A convicted felon accused of committing a series of armed robberies in Hemet and separately carjacking a woman outside a gym, then leading police on a chase, was charged Friday with robbery and other felonies.
Anthony Miguel Screws, 31, of Hemet was arrested Tuesday night after the pursuit. He is charged with four counts of robbery and one count each of carjacking and eluding a peace officer, along with multiple sentence-enhancing allegations of using a firearm in the commission of a crime.
He’s being held in lieu of $800,000 bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and is slated to make his initial court appearance this afternoon at the Banning Justice Center.
Court documents allege the defendant began committing holdups on Oct. 23, when he robbed a Hemet resident of an undisclosed amount of money. A week later, Screws allegedly robbed a man at gunpoint outside a business, and nine days later robbed a woman in Hemet.
None of the victims were identified in court papers.
On Nov. 14, the convicted felon allegedly robbed another woman on a street, and about 8:30 that night, walked to the LA Fitness at 220 N. Sanderson Ave., where he’s accused of confronting a woman, identified only as “V.A.,” who was about to get into her vehicle in the parking lot.
Lt. Eddie Pust alleged that Screws approached the victim and brandished a handgun, demanding the keys to her vehicle, which she immediately surrendered.
As officers were responding to the carjacking call, a patrolman spotted the stolen vehicle on a nearby street and initiated a traffic stop, he said.
Screws accelerated away from the officer, who called for backup, triggering a pursuit heading westbound into an unincorporated area of Riverside County, according to the lieutenant. When Screws reached the intersection of Benton and Winchester roads, he bailed out of the car while it was still in motion and tried to run away, but officers quickly apprehended him, Pust said.
After interviewing the defendant and searching his possessions, detectives determined that Screws was the alleged perpetrator of the four armed robberies, Pust said.
According to court records, the suspect has a prior conviction for robbery and was sentenced to three years probation in September.
–City News Service