Two Brentwood men wielding guns while robbing a Vacaville liquor store on Aug. 6 were arrested the next morning in Fairfield, booked into Solano County Jail, charged with felonies in Solano County Superior Court, and will face a judge again in the coming days, The Reporter has learned.
The Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its complaint against Phillip Drake III, 35, and Matties Le-Laurent Williams, 25, on Aug. 9. Drake is represented by the Alternate Public Defender and Williams by the Public Defender, court records show.
The two men — Drake faces felony charges of robbery and possession of narcotics for sale, while Williams faces a felony robbery charge — will return at 8:30 a.m. Thursday for a readiness conference in Department 23 in the Justice Center in Fairfield. Judge John B. Ellis also ordered them to return at 10 a.m. Friday for a preliminary hearing, but that proceeding most likely will be rescheduled.
Drake and Williams, who were arrested by Vacaville police officers at 5 a.m. at the intersection of Suisun Valley Road and Oakwood Drive, remain in Solano County Jail on $170,000 bail.
According to a Vacaville Police Department social media post Saturday morning, just after 10 p.m. Aug. 9, dispatch received “a panicked call” from a clerk at a local food and liquor store, saying they’d just been robbed at gunpoint by two men who left in a gray Honda Accord. However, store clerk did not see the license plate
Officers immediately responded to the area and began collecting statements and looking for evidence. Meanwhile, dispatchers began checking the city cameras for possible vehicle matches.
Officers learned that two men had robbed the store at gunpoint, one with a handgun and the other with some type of so-called long gun or rifle. Money was taken.
“The clerks were clearly shaken up by the incident, but thankfully not physically harmed,” the post’s author wrote.
As the officers worked to find their leads, so, too, did the dispatchers, and “one’s dedicated sleuthing led to the discovery of the suspect vehicle and its associated license plate,” according to the post.
A few hours later, the same dispatcher began checking any activity for the suspect vehicle, and observed current activity in a particular area of nearby Fairfield.
Fairfield officers were notified, and some searched for the car, knowing it contained the armed robbery suspects. They spotted the vehicle, stopped it, and quickly and safely detained the occupants.
Vacaville officers responded and noted the two men found in the vehicle were a match for the ones seen in the earlier store surveillance video. Officers recovered the alleged stolen cash, an unserialized Polymer 80 Glock-style handgun, or “ghost gun,” a short-barreled rifle and narcotics packaged for sale.
Drake and Williams were arrested and booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery, weapons violations, and narcotic sales.
“Officers and Detectives aren’t the only ones who fight and solve crimes, some our dispatchers are also quite adept at investigating crimes and also play a huge role in keeping everyone safe, as evidenced here,” the post’s author wrote.
Source: www.mercurynews.com