A pair of felons accused of holding up a Wildomar business were charged Friday with armed robbery and other offenses.
Brandon Arthur Monroe, 39, and Joshua Paul Morek, 45, both of Hemet, were arrested Tuesday following a two-week Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
Along with robbery, both men are charged with being prior-strike felons, and Monroe alone is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and a sentence-enhancing gun use allegation.
Each man is being held at the Byrd Detention Center — Monroe in lieu of $125,000 bail, and Morek on $75,000 bail.
They were slated to make a joint initial court appearance Friday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jarrod Meissen, the holdup occurred shortly after 9 p.m. on March 19 in the 23000 block of Clinton Keith Road, at a strip mall less than a block west of Interstate 15.
Meissen alleged Monroe, wearing a mask, confronted a clerk in a store and “demanded money … while brandishing a firearm.”
After the victim complied, the defendant “ran to a vehicle parked nearby and fled at a high rate of speed” with his partner, according to the sergeant.
The clerk wasn’t injured.
Detectives spent the ensuing days working to identify the bandits, ultimately confirming that Monroe and Morek were allegedly responsible, Meissen said.
He said warrants were served on the men Tuesday night — Monroe at a property on Olson Avenue in Homeland, and Morek at a property on Winchester Road in Hemet. Both were taken into custody without incident.
According to court records, both Monroe and Morek have prior robbery convictions out of San Bernardino County. Morek additionally has documented priors for felony theft and assault, while Monroe has two priors for receiving a stolen vehicle.