Three Shotgun Robbery Suspects Behind Bars in Banning

Three men accused of taking part in a violent crime spree that included a carjacking in Rialto and shotgun robberies in San Bernardino, Redlands and Cabazon were behind bars Saturday 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 "armed takeover robbery" at the Circle K-Valero gas station next to Interstate 10 near the Main Street ramps.

The 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.

Detectives from Redlands, Rialto and San Bernardino were in Cabazon on Friday, Capt. Ross Koepp of the sheriff's Cabazon Station 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 afternoon at the Cabazon Station.

"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, Suruy and Vigil were booked just before 11 p.m. Friday at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning. Esparza and Vigil were held on $1 million bail each. Suruy was held without bail.

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. They are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in Banning.