Suspects arrested in LA, OC armed robbery spree have past gun charges, deportations

During one robbery, one person donned a medical face mask and was armed with a pistol and demanded the clerk to empty the money from the register while the other served as a lookout.

Two men suspected of armed robberies at convenience stores in Orange and Los Angeles counties were arrested in late June after one suspect was deported to El Salvador for a separate crime.

Jesus Soto-Parada, who was living in South Los Angeles, and Daniel Pavon, a Honduran national living in Gardena, were arrested in Gardena on June 13 after a 7-Eleven store along the 16700 block of South Vermont Avenue was robbed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. During the robbery, one person donned a medical face mask and was armed with a pistol and demanded the clerk empty the money from the register while the other served as a lookout.

Officers followed a tracking device in the stolen money and attempted a traffic stop on their vehicle.

Around $200 of cash was found in the vehicle, along with the tracking device, a box of blue medical face masks, a black replica semi-automatic handgun and two long-sleeved black hooded sweatshirts, according to the complaint.

Additionally, the store clerk was brought to the scene of the arrest by police and identified the two as the robbers.

Between January and February, Soto-Parada, 26, and Pavon, 20, were also suspected of committing similar armed robberies in Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Pomona, Newport Beach, Agoura Hills, and Gardena.

Soto was previously arrested in 2016 and 2022 for immigration violations deported to El Salvador, according to the complaint. He was arrested again in March by the United States Border Patrol and was deported to El Salvador in April.

Pavon had also been arrested in Los Angeles in May after he was found to be carrying a concealed 9mm pistol in a his vehicle.

At some point, Soto returned to South Los Angeles and is suspected of robbing two more stores with Pavon in Gardena and Costa Mesa before their arrest.

Soto-Parada was charged with eight counts of Hobbs Act robbery, and face up to 20 years in federal prison for each county. Pavon is currently in state custody and awaiting transfer to federal custody to face charges.