Photo: Marco Hernandez and Joshua Stratton
A holiday Monday ATM robbery ended in an extended jail vacation for two Riverside County men. In the early afternoon of November 12th, Palm Desert Police Department officers responded to a report of an armed robbery on Country Club Drive in Palm Desert.
The police had been alerted to a firearm-carrying masked male suspect who had approached the victim and taken an undisclosed amount of cash.
The victim was uninjured in the Inland Empire robbery.
robber’s tools
Following the assumption of the investigation by the Palm Desert Burglary Suppression Unit, the suspects came to be identified as Joshua Stratton of Desert Hot Springs, aged 37, and Marco Hernandez of Palm Desert, aged 24.
Officials located and arrested Hernandez on the day after this Southern California armed robbery, having received a warrant to search a residence in the 77-700 block of Michigan Drive in Palm Desert.
The Palm Desert Burglary Suppression Unit together with the Palm Desert Special Enforcement Team, the Palm Desert Business District Team, and the Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage special enforcement teams conducted the search and arrest.
On November 14, 2018, Palm Desert’s Burglary Suppression Unit and Business District Team, in partnership with the Rancho Mirage Special Enforcement Team, searched a residence on the 65-900 block of Cahuilla Drive in Desert Hot Springs, there finding and arresting Stratton.
At the house, law officials found evidence connected to the Palm Desert ATM theft as well as an illegal assault rifle, which was not used in relation to the robbery.
While both Sutton and Hernandez were arrested in relation to the robbery, Sutton was also charged with unlawful possession of an assault rifle, and Hernandez with burglary. They were booked into the Riverside County Jail, in the city of Indio.
Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call Deputy Jones at the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station at (760) 836-1623.
