Armed robbery suspects arrested at 29 Palms Marine Corps Base

Two 19-year-old men from Twentynine Palms were arrested at the 29 Palms Marine Corps Base Tuesday on suspicion of committing three armed robberies over the course of two days.

Deputies with the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Department said Dustin Ray Smiley and Randall Lane Myrick were detained at the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.

The first armed robbery occurred at a Motel 6 on Sunday at about 9:30 p.m. when a masked suspect pulled a handgun on the clerk and demanded money. Witnesses said the suspect ran from the hotel and was picked up by another suspect in a waiting car.

The very next night, also at about 9:30 p.m., a victim said he was robbed by a man as he was walking in the area of Aztec Avenue and Sunnyvale Drive.

Sheriff’s deputies said shortly after that call, another armed robbery occurred at the Circle K store on Adobe Road and 2 Mile Road. Witnesses said a white man wearing a mask pulled a handgun on the clerk and ran off with the cash.

Deputies said there were several witnesses in the store at the time but nobody was injured.

On Tuesday, the investigation led detectives to an apartment in the 73000 block of 2 Mile Road and a barracks room aboard the Marine Corps Base. Deputies said search warrants were served at both locations which led to evidence implicating both Smiley and Myrick as suspects in the robberies.

Authorities said Smiley is accused of all three armed robberies and Myrick is suspected for his role in the Motel 6 robbery.

Both men were booked into the Morongo Basin Jail and are being held on $100,000 bail. They are due at Morongo Superior Court in Joshua Tree on Thursday, June 2.

Anyone with information about these robberies is asked to call Sergeant Derek Garvin with the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station at (760) 366-4175.