Palm Springs home invasion suspects targeted and assaulted elderly woman, caregiver
Police say two home invasion suspects were in custody Wednesday morning accused of assaulting an elderly victim and her caretaker at a Palm Springs residence.
Authorities revealed Wednesday one of the suspects was previously the elderly woman’s caretaker and was targeting her for robbery.
A 911 call was received from a home on the 2200 Block of Sunshine Circle South at approximately 1:45 a.m.
“(He) said he needed help and that someone came into his house with a gun,” said Sgt. Michael Casavan with Palm Springs Police Dept.
Officers quietly surrounded the home and apprehended Juan Beltran-Flores and Itati Velador-Ceja, both 22 Indio residents, after they ran out the back door of the house.
Investigators say the two planned to commit a home invasion robbery, then assaulted the two people inside the home, before ransacking the residence after restraining the victims.
Neighbors said this type of activity was out of the ordinary for their community.
“We have coffee every morning on our front patio and you don’t normally see a whole flurry of police vehicles here and a whole bunch of yellow tape,” said next door neighbor Adrian Walker. “We saw the crime scene unit van this morning and a couple police cars and couple cars being towed away so we figured something serious was up.”
“As a neighbor just two places away I’m shocked,” Jim DeGrado said. “This is such a quiet wonderful little community.”
They wondered why that particular home would be broken into.
“Why would they pick that particular unit and quiet complex … and know that there’s an elderly lady in that house and so on…there had to be some connection,” said Walker.
“It was an isolated attack on the wonderful lady,” said DeGrado. “She was older and a good target for them.”
A police statement said Beltran was on AB109 Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) and had an active PRCS violation felony warrant for his arrest. He also had several prior felony convictions.
Velador had no criminal arrest history.
The two people injured were transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Police said Beltran and Velador were being charged with Home Invasion Robbery, Elder Abuse, Kidnapping, Assault with Great Bodily Injury, and Possession of Methamphetamine.
Police were actively seeking witnesses. If you have any information regarding this case, please call the PSPD Detective Bureau at 760-778-8411 or anonymous tips can be reported to Crime Stoppers at 760-341-7867.
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