Police arrested four suspects Wednesday in connection with a drug-related robbery at gunpoint that occurred at Mustang Village apartments on June 30.
Deleon Robinson and Ryan Eaton, both 18 and from San Luis Obispo, 19-year-old Ty Silacci of Paso Robles were booked into the county jail with $70,000 bail.
An unidentified 16-year-old was also arrested in connection with the crime and booked at the Juvenile County Services Center.
The four are suspected of forceably entering a studio apartment in order to rob the two occupants of marijuana.
One victim, 18-year-old Frank Silva, lived in the apartment, the other, a 15-year-old juvenile did not. Neither were students, detective Eric Vitale said.
Although Mustang Village is branded as a student housing complex and its tenants are largely from Cal Poly and Cuesta College, it’s not exclusively for students, said Christine Medzyk, the general manager for Mustang Village apartments.
Mustang Village management said they asked Silva to leave the property after they found out the crime involved possession of drugs. He moved out July 10.
Medzyk said other tenants shouldn’t be worried because it was a highly targeted event in which the victim and suspects knew each other.
The apartment tenant who was robbed owned a medicinal marijuana card and had let two of the suspects into his apartment two times in the past, police said. Twenty minutes prior to the armed robbery, the suspects visited the same apartment.
The four suspects reportedly knocked on the door, the occupant opened, then they rushed in.
“They were there because they had prior knowledge that the occupant had marijana,” Vitale said.
The suspects allegedly wrapped the occupants’ arms and legs in duct tape. One occupant was struck in the face with a pistol, police said. The suspects then proceeded to steal the marijuana, cash and other items around the apartment which police are still trying to recover. The total value of stolen items is approximately $1,500.
Robberies of this nature are on the rise in San Luis Obispo.
“We are seeing an increase in these kinds of crimes, and at this agency, we have a high success rate (in catching the suspects),” Vitale said.
During the past six months, San Luis Obispo police have investigated roughly 10 “home invasion” cases related to marijuana. In prior years, there were only one to two cases, Vitale said.
“Home invasion is a more serious end on the spectrum of robbery,” Vitale said.
Although not a legal term, but a phrase used among police, home invasion involves victims being robbed by people they know through force or fear within their own homes.
“We take these cases very seriously,” Vitale said. “We put all our resources into it.”
Vitale, a leading detective on the case, said he’s worked “tirelessly” on the investigation and didn’t sleep Tuesday night while he finished up paperwork.
Vitale also said the reason for an increase in marijuana-related home robberies is because laws on marijuana are becoming more liberal, allowing more people to access and distribue the drug.
“Marijuana dealers, we find, always have a large amount of cash, and bad guys know that too,” Vitale said.
Although college-aged people have always been involved in these cases, Vitale said there has only been one case involving college students in San Luis Obispo, when suspects accidentally entered the wrong housing unit in January and robbed the occupants.
“In some of these cases, they’ve entered the wrong house and innocent (people) are hurt,” Vitale said. He urges students to lock their doors with a deadbolt and avoid answering the doors for strangers.
“If they enter, give what they’re asking for,” Vitale said. “Property is replaceable, your life and well-being are not.”