the scene and found the second man hiding behind a bar on the property where they took him into custody.
A third robbery had occurred within the same hour in Salida with suspects reported matching the description of the two men in the Manteca case. Physical descriptions in the Ripon armed robbery were also similar, however police have initially only charged them with the Manteca theft.
Police units from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and Ripon Police Department as well as Manteca all gathered at the Powers and Yosemite avenues corner in the predawn hour in an attempt to compare evidence in the three cases.
David Anthony Garcia, 20, with the alias of Lucky, was charged with three felonies including robbery and being a gang member with a loaded firearm. His bail was set at $200,000 and he is scheduled to appear in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court on Friday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m.
Cesar Satya Prakash, 18, with the alias of P-Nut, was charged with two felonies including robbery and being armed with a firearm during the commission of a felony. His bail was set at $100,000. He is also scheduled to appear in the Manteca court on Friday at 1 p.m. as well.
It was unclear Wednesday evening when the other two police agencies involved might file their charges against the suspects pending interviews with witnesses. Only a small amount of cash was reportedly taken in the Ripon and Manteca thefts. No one was reported to have been hurt in any of the incidents.
Both men have been booked in the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp.
Manteca Police officers had been alerted minutes before by Ripon police that an armed robbery had just occurred in that city at the Shell convenience store located near the northbound Highway 99 off ramp at Main Street.
Manteca patrolman Ian Osborn was enroute to Highway 99 in attempt to cut off the suspects if they were to come into Manteca. As he was eastbound on Yosemite Avenue crossing Powers Avenue, he said he looked over his shoulder to see two men in the 7-Eleven at that corner holding a gun on the clerk.
Osborn said he drove into the convenience store’s parking lot as the two suspects ran out the door and into the parking lot. They dodged away from the patrol car eastward toward Powers Avenue where police believed they had a getaway vehicle parked.
The officer chased them down in his patrol unit and apprehended the one suspect with the gun as the second man disappeared into the rear of the small shopping center. Other officers converged on the scene and found the second man hiding behind a bar on the property where they took him into custody.
A third robbery had occurred within the same hour in Salida with suspects reported matching the description of the two men in the Manteca case. Physical descriptions in the Ripon armed robbery were also similar, however police have initially only charged them with the Manteca theft.
Police units from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and Ripon Police Department as well as Manteca all gathered at the Powers and Yosemite avenues corner in the predawn hour in an attempt to compare evidence in the three cases.
David Anthony Garcia, 20, with the alias of Lucky, was charged with three felonies including robbery and being a gang member with a loaded firearm. His bail was set at $200,000 and he is scheduled to appear in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court on Friday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m.
Cesar Satya Prakash, 18, with the alias of P-Nut, was charged with two felonies including robbery and being armed with a firearm during the commission of a felony. His bail was set at $100,000. He is also scheduled to appear in the Manteca court on Friday at 1 p.m. as well.
It was unclear Wednesday evening when the other two police agencies involved might file their charges against the suspects pending interviews with witnesses. Only a small amount of cash was reportedly taken in the Ripon and Manteca thefts. No one was reported to have been hurt in any of the incidents.
Both men have been booked in the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp.
