A judge held a pair of robbery suspects to answer at a preliminary hearing Friday.
Los Angeles resident Cleopatra Tredai Jones and Hemet resident Mason Tyler Barron were arrested in July 2023 after allegedly robbing a jewelry story at the Palm Desert Mall.
Deputies responded to the 72-800 block of Highway 111 around 5:15 p.m. that day to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon, according to Sgt. Daniel Milbrandt of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
“Deputies arrived and determined a jewelry store at the location had been robbed by four suspects shattering display cases with sledge hammers and glass-breaking tools,” Milbrandt wrote in a statement. “Witnesses saw the suspects enter a red sedan and deputies quickly located the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed northbound on Monterey Avenue.”
The suspects were apprehended after the sedan collided with another vehicle, according to Milbrandt. The vehicle stopped working due to the collision and the suspects allegedly fled in the area of Monterey Avenue and Dinah Shore Drive, where Jones, Barron and two juveniles were arrested. Jones and Barron were arraigned and pleaded not guilty later that week at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Following Friday’s hearing, the defendants will both appear at an information arraignment on May 16.
Barron was previously convicted of grand theft over $950, while Jones has no prior felony convictions in Riverside County.