Three teenagers jailed in series of Atwater robberies

Four suspects have been arrested for allegedly committing a series of robberies in the Atwater and Winton area.

Merced County sheriff's and Atwater police investigators believe the suspects were targeting students walking home from school. Three of the suspects, an 18-year-old man and two juveniles, were arrested Tuesday.

Atwater police arrested the three teens after they allegedly robbed a 14-year-old boy around 4 p.m. in the 2800 block of Winton Way. The suspects were identified as Gerarado Valencia, 18, of Winton, a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy, according to Atwater Police Detective Armando Echevarria.

Echevarria said the teens used threats of physical force, saying they would stab the victim. One of the suspects removed an iPod clipped to the victim's belt. After the suspects ran away, the victim went to a nearby gas station at Bellevue Road and Winton Way, and approached an off-duty sheriff's detective named Greg Mahan for help.

Mahan spotted the suspects in a white Dodge Durango, and followed the vehicle, Echevarria said.

Mahan called Atwater police, and he followed the Durango with the officers. Investigators briefly lost track of the Durango, but later located the SUV at Gertrude Avenue and Shaffer Road.

The officers stopped the vehicle and questioned the driver, a 35-year-old mother of one of the teens.

The woman, who said she'd dropped the teenagers off in the Winton area, led officers to a residence at Suzie Street and Myrtle Avenue in Winton. There, officers arrested Valencia and the juveniles. The woman, who wasn't arrested, claimed she didn't know about the robberies, Echevarria said.

Police believe the three suspects also tried to rob a 15-year-old boy earlier Tuesday, around 2:40 p.m. in the 2500 block of Winton Way. Echevarria said the robbery attempt failed after the victim was able to grab his wallet back from one of the suspects and flee.

That victim also identified the three suspects from a photo lineup Tuesday, Echevarria said.

Echevarria said the suspects are believed to be connected to at least three robberies in the Atwater area.

In addition, sheriff's investigators believe Valencia and a fourth suspect, 19-year-old Isaias Covarrubias of Winton, robbed a 15-year-old boy of his cell phone at knife point on Sept. 8 as he was walking home from school in Winton.

Covarrubias was arrested Friday, after sheriff's investigators conducted a search warrant on his home, according to Deputy Tom MacKenzie, sheriff's spokesman.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about these robberies or other suspects to call sheriff's Detective Dwayne Pavelski at (209) 385-7472 or Echevarria at (209) 357-6395.

Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.