Four arrested after series of armed robberies in Modesto, Riverbank

Four men were surrounded by police and ordered from a vehicle at gunpoint in front of the Crossroads Shopping Center in Riverbank on Saturday morning following a series of incidents that began with brandishing firearms at people on the street and escalated into armed robberies.

During a 15-minute span beginning at 8:20 a.m., Modesto police were dispatched to four reports involving multiple armed men in a gray vehicle in the area of Snyder Avenue between Prescott and Tully roads, said Modesto Police Department Sgt. Kalani Souza.

During the first two incidents, the suspects brandished firearms at victims but on the third and fourth incidents they demanded property from the people and got away with jewelry and a cell phone.

At about 9 a.m., Riverbank Police Services received a report of an armed robbery on Prospectors Parkway and Coloma Court, said Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jon McQueary.

The victim provided a dispatcher with a description of the suspects' vehicle, including the license plate number.

Deputies quickly located the vehicle in the area and began pursuing it near Morrill and Oakdale roads.

The pursuit went through a residential neighborhood, where deputies saw the suspects throwing items from the vehicle.

The pursuit continued onto Oakdale Road until it reached Claribel Road where the suspects' vehicle read ended another car in the left turn lane.

Deputies, along with Modesto Police officers responding to assist in the pursuit, surrounded the vehicle and ordered the suspects out at gunpoint.

Two firearms were recovered in the residential neighborhood at Engstrom Drive and Barger Way, McQueary said. Property from the victim in Riverbank also was recovered and victims in both the Riverbank robbery and the Modesto robberies have positively identified the suspects.

Arrested on a variety of charges including robbery and conspiracy were Bernard Holt, 19, David Davis, 19, Luis Rodriguez, 20, and Pablo Cazares-Lazcano, 19.

This story was originally published September 23, 2017 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Four arrested after series of armed robberies in Modesto, Riverbank."