Two Merced men charged with robbing woman at gunpoint

A preliminary hearing has begun for a Merced County gang member suspected of robbing a woman at gunpoint, which is said to have occurred less than one year after jurors found him not guilty of attempted murder in an unrelated shooting.

Johnny Ray Munoz, 27, and co-defendant Andy Elias Vasquez, 22, appeared in Merced Superior Court Judge David Moranda’s courtroom Monday afternoon for a preliminary hearing in the Dec. 29 robbery on Brimmer Road in Merced.

The two are accused of using a stolen handgun to rob a woman of her purse after she pulled her car into the driveway of her home, with her 4-year-old son in the back seat.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.

On Monday, the woman identified Vasquez as the man who robbed her. She said Vasquez “looked like” the man who approached her car that night wearing a black hoodie and a black-and-red baseball cap.

The woman said the robber pointed the gun at her and demanded her purse, although he allowed her to keep her ID when she asked for it. When her young son popped his head out of the window, the woman said the robber apologized, saying he hadn’t noticed her son was in car.

Afterward, the woman said, she saw Vasquez get into the passenger side of a vehicle she described as a white Chevrolet Impala with black-tinted windows. She said she did not see the driver and could not say how many other people may have been in the car.

Munoz is accused of being the one driving the car, although testimony Monday did not address his suspected role in the robbery.

Merced Police Department investigators have said the victim’s purse later was found inside the vehicle Munoz was driving, along with a stolen gun.

The preliminary hearing will resume Thursday at 10 a.m.

Munoz made headlines in 2014 when a jury found him not guilty of two counts of attempted murder. Two teenagers, Monica Garcia and Justin Gonzales, were shot Aug. 20, 2010, in Planada. Prosecutors said Munoz was one of the gunmen.

Three other defendants in the case – Ramon Manzo Jr., Jesus Ceja and Ezequiel C. Castillo – all pleaded guilty and received lengthy prison sentences.

Munoz’s defense attorney at the time, Bill Davis, acknowledged his client was a gang member, but said there was no strong evidence linking him to the shooting.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Two Merced men charged with robbing woman at gunpoint."