SAN JOSE — A fifth individual has been in arrested in reference to a sequence of violent home-invasion robberies from earlier this yr the place they allegedly assaulted and tied up aged victims and in a single occasion held a person and his toddler at gunpoint, authorities stated.
Israel Mejia, a 24-year-old San Jose resident, was arrested within the metropolis Tuesday, in accordance with San Jose police.
In late June, authorities introduced the arrests of three males and a minor on suspicion of committing at the least three robberies. Police stated Mejia was recognized as a part of that group throughout a subsequent investigation.
The primary theft was reported the afternoon of Could 31 at a house within the 600 block of North Capitol Avenue, the place an aged couple reported that they had been “violently assaulted” and tied up with belts by intruders brandishing a handgun. The group took belongings together with financial institution playing cards and jewellery and fled within the residents’ automobile.
Police stated the group drove that automobile a couple of mile north to a house within the 1000 block of Summerdale Drive within the Penitencia neighborhood. There, they allegedly threatened at gunpoint a person who was together with his 15-month-old baby, and compelled the person to go to a close-by financial institution and withdraw money. They introduced him again house and stole financial institution playing cards, jewellery and different property. They fled from the storage because the spouse and mom of the family acquired house, and had been partially captured by her automobile’s dashboard digital camera.
On June 7, they reportedly held up and assaulted one other aged couple at gunpoint and ransacked their house on Bolero Drive in South San Jose. Police stated one of many victims was capable of name for assist, and responding officers arrested Armando Manzano and Daniel Mendez, each 19-year-old San Jose residents.
Ten days later, theft detectives arrested 23-year-old Eduardo Santiago and a 17-year-old boy whose identify was withheld as a result of he's a minor. Manzano, Mendez and Santiago have been criminally charged; court docket data didn't present prices for Mejia as of Wednesday.
Anybody with details about the robberies can contact the SJPD theft unit at 408-277-4166 or depart a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.