Three Arrested in Suspected Crime Spree

  Sheriff’s deputies chased three teenage suspects across the eastern edge of the Santa Clarita Valley during an early morning strong-armed rampage Wednesday.
     Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Olfert said the crime spree began at the Wells Fargo ATM near the intersection of McBean and Magic Mountain parkways when the trio robbed a man at knifepoint, then fled in a red Jeep Wrangler.
    “This guy had just walked away from the ATM machine with some cash,” Olfert said.
    The Palmdale teenagers were driving the vehicle that was reported stolen from the Antelope Valley the night before.
    Approximately 40 minutes later, the suspects robbed a Canyon Country woman of her purse near the intersection of Whites Canyon and Soledad Canyon roads. The 60-year-old woman was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital where she was treated for her injuries.
    “That one was a strong-arm, where they physically assaulted this woman,” Olfert said. “They punched her and took her purse.”
    The suspects later drove past a sheriff’s patrol unit on Sierra Highway at Via Princessa and the deputies chased the suspects into the residential area east of rural route 14.
    “They were throwing money out of the car as they were driving,” Olfert said.
    The short one-mile pursuit ended when the red Jeep Wrangler crashed into the front yard of a home in the 17700 block of Innsbruch Point Court.
    Sgt. Steve Jenkins said the driver and front passenger suspects fled from the vehicle and were caught by two deputies and two detectives while the third suspect remained in the car. All were arrested without incident, Jenkins said.
    The deputies recovered the stolen cash as well as the purse, Jenkins said.