Women sentenced to two years in prison for Palm Desert smash-and-grab robbery
Two women who took part in a smash-and-grab robbery, allegedly with four men, at a Palm Desert business last year have pleaded guilty to robbery and were each sentenced to two years in state prison.
Destiny Unique Baca, 18, of San Bernardino, and 24-year-old Los Angeles resident Analea Paradise Miller pleaded guilty Tuesday 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 are Los Angeles residents Julian Hermosillo, 19, Mason Barron, 22, and Reymond Garcia, 24, and Byron Lee, 19, of Compton. All were charged with grand theft over $950 and organized retail theft, according to court records. Hermosillo, Garcia and Lee were additionally charged with a felony count each of robbery while Barron faces two more felony counts each of robbery, grand theft over $950, organized retail theft and burglary.
They have all pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.
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, according to Sgt. Rovann Cleveland.
"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 Oct. 18 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 and has another active case, in which he's suspected with a woman and two juveniles of robbing a jewelry store at the Palm Desert mall in July, 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.
Anyone with information on the robbery and burglaries was asked to call Investigator Grasso with the Palm Desert sheriff's station at 760-836-1600.
