Crime & Safety

Palm Desert Employee Robbed at Gunpoint

Police officers later arrest two Cathedral City men.

Police believe two Cathedral City men, armed with a handgun, robbed a Palm Desert business Saturday night.

At about 11 p.m. Saturday, officers received a report of an armed robbery at a business near the 74000 block of Highway 111. Investigators learned two male suspects entered the business armed with a handgun, demanding money from an employee, according to a press release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Police did not indicate the name or type of business.

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The suspects fled the scene in a 2006 dark grey Toyota Corolla and were apprehended by officers a short distance from the scene, near the intersection of Monterey Avenue and Magnesia Falls Drive, according to authorities. The suspects were detained and interviewed.

The suspects were identified as Jaime Flores, age 32 and Marcos Navarro, age 30, both from Cathedral City. Police found several items of evidence which allegedly connect them to the robbery in their car, according to the press release. Officers from the PBPD’s Burglary Suppression Team are in charge of the investigation.

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Flores and Navarro were booked into the jail located in the City of Indio on suspicion of robbery.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Palm Desert Police Department at 760-836-1600 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 760-341-STOP (7867).


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