Yorba Linda : Arraignment Today for 3 Held in House Robbery

Three men charged with tying up a Yorba Linda family, ransacking their house and fleeing in their cars are scheduled to be arraigned today.

Brea Police Sgt. Tom Flenniken said most of the property stolen from the Shadow Ridge Lane home of the Jerry Box family early Friday was recovered from houses in Redlands and Loma Linda on Sunday. In addition, items taken in a robbery in Redlands and a burglary in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County were seized, he said.

Charges of armed robbery, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and auto theft were filed against Jeffrey C. Lewis, 19, of Paradise, David Hudson, 18, of Redlands, and David Richardson, 20, of Loma Linda. All three are in custody at the Brea Police Department, and bail is set at $100,000 each.

On Sunday morning, a California Highway Patrol officer stopped Lewis, who reportedly was driving the Boxes’ 1979 Chevrolet Corvette at about 70 m.p.h. on the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles. According to the CHP, the Corvette’s license plates had been replaced with plates from a car stolen in Yucaipa and since recovered. A handgun also reportedly was found in the car.

Flenniken, after questioning Lewis and a passenger in the Corvette, obtained search warrants for the other two suspects’ homes. A 1979 Dodge van owned by the Yorba Linda family, jewelry, video recorders, clothes, cameras, guns and a home computer were among items found at those locations, police said.

Lewis provided details of the robbery, the detective noted, and talked about their method of operation. “He said a lot of people leave their garage doors unlocked so they’d just drive around until they found one and make their entry that way,” he said.

The break-in had occurred when the family was asleep. The robbers, wearing bandannas and armed with handguns, herded Box, 32, his wife Marian, 34, daughter Rhonda, 15, son Jeremiah, 10, and the maid, Nickum Lopez, age unknown, into the living room and tied them up.

The men ransacked the $500,000 home for about two hours before fleeing. Marian Box eventually managed to free herself and untie the others.