SAN DIEGO — Robbery and false imprisonment charges were filed Wednesday against seven of nine robbery suspects who allegedly took part in a series of holdups throughout San Diego and La Mesa and were taken into custody Friday following a six-hour standoff at a City Heights apartment.
Prosecutors allege the defendants robbed pedestrians of their cell phones and jewelry between Aug. 23 and Sept. 19. They are charged in 13 robberies, though police believe the number is as high as 22.
Two men - Sebastian Baez, 20, and Ebon Johnson, 19 - were arrested and charged earlier this year in connection with the spree.
Christopher Butler, Thunderhawk Foster, Byron Haynes, Daiquiri Nelson, Jaelin Davis, Jeremiah Henry, and Alexander Horton appeared in court together Wednesday and all plead not guilty. The suspects range in age from 19 to 24 years old.
At the arraignment, a San Diego Deputy District Attorney Andrew Aguilar spoke about the charges the defendants face following the string of robberies in which college students were among the victims.
“Right now we have 13 counts of robbery charged, however a couple of those counts involve multiple victims in a single incident," Aguilar said.
On Friday, officers arrived at a residential complex in the 3600 block of University Avenue to arrest the suspects around 11 a.m. after receiving information that suspects in the recent robbery were staying at the complex, according to San Diego police.
Detectives set up surveillance and took four people into custody as they left the apartment prior to the SWAT standoff. Two of those were females who were later released, according to police.
Five other males refused to come out of the apartment and forced their way into a neighbor's home, falsely imprisoning a woman and a 2-year-old.
Over the next several hours, four people surrendered, but one suspect remained inside, ignoring officers' orders to come out unarmed and with his hands over his head.
With a SWAT team positioned around the building, negotiators tried through the afternoon to persuade the barricaded man to cooperate, police said. He finally emerged about 5:15 p.m. and was taken into custody without further incident.
Deputy District Attorney Andrew Aguilar said the men face anywhere from five years in prison to multiple life terms if convicted.
The seven defendants that appeared Wednesday are due back in court for a readiness conference on Oct. 4.