Booking Photos of Three Shotgun Robbery Suspects Released

Three men accused of taking part in a crime spree that included a violent carjacking in Rialto and shotgun robberies in San Bernardino, Redlands and Cabazon remained behind bars Sunday in Banning.

Joe John Esparza, 40, of Colton, Richard Angel Suruy, 22, of Los Angeles, and Michael Stephen Vigil, 27, of Apple Valley, were arrested Friday morning on suspicion of an "armed takeover robbery" at the Circle K-Valero gas station next to Interstate 10 near the Main Street ramps.

The car they were in was allegedly taken in a carjacking Thursday in Rialto in which the victim was struck by a shotgun and injured, investigators said. The carjacking was followed by two shotgun robberies in San Bernardino and Redlands early Friday before the shotgun robbery in Cabazon, investigators said.

The shotgun used in the alleged crimes, held as evidence in Cabazon, was a single-barrel, 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun with a pistol grip, sheriff's Capt. Ross Koepp said in an interview Friday at the Cabazon Station.

Esparza, Suruy and Vigil were booked late Friday at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

Detectives at multiple law enforcement agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties were looking at evidence and accounts of other robberies to determine whether the men were suspected in other crimes.

Rialto, San Bernardino and Redlands police departments were in Cabazon on Friday, Koepp said. Saturday evening, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. David Lelevier released a statement saying Esparza and Suruy were positively identified as suspects in two robberies last month in Moreno Valley.

At least one of the three suspects may have been involved in similar armed robberies on March 3 in Ontario and Rialto, Cabazon investigators said.

The trio's most recent alleged robbery was reported about 6:15 a.m. Friday at the Circle K-Valero at 13390 Fern St., just east of the Cabazon Station.

Witnesses said three Hispanic men drove up in a champagne-colored Honda Accord and one of the three males entered the store with a bandana over his face, Cabazon Station investigators said.

The masked man brandished a shotgun at a female employee in the store, while the other men remained outside the business, one as a lookout, and the other in the driver's seat of the Accord, investigators said.

The man with the shotgun jumped the counter, confronted the clerk, and demanded money from the cash register. Fearing for her safety, she complied.

While the man with the shotgun was in the store, a second suspect confronted and grabbed a second female employee outside of the store and demanded her cell phone, investigators said.

The man with the shotgun left the store with an undisclosed amount of cash, and the second employee's cell phone.

All three suspects then fled in the Accord, which was last seen headed south on Fern Street towards Main Street in Cabazon, investigators said. The employees were not seriously injured.

About two hours later, an off-duty deputy spotted three men in a champagne-colored Accord in the area of Seminole Drive and Apache Trail in Cabazon, investigators said.

Esparza, Suruy and Vigil were taken into custody without incident.

Charges against the men included robbery in concert, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and conspiracy to commit a felony, according to inmate records.

The March robberies in Moreno Valley occurred within minutes of each other, Lelevier said.

About 9:45 p.m. Saturday March 19, deputies in Moreno Valley responded to a reported armed robbery in the parking lot of the Bank of America at 22900 Centerpoint Drive, Lelevier said.

The victim had withdrawn money from an ATM and was going to have dinner at a local restaurant when he was confronted by a Hispanic man with a shotgun, Lelevier said.

The gunman struck the victim in the face with the butt of the shotgun, and the suspect fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, Lelevier said.

While deputies were investigating the crime, another robbery was reported about 20 minutes later at the parking lot of a business in the 24800 block of Sunnymead Boulevard, Lelevier said.

The suspects were described as two Hispanic men with shotguns, who approached the victims as they were changing a tire on their vehicle.

One of the suspects kicked one of the victims to the ground and demanded his personal property, Lelevier said. The suspects took an undisclosed amount of cash, a cell phone, a major league baseball team cap, and fled.

After Esparza, Suruy and Vigil were arrested Friday morning in Cabazon, Moreno Valley detectives went to Cabazon and positively identified Esparza and Suruy as the suspects in the two March robberies in Moreno Valley, Lelevier said.

Esparza and Suruy will be charged with two additional counts of armed robbery, Lelevier said.

Esparza is on active parole for a prior carjacking conviction, Vigil was recently discharged from parole for a prior assault with a deadly weapon conviction, and Suruy has prior convictions for felony grand theft, as well as an active felony warrant for his arrest for grand theft, investigators said.

"It was clear just based on what occurred from early this morning 'til today that they were on a violent crime spree," Koepp said in an interview Friday.

"Looking at some of the other cases we're tying them to in San Bernardino County, the similarities of the aggressiveness of some of the robberies, the threatening of the victims and the brandishing of the shotgun and even striking some of the victims with the shotgun, it's a very violent group," Koepp said.

Esparza and Vigil were held Sunday on $1 million bail each, and Suruy was held without bail, according to inmate records. All three men are scheduled to appear in court in Banning on Tuesday.

Anyone with further information about any of these incidents was urged to contact Cabazon Station detectives at (951) 922-7100, Moreno Valley police at (951) 247-8700, or the sheriff's department at 1 (800) 955-2444.