Last week, 26-year-old Compton resident Roosevelt Andrew Fernandez was arrested in Long Beach after Riverside authorities determined him to be an outstanding suspect in the Moreno Valley jewelry store robbery that led to a night-long lockdown of Cal State University Fullerton in December.
On December 12 at around 3PM, four armed and masked men broke into Empire Jewelry and Loan in Moreno Valley, where they stole merchandise and shot an attending clerk. The suspects then escaped in a Lexus driven by a fifth suspect on route 60, then making it to Hwy 57 where they exited Nutwood in hopes of escaping onto Cal State Fullerton’s campus.
The campus was effectively put on lockdown for seven hours as authorities scoured the Mihaylo Business Hall and surrounding areas; two suspects were immediately arrested there while another took a stolen Toyota on a high-speed chase down the 91 Freeway and was eventually arrested on foot in Watts.
Fernandez was arrested without incident and was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy and parole violations at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
The three other cohorts which were caught–Los Angeles residents Jerome Bernard Allen, 23; Damine Lavonte Banks, 30; and Traevon Cortez Vidaud, 24 –are expected to be arraigned in Riverside the day after tomorrow, January 3. They could face 20-plus years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, robbery and gang activity charges that are attached with various sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The fifth unnamed suspect is still at large.