The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
When a man was at his Santa Ana home while it was reportedly being burglarized he was allegedly forced to accompany the suspect on a shopping spree for which he had to fit the bill.
Late in the afternoon on June 9, a man from Santa Ana reported that he encountered a suspect trying to rob his house.
The alleged burglar reportedly physically assaulted the 82-year-old and held him down after he fell to the ground.
The homeowner said that the suspect assured him he would not be in any danger if he complied with his demands, but if he refused his family would be targeted and harmed.
The suspect reportedly made the man chauffeur him around to many locations for several hours.
When the alleged victim was reportedly instructed to withdraw money from his bank with his ATM card, he said he took out the $300 daily maximum that he was allowed.
After the trip to the bank, the suspect reportedly had the man to take him to a liquor store and buy beers for him before they allegedly visited several stores in which the alleged victim was forced to pay.
The alleged victim possesses a credit card with the ability to alert his wife and son when purchases are made, and when they received the notifications they surmised that something was amiss based on the locations of the stores.
His son activated a tracking function giving him the ability to find his dad, who was reportedly found alone in his car on the side of the road since the suspect had already taken off.
When the police investigated the reported incident they believed the suspect they were seeking was 50-year-old Sergio Magaña Arechiga.
Arechiga, who is believed to be a part of a gang and has the status of a career criminal with 30-years of priors, was at a family member’s home when the police went to the residence over a reported domestic incident.
They recognized Arechiga and took him into custody at the scene.
Arechiga, who is reportedly a three-strike candidate, is facing charges for kidnapping for ransom/extortion or to commit robbery, robbery of an automatic teller machine, and four counts of robbery.
He is being held in lieu of a $1.3 million bail.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a crime, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.