Two 19-year-olds in La Quinta armed carjacking case plead guilty, get probation

Two 19-year-old men received two years' probation after pleading guilty to multiple charges stemming from the armed carjacking of a 75-year-old woman in La Quinta, authorities said.

Daryl Haxiel Urbano of Coachella and David Reyes III of Palm Desert were arrested on April 11, 2023, according to inmate records. Urbano and Reyes each entered guilty pleas to carjacking and robbery charges with firearm-related enhancements at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

A judge suspended the duo's five-year individual sentences on Friday, meaning that if either defendant violates probation, he could be subject to the full term in state prison, according to Thalia Hayden of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

On the day of the crime, deputies responded at around 12:40 a.m. to the 47700 block of Dune Palms Road on a report of a woman whose vehicle was stolen, according to Sgt. David Aldrich of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. She allegedly was approached by two male subjects, one of whom demanded her black Camaro and her purse. Authorities said the suspects were armed with a semi-automatic firearm.   

The woman was not injured.   

The suspects drove westbound on Highway 111 in her Camaro and a white Lincoln sedan, which were seen by patrol deputies later that morning driving northbound on Village Court in Indian Wells, Aldrich said.   

When deputies attempted to stop the vehicles in the 44600 block of Village Court, "the Camaro failed to yield and fled westbound on Highway 111, (and) the Lincoln rammed a sheriff's patrol unit, disabling both vehicles," Aldrich said in a statement. "The suspects fled into the nearby residential area.''  

Patrol units set a perimeter in the area so the Riverside County Special Enforcement Bureau could conduct a yard-to-yard search. Reyes and Urbano were found in the 74900 block of Verbena Drive by around 7 a.m. and were taken into custody without incident. They were both booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio.