Probationer Arrested for Armed Robberies

Probationer Arrested for Armed Robberies
Photo: Martin Prado

Ventura County – 24-year-old Camarillo resident Martin Prado was arrested at his home on January 31st and charged with possession of a firearm while on probation, violation of probation terms, and two counts of armed robbery because, it appears, he doesn’t know much about video surveillance systems in place at most retail chain establishments.

He may also be guilty of a certain level of hubris because it took law enforcement nearly four months to add things up and identify him as a violent armed robbery suspect.

It all began, according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Jarrod Foote, in the pre-dawn hours of September 26, 2017 at the Carmen Drive 7-Eleven store when Prado entered the establishment armed with a gun and “stole cash from the register” after threatening and assaulting the hapless clerk behind the counter.

No more than six hours later, a similar event took place at a nearby Baja Fresh Restaurant when “a masked male suspect brandished a firearm and threatened several employees” before stealing cash and fleeing on foot.

With the help of video surveillance from each location, detectives soon identified Prado as a probationer and as the likely suspect in both robberies. Over the next weeks and months, search warrants of Prado’s residence and that of a suspected accomplice located evidence linking them to the Baja Fresh incident.

With that evidence in hand, Prado was contacted, taken into custody, and transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on the aforementioned charges, with his bail set at $65,000 for the 7-Eleven robbery and at an additional $50,000 for the Baja Fresh Robbery.

Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking

Probationer Arrested for Armed Robberies was last modified: February 6th, 2018 by admin
Categories: Ventura

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