Two 20-year-old men are being held on $3.2 million bail apiece after Los Angeles County detectives arrested them in connection with a string of armed robberies at T-Mobile stores across the county. Investigators believe the crew is tied to more than 15 armed robberies total, and the arrests followed a robbery at a T-Mobile retail location in Cudahy.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced the arrests, saying detectives had zeroed in on suspects allegedly responsible for hitting numerous T-Mobile stores throughout the county, according to KTLA. Detectives arrested the two adults in connection with a robbery in Cudahy. The adult suspects were identified as Kalen Riley and Jalen Williams, both 20 years old.
Riley and Williams were booked on robbery charges and are each being held on $3.2 million bail, per the outlet's report.
What Detectives Found in the Getaway Vehicle
At the Cudahy location, detectives recovered roughly $13,000 worth of stolen cellphones, tablets, smart watches and cash, the station's report states. The station's report also describes additional cellphones recovered from the getaway vehicle, which detectives believe were stolen during other, separate heists.
The Sheriff's Department said the robbery crew under investigation is believed to be connected to more than 15 armed robberies spread across Los Angeles County, though the exact total has not been independently verified beyond that figure attributed to the department. Riley and Williams are scheduled to appear at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on October 1.
A Familiar Target for Armed Crews
Cellphone retailers have proven to be a recurring target for armed robbery crews in the Los Angeles area. In an incident at a T-Mobile store in Commerce, two suspects armed with a gun robbed the store, then stole cellphones and fled in a vehicle tracked by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's helicopter, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles. During that pursuit, the suspects reportedly tossed cash, phones and even a pistol out of the car window before the driver eventually surrendered to police in Torrance.
The pattern isn't new to the region. Back in 2017, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that three to four armed men in their 20s, wearing dark hooded sweatshirts, robbed a T-Mobile store in West Covina and made off with cash and cellphones — part of what the paper described at the time as a spate of cellular store robberies hitting the San Gabriel Valley, including a Temple City AT&T store where robbers stole about $20,000 worth of iPhones at gunpoint.
