Police Nab Man Suspected of Robbing Two Businesses Twice
REDLANDS – Police arrested a man who may have committed two robberies in a span of minutes last Friday night.
Armed Robbery
On Monday, Redlands police spokesman Carl Baker said the suspect, Carlos Alberto Gutierrez, 30, of neighboring city San Bernardino, might have robbed the same two businesses one month earlier.
Gutierrez is suspected of robbing a 7-Eleven convenience store at 1601 West Redlands Blvd. shortly after 7:30 on Friday night. Police said he jumped over the counter, threatened the clerk with a screwdriver, demanded money from the cash register, then fled the scene.
While officers were investigating that scene, another robbery was reported about 10 minutes later at a Shell gas station at 1600 Industrial Park Ave. Police reported the robber said he had a gun in his waistband, demanded cash from the clerk and fled the station in a small, gray, four-door vehicle.
Police in the area spotted the suspect traveling west on Lugonia Ave. in a gray, four-door 1992 Pontiac. Officer Rodney Walters made the felony traffic stop on Gutierrez, who was positively identified by victims as the robber.
“At this point,” said Baker, “Mr. Gutierrez is not a suspect in any other crimes that we are aware of.”
One of the victims also identified Gutierrez as the man who robbed the same 7-Eleven store on Sept. 4. A little over one week later, officers identified Gutierrez as a suspect in a similar armed robbery at the same Shell station, which he allegedly robbed on Sept. 12.
Police are now saying he struck the same two businesses over the weekend. It might have been a break that a second crime had occurred so quickly.
“It is impossible to speculate what may have occurred if the second robbery hadn’t occurred so soon after the first one,” said Baker. “Officers were on the scene still gathering information and investigating the first robbery at the time.”
Baker said no injuries were reported in any of the four robberies.
Police recovered an undisclosed amount of cash from the weekend robberies, plus the screwdriver that Gutierrez used to simulate a handgun during the gas station robbery.
Officer Carissa Jaquish was the primary investigator in Friday’s 7-Eleven robbery and Officer Jennifer Ontiveros was the lead investigator in the Shell robbery.
Read More:
The Sun: San Bernardino man arrested in Redlands robberies
City of Redlands: City of Redlands Police Department
