Juvenile detained with robbery suspect arrested on unrelated charges, police say

By Maria Guerrero and Frank Heinz

NBC 5
Published Dec 10, 2018 at 6:56 PM | Updated at 7:13 PM CST on Dec 11, 2018

Dallas police say a ninth armed robbery is believed to be linked to a recent crime spree involving the same suspects. In some cases, the victims have been forced back into their homes and robbed of their property and vehicles. (Published Monday, Dec. 10, 2018)

Dallas police confirmed Tuesday morning two people are facing charges related to a recent string of aggravated robberies in the Dallas area. A third person arrested, a juvenile, was arrested on unrelated charges. Tuesday afternoon two more individuals were detained and questioned in regards to the robberies.

Deputy Chief Thomas Castro said Tuesday morning investigators had a good idea who one of the suspects in the string of robberies might be and that in following up on that, three people were detained and interviewed at 4:23 a.m. Tuesday. One of those people detained now faces two charges of aggravated robbery and could be implicated in other offenses.

Castro said a second arrested person is being charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, for driving a car stolen in a recent robbery, but that he has not yet been tied to the actual armed robberies.

The names and photos of those arrested are being withheld due to the ongoing investigation and more arrests are expected. Police said four vehicles were stolen in the nine robberies, all of which have been recovered and are being searched for evidence.

Map of robberies

The arrests came the day after a ninth armed robbery, on Dec. 6 along Hobson Street, was determined to be linked to crimes reported in southern Dallas, Downtown, Old East Dallas and Lower Greenville, all believed to have been committed by the same group of people.

In some cases, the victims have been forced back into their homes and robbed of their property and vehicles.

In a similar case in Carrollton, terrifying moments were captured on home surveillance video Sunday where a man walking to his front door in the Indian Springs area is confronted by an armed man who demanded his bag, debit card PIN and items in his hand.

The video then showed a second robber running up to the victim and demanding that he get on the ground. The men stole the victim’s vehicle, according to the victim’s son.

The victim was too shaken to speak on camera but the family released the door camera video to NBC 5 hoping to make others aware.

Carrollton police said Tuesday morning that they have no reason to believe the robbery in the Indian Springs neighborhood is related to the Dallas robberies other than the method of operation. Carrollton police said the two men "in the one Carrollton robbery are definitely black" and were "definitely last seen driving a blue Toyota Camry and a black Lincoln Continental."  Carrollton police added the black Lincoln Continental was pursued and recovered.

In Dallas, there is only a vague description of the suspects, believed to be Latino between 17 and 20-years-old. The suspects were seen driving around in two vehicles including a black Cadillac 4-door sedan and a gold pickup truck.

Though the suspect descriptions are different, Castro said Monday investigators in Dallas were looking into the Carrollton robbery to see if it was connected.

“Some detectives are aware of that and are reaching out to Carrollton and they have discussions with those detectives to see if there are similarities,” Castro said.

Dallas police would not say whether they believe the robberies are becoming more violent in nature, however in the latest robbery, on Dec. 7 in the 5900 of Llano Avenue, police confirmed a robbery victim did sustain injuries during the incident.

NBC 5's Courtney Gilmore contributed to this report.

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