Another 'High-Value' Theft On El Paseo, Arrest Announced

PALM DESERT, CA — A 25-year-old man suspected in a grand theft at a retail store in Palm Desert and several similar robberies in Los Angeles was arrested, authorities said Tuesday.

It was the fourth arrest in less than a week tied to theft on El Paseo.

Nikolas Mallory of Los Angeles was arrested Monday and booked into Los Angeles County Jail, according to Sgt. Daniel Milbrandt of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Milbrandt said deputies responded at 2:21 p.m. Oct. 7 to the 73000 block of El Paseo to a report of a grand theft at a retail store.

"Two suspects entered the store, stole several high-value items of merchandise, and ran out of the store within seconds," Milbrandt said. "On October 18, the same suspects entered the same business and stole a significant amount of merchandise prior to fleeing the area."

The investigation was then assumed by the Palm Desert Investigations Bureau with assistance from the Palm Desert Sheriff's Station Business District Team, according to Milbrandt. Mallory was subsequently identified as the suspect in the Palm Desert thefts as well as several similar robberies in Los Angeles.

The bureau and the Los Angeles Police Department's Office Retail Crime Task Force used their investigative leads Sunday to serve search warrants in the 800 block of West 104th Street, where they found evidence implicating Mallory in the El Paseo thefts, Milbrandt said.

The identity of the second suspect was not immediately known as the investigation was ongoing.
Anyone with additional information on the thefts was asked to call Investigator Pfholman at 760-836-1600.

On Thursday, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department announced the arrests of three Los Angeles County men suspected in an Oct. 5 smash-and-grab robbery at a Palm Desert jewelry store.

Reymundo Garcia, 21, and Mason Barron, 21, both of Los Angeles, along with 19-year-old Byron Bradford Lee of Compton, were taken into custody Wednesday and booked into John Benoit Detention Center in Indio, according to the sheriff's department.

The arrests were connected to the late-afternoon heist at Brandon Boswell Diamonds in the 73000 block of El Paseo. The smash-and-grab resulted in a "significant loss of high-value merchandise," according to the sheriff's department, and caused extensive damage to the store as seen in video footage from KESQ.

The three men were collared after members of the Palm Desert Sheriff's Station, assisted by the Los Angeles Retail Crime Task Force, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Office of Correctional Safety Fugitive Team, served four residential search warrants within the County of Los Angeles, the sheriff's department reported.

The sheriff's department did not provide further details on what led them to the three men.

Anyone with information about the Oct. 5 incident is asked to contact Investigator Grasso of the Palm Desert Sheriff's Station at 760-836-1600.

—Patch Editor Toni McAllister and City News Service contributed to this report.