Palo Alto Tobacco Store Robbery Suspects Charged: Police

PALO ALTO, CA — Two men were charged with armed robbery in connection with an incident at a Palo Alto tobacco store in January, the Palo Alto Police Department announced Wednesday.

The suspects, 18-year-old Michael Earle of Menlo Park and 19-year-old Andrew Manuel Maravilla-Lopez of Hayward, had already been arrested by the San Jose Police Department in April on suspicion of other armed robberies around the Bay Area.

Around 10 p.m. on Jan. 13, a clerk at Raw Smoke Shop on California Avenue reported being the victim of an armed robbery by a group of eight suspects. He also said he was pistol-whipped.

The suspects were determined to have been involved in other armed robberies in the Bay Area, and the San Jose Police Department arrested six of them in April.

Only Earle and Maravilla-Lopez have been connected to the Palo Alto incident, according to police.