Salinas men arrested in Watsonville armed robbery

Feb. 27--WATSONVILLE -- Two Salinas men were arrested Wednesday in an armed robbery in Watsonville after they were spotted in a pizza parlor.

About 12:55 p.m., 26-year-old Fernando Martinez Placido entered the insurance company at 1441 Main St. and wielded a handgun, said Watsonville police detective Charlie Bailey.

Placido ordered two employees and a customer to the ground, then ordered another employee to open a safe, police said. He took cash from it and fled.

No one was injured in the heist.

Witnesses saw him leave in a light-colored Jeep Cherokee on Main Street. Police could not find the Jeep immediately, but they gathered surveillance images from another business that showed its license plate.

They told other law enforcement agencies about the Jeep and heist, Bailey said.

About 1:50 p.m., Monterey County sheriff's deputies spotted the Jeep parked in a shopping center on the 8000 block of San Miguel Canyon Road in Prunedale.

They found the men in a pizza restaurant. Rigoberto Guerra Castillo, 25, was detained there and Placido fled to a nearby library before he was caught.

Authorities found keys to the Jeep in the restaurant as well as a handgun used in the robbery. Both men had cash "consistent with the total taken during the robbery," Bailey said.

A witness later identified Placido in the heist, according to police. Castillo drove the getaway car, police said.

Both men were arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and remained in Santa Cruz County Jail on Thursday in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to jail records.

Watsonville police ask anyone with information to call investigations at 831-768-3350 or leave an anonymous tip on the tipline at 831-728-3544 or by texting WATSPD to 888777.

Follow Sentinel reporter Stephen Baxter at Twitter.com/sbaxter_sc

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