From left to right: Darnell Clarke of Long Beach and Joey Baldovinos of Alhambra. All photos courtesy of the Anaheim Police Department.
Two suspects, including a Long Beach resident, were arrested recently in connection with separate pharmacy burglaries in Orange County, officials with the Anaheim Police Department (APD) announced Tuesday.
Long Beach man Darnell Clarke, 30, was arrested on Monday, April 11 at the West Orange County Courthouse for the October 29, 2015 burglary of the Medicine Shoppe, at 2795 West Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim.
He was out on bail and appearing for a scheduled court hearing at the time of his arrest, APD officials stated in a release. The hearing was related to an August 2015 pharmacy burglary in Fountain Valley.
“Anaheim detectives are again working with other law enforcement partners in an effort to ascertain what other crimes, if any, Clarke has been involved in,” the release stated.
Officials also stated that Clarke is a documented criminal street gang member in the County of Los Angeles and was charged with gang enhancements in the Fountain Valley case.
Clarke’s bail was increased to $500,000 “due to the totality of the circumstances” and is being held at the Orange County Jail.
During a residential probation search, Anaheim detectives with the police department’s Burglary/Auto Theft Detail and investigators from the Vice Detail and Crime Task Force arrested 20-year-old Joey Baldovinos at his Alhambra home on Friday, April 8.
Baldovinos was booked on charges related to the Jan. 7 burglary of Pharmacy Plus, located at 1012 North Euclid Street. Authorities said that same pharmacy was recently burglarized on April 6.
According to officials, Baldovinos is on probation for commercial burglary in connection with an earlier pharmacy burglary in the County of Los Angeles.
“During the search of his home, detectives recovered several empty bottles of prescription cough syrup containing Promethazine and Codeine,” according to the release. “The bottles were not taken from the Anaheim burglaries and detectives are working with other law enforcement partners in an effort to determine how many other pharmacy burglaries Baldovinos has been involved in.”
At this point detectives are not sure if Baldovinos was involved in the April 6 burglary at the same location. He was booked for commercial burglary and his bail was set at $25,000, for which he posted bond and has been released, pending court proceedings.
There is no known connection between Baldovinos and Clarke at this point, police said.
Anyone who believes they know the source of the bottles, or has information about these or other crimes, is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 855.TIP.OCCS or by email at www.occrimestoppers.org.