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Turlockers victims of armed robbery
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For the second time in less than a week Turlock residents were held captive while their home was ransacked by a pair of thieves.
One suspect — Robert Penaloza Jr., 18, of Turlock has been apprehended, while the second suspect remains at large.
The latest residential robbery occurred around 4:30 a.m. Saturday in the 200 block of Rosewood Drive.
According to the police report two people in the house — a 55-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man — were awoken by two men prowling through the house. The man was told by the robbers to keep quiet and remain in his room, said Turlock Police Lt. Jeff Lopes.
The woman was awoken by noises in the house and when she went to investigate she was confronted by the two robbers, one of which was armed with a handgun.
One of the suspects kept the gun pointed at the woman while the other removed property from the residence, Lopes said.
After the suspects left, the police were contacted and a quick responding officer noticed a suspicious car parked nearby with items piled up in the back.
The car led officers to a residence in the 1000 block of English Avenue, where they served out a search warrant, Lopes said.
Penaloza was taken into custody at the English Avenue residence and has been booked for residential robbery. The gun used in the robbery was not found at the English Avenue residence, Lopes said.
The second suspect was described as a white or Latino man in his early 20s. He’s about 5 feet, 4 inches to 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 140 pounds.
Saturday’s robbery shares some similarities to a robbery that occurred on April 12 in Turlock. In that case, a 77-year-old woman came back to her home on N. Soderquist Road around 1 p.m. to find two men in the process of burglarizing it. The men tied the woman up and threatened to kill her if she called the police. There was no suspect information in that case.
Lopes said investigators were looking into the possibility the two robberies are connected.
“Residential robberies like this are relatively rare,” Lopes said. “Occasionally, we will see an influx of it because someone who uses this motus operandi has come into the area or gotten out of prison.”
Lopes said alarms are a good idea for residences to have, but that they only make effective deterrents if the residents know how to use them well and use them regularly.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Detective Lee Medlin at 664-7327 or 668-5550 ext. 6627. Callers can also call Crime Stoppers at 521-4636 and leave an anonymous tip. Callers to Crime Stoppers could be eligible for a cash reward.
To contact Sabra Stafford, e-mail sstafford@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2002.