A Riverside County judge has ordered a 38-year-old Banning transient to stand trial for second-degree robbery and related sentence-enhancing allegations, months after police say he held up a Jack in the Box with what turned out to be a replica handgun. Codi Jay Shelton was identified by officers partly through his facial tattoos, then arrested within hours of the December 2025 robbery. He now faces $1 million bail, and prosecutors allege prior felony strikes on his record.
Judge Sylvia Luttrell found sufficient evidence to bind Shelton over for trial, ruling that prosecutors had shown enough to support both the robbery count and the sentence-enhancing allegations against him, according to KESQ. Those allegations include using a weapon during a felony and qualifying as a prior-strike felon, with the outlet noting Shelton has at least two documented prior felony convictions, though those underlying convictions were not listed in court records described by the station. A post-preliminary hearing arraignment has been scheduled for October 8 at the Banning Justice Center, a three-level Riverside County Superior Court building on Ramsey Street that handles Pass-area criminal matters, according to the Superior Court of California, County of Riverside.
How the Jack in the Box Robbery Unfolded
Investigators say Shelton approached the counter of the Jack in the Box at 6350 W. Ramsey St. around 6:30 p.m. on December 16, 2025, displayed what appeared to be a handgun, and watched staff back away before taking cash from one register and fleeing on foot. Brandon Smith said the subject stole cash from one of the registers and fled on foot, per the station's report, adding that the robbery resulted in no injuries. Patrol officers responded to 911 calls from restaurant employees and began searching the area, but couldn't locate the suspect right away, even with a description noting the perpetrator had tattoos on his face.
Officers then reviewed security surveillance video from inside the restaurant, which the report says confirmed Shelton's identity as the alleged robber. Banning police officers recognized him from prior law enforcement contacts as a local transient, and located and arrested him with task force assistance less than three hours after the robbery, according to Patch. Shelton was taken into custody without incident on West Beaumont Avenue, and Smith alleged a replica pistol and the robbery cash were seized from him at the time of arrest.
A Second Robbery Two Days Earlier
A Second Robbery Two Days Earlier Banning police investigators also linked Shelton to a separate armed robbery that happened two days before the restaurant incident, early on Sunday morning, December 14, 2025, at a Walgreens on North Highland Avenue in Banning, where a clerk was threatened with what appeared to be a handgun before cash was taken, per CBS News. It remains an open question whether the Walgreens allegations were formally consolidated into the current Jack in the Box case ahead of the October arraignment. The San Gorgonio Special Operations Gang Task Force, one of six teams composing the Riverside County Regional Gang Task Force, assisted Banning police in tracking Shelton down; the team is jointly staffed by officers from the Banning Police Department, Beaumont Police Department, and Riverside County Sheriff's Department, according to the City of Beaumont.
The Replica Gun Allegation
Police described the weapon recovered from Shelton as a replica pistol, while employees reported that the robber displayed what appeared to be a handgun. Shelton faces a second-degree robbery charge in connection with the Jack in the Box holdup.
Prior-Strike Allegations Prosecutors allege Shelton has prior strikes, which are among the sentence-enhancing allegations in the case.
Booking Records and Detention Details
Booking Records and Detention Details Banning Police Department arrest logs from December 2025 recorded Shelton as 37 years old, while court records released at his September preliminary hearing identified him as 38, reflecting the roughly nine months between his arrest and the trial-binding order. He remains held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's largest jail, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
The Banning Police Department operates with 33 sworn personnel and 12 classified personnel, and it leans on regional task force partnerships like the one that helped locate Shelton to address gang activity and felony crimes across the city. Shelton's case now heads toward the October 8 arraignment as prosecutors continue pressing the strike and weapon-use allegations that could significantly lengthen any eventual sentence.
