Palm Desert robbery suspect sentenced to more than 17 years after guilty plea
A suspect accused of taking part in a robbery with five others at a Palm Desert business last year pleaded guilty to multiple charges today.
Mason Barron, 22 -- a Southern Californian, whose city of residence was not provided -- entered guilty pleas to four felony counts of robbery, two felony counts of burglary, and one felony count each of organized retail theft with intent to sell and grand theft of over $950, according to case records.
Mason Barron was acquitted today in a separate smash-and-grab robbery case that the Palm Desert Mall
Amy McKenzie of the Riverside County District Attorney's office told City News Service that the defendant was sentenced to a total of 17 years and 4 months in state prison.
Co-defendants Destiny Unique Baca, 19, of San Bernardino, and Los Angeles resident Analea Paradise Miller, who is in her mid-20s, pleaded guilty in January at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to one felony count of robbery and had one felony count each of organized retail theft with intent to sell and grand theft of over $950 dismissed, according to court records.
They were each immediately sentenced to two years in state prison, according to Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokesperson Brooke Beare.
Also suspected in the robbery were Los Angeles residents Julian Hermosillo and Reymond Garcia, as well as Byron Lee of Compton. Their ages were not disclosed. Hermosillo and Lee were both convicted earlier this year of robbery, with Lee receiving an additional grand theft-related conviction, according to case records, while Garcia was convicted of organized retail theft with intent to sell and grand theft of over $950.
On Oct. 18, 2023, deputies with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Palm Desert station were assisted by the Los Angeles Retail Crime Task Force, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Office of Correctional Safety Fugitive Team in serving four search warrants in Los Angeles, a Riverside County Sheriff's Department statement.
"The search warrants stemmed from an extensive investigation into a robbery that occurred on Oct. 5, resulting in a significant loss of high-value merchandise from a business in Palm Desert,'' Cleveland wrote in a statement. "During the investigation, members of the Riverside Sheriff's Office developed leads and located evidence that helped identify the suspects associated with the robbery and two residential burglaries."
Garcia, Barron and Lee were arrested the same day in different areas in Los Angeles County. Hermosillo was subsequently identified as a fourth suspect in the robbery.
On Nov. 1, 2023, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office Special Enforcement Division assisted Riverside County sheriff's officials in serving a search warrant in the 2500 block of Macy Street in San Bernardino and a warrant was also served in the 800 block of 99th Street in Los Angeles, according to Cleveland. At the conclusion of the warrants being served, Hermosillo was arrested.
Baca and Miller were identified and arrested Nov. 8, after members of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department served search warrants in the 600 block of West Eighth Street in San Bernardino and in the 9700 block of Budlong Avenue in Los Angeles, Cleveland said.
Garcia and Barron were booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, Lee into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio and Hermosillo into the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta, according to inmate records. Barron was being held on nearly $2.6 million bail, Garcia and
Hermosillo on nearly $2.5 million and Lee on $310,000.
Barron previously pleaded guilty to grand theft over $950, according to court records. Garcia previously pleaded guilty to a felony count of burglary while Hermosillo, Lee, Baca and Miller have no prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
