Three more members of a San Diego street gang have been convicted for their roles in two Orange County jewelry store robberies, with two learning their fate from a jury today and the third having entered a guilty plea mid-trial. Aida Arroyo, 29, faces up to 15 years in state prison after pleading guilty Thursday to one
felony count each of second degree robbery, second degree commercial
burglary, and street terrorism, with sentencing enhancements for
criminal street gang activity and the vicarious use of a firearm by a
gang member.
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Found guilty today were Michael Burgin, 32, and Adam Weick, 30.
Burgin was convicted of one felony count each of second
degree robbery, second degree commercial burglary, and street terrorism,
with sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity, the
vicarious use of a firearm by a gang member, and two prior strike
convictions for first degree burglaries in 1999 and 2002. He faces a
maximum sentence of 70 years to life in state prison, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office.
Weick was convicted of one felony count each of second degree
robbery, second degree commercial burglary, and street terrorism, with
sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity, the vicarious
use of a firearm by a gang member, and a prior strike for kidnapping in
2005. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison, prosecutors say.
Arroyo was buzzed in through the security gates at Tustin Village Jewelers around 5 p.m. on Aug. 4,
2009, on the
pretense of selling a ring. After negotiating a price, she asked to be buzzed out to make a phone call outside. That's when Burgin and Weick, wearing caps and
bandanas and toting guns, stormed in and demanded to be shown the store's diamonds. A gun
was held to the back of the store owner's head as the safe was opened.
The owner was later bound in duct tape and left in the restroom as the
trio fled with $160,000 worth of jewelry.
Burgin was also involved in the Aug. 25, 2009, heist of Baca's Jewelry Store in
Laguna Beach. Just as the store was closing around 7 p.m., Burgin, 33-year-old Alonso Jose Lopez and Pedro Avina
Hernandez, 31, walked in dressed in black and wearing caps
and hoods to obscure their faces. As a gun was held on an employee, the
trio stole more than $1 million in watches and jewelry before fleeing.
Witnesses got a good
look at Lopez and the white Ford
Fusion he sped away in. The car was registered to Sylvia Elena Castaneda, 31, who reported it stolen even though she had loaned it to Lopez and Hernandez. The Fusion was stopped by
law enforcement officers who'd been chasing it through Oceanside, where driver Lopez
bolted on foot into nearby farmland. Cops picked up the trail to an Oceanside
home, where 23-year-old Arturo Carlos Perez helped Lopez by acting as a look-out and giving the robber a calling card so he could use the phone without
detection.
But, with the help of a police dog, officers eventually captured Lopez near a shed. He
was brought back to Laguna Beach, where he was identified as having
taken part in the Baca's heist. He still had some stolen jewelry on him. Also hanging around his neck: a criminal record and a reputation for
belonging to a San Diego County gang.
On Sept. 8, 2009, 31-year-old Salvador Barajas drove Castaneda to Laguna Beach to pick up the Fusion in police impound. Along for the ride was Arroyo and Daisy Oregon,
23. After Castaneda was dropped off to get her car, Barajas, Oregon
and Arroyo stole mail from local mail boxes. During the trip, Arroyo also used a credit card that had been
stolen the day before in San Diego County.
Some jewelry stolen in Orange County wound up at San Diego Jewelry and Loan and J&L
Jewelers, second hand jewelry
stores in San Diego County where 37-year-old Jose Jesus Garcia tried to make identifying the pieces more difficult by
grinding off identifying markings and Touradj Barman, 69, purchased
property knowing it had been stolen.
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With today's convictions, everyone involved in the robberies has either pleaded or been found guilty.
Barajas pleaded guilty Feb. 5, 2010, to one felony count
each of receiving stolen property and street terrorism and was sentenced
to 225 days in jail and three years of probation.
Barman pleaded guilty March 19, 2010, to one misdemeanor
count of a pawnbroker failing to report receipt of property and was
sentenced to one year of probation and a $10,000 payment to the Victim
Witness Emergency Fund.
Castaneda pleaded guilty June 20, 2011, to one felony
count of second degree robbery with a sentencing enhancement for
criminal street gang activity and was sentenced to five years in state
prison.
Garcia pleaded guilty March 26, 2010, to one misdemeanor
count of a pawnbroker failing to report receipt of property and was
sentenced to one year of probation and a $10,000 payment to the Victim
Witness Emergency Fund.
Hernandez was found guilty by a jury Feb. 2, 2010, of
one felony count each of second degree robbery, second degree commercial
burglary, and street terrorism, with sentencing enhancements for
criminal street gang activity and the vicarious use of a firearm by a
gang member. He has a Jan. 27 sentencing hearing scheduled in Santa Ana.
Lopez was found guilty by a jury May 20, 2010, of one
felony count each of second degree robbery, second degree commercial
burglary, and street terrorism, with sentencing enhancements for
criminal street gang activity and the vicarious use of a firearm by a
gang member. The holder of a prior strike conviction for kidnapping in 1998 was sentenced July 23, 2010, to 25 years in state prison.
Oregon pleaded guilty Feb. 5, 2010, to one felony count each
of receiving stolen property and street terrorism with a sentencing
enhancement for criminal street gang activity. The holder of a prior strike
for robbery in 2005 was sentenced to two years and eight months
in state prison.
Perez pleaded guilty July 9, 2010, to one felony
count each of accessory after the fact and street terrorism with a
sentencing enhancement for criminal street gang activity. He was
sentenced to two years in state prison.
Previous coverage:
- Indictment: Jewelry Store Robberies Lead to Wider Crime Ring
- Crime Time: Fight Clubs, Stray Bullets, Car Bashings, Cop Gun Theft, 4 Jewelry Heists
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.