SUSPECT IN FOUR LOCAL ARMED ROBBERIES ARRESTED

Detectives with the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s station have arrested the man suspected of robbing three Twentynine Palms businesses in February and March, and a Yucca Valley business Friday afternoon. According to Sheriff’s Sergeant Mike Landavazo, Ramirez Brown, 35, of Victorville, robbed the Check-n-Go in the Vons shopping center in Yucca Valley about 12:30 Friday afternoon. Witnesses said Brown pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at the clerk, demanded money, and then fled on foot with the cash. Despite an extensive area search, deputies were unable to locate him in Yucca Valley. The robberies in Twentynine Palms included a check-cashing business near Adobe Road and the highway on March 10, a smoke shop on Adobe Road on February 22, and a liquor store in the Historic Plaza on February 17. On Friday, Landavazo said detectives identified Ramirez Brown as the robber of the Yucca Valley business and said detectives had developed information linking Brown to the robberies in Twentynine Palms as well. Landavazo said Brown has ties to the area. Following the Yucca Valley robbery, they issued a search warrant for the arrest of Ramirez Brown for robbery. Ramirez Brown was arrested about 11:20 Saturday morning in Victorville on suspicion of four armed robberies, booked at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino, with his bail set at $500,000. Brown was currently on parole for robbery.