Sonora pair suspected of assaulting, robbing elder near Indio plead not guilty
A man and woman suspected of robbing and assaulting a 69- year-old man in an unincorporated area of Riverside County near Indio pleaded not guilty to felony charges today.
Sonora residents Brooke Cassidy Prentiss, 36, and Morgan Kenneth Styre, 27, were charged with one felony count each of robbery and cruelty to an elder as well as a misdemeanor count of intent to defraud, according to court records. They pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Deputies responded around 2 a.m. April 4 to the 84200 block of Indio Springs Parkway to a report of a man who was robbed, according to Sgt. David Aldrich of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Aldrich said the victim sustained minor injuries from being punched and Tasered before his personal belongings were taken, but he declined medical treatment.
The Thermal sheriff station's Special Investigations Unit assumed the investigation and identified Prentiss and Styre as the suspects, according to Aldrich.
On Saturday, the Imperial County Sheriff's Department located the suspects' vehicle in Holtville, where deputies allegedly found the victim's property. The two were arrested without incident before investigators from the RCSD's Thermal station responded to Holtville to book them into Riverside County jails.
Prentiss was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where she remains held on $35,000 bail, according to inmate records. Styre was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, where he remains held without bail and with an out-of-county warrant.
Styre and Prentiss have no previous felony convictions in Riverside County. Anyone with additional information about the alleged assault and robbery was asked to call Corporal McTigue at the Thermal station at 760-863-2813. Anonymous tips can be made by calling 760-341-7867.
