Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 2 Men Linked to Series of Robberies

Two Northridge men arrested earlier this month in Santa Clarita are believed to be responsible for a string of robberies in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, authorities said Tuesday.

Joseph Heermann, 20, and Russell McLean, 28, were arrested on suspicion of robbery after the Jan. 16 holdup of the Ranch House Inn, said Detective Jerry Johnson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

But it wasn’t until Monday that investigators from Santa Clarita and the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division began to piece together the pattern of robberies. In each incident, one robber entered the business and demanded money, while a second person waited in the getaway car.

On June 17, the two men allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven in Santa Clarita, fleeing with $240. The two men also are suspected of stealing $190 from the Warner Center Marriott Dec. 20 after one of them brandished a handgun.

On Jan. 7, the two men are accused of attempting to rob a second 7-Eleven in Santa Clarita, using a knife. They fled when the store clerk pulled out a metal pipe. Later that day, the two men allegedly robbed the Hilton Hotel at Warner Center, showed a handgun and got away with $486, Johnson said.

The men also are accused of robbing the Holiday Inn in Woodland Hills Jan. 14, brandishing a handgun and escaping with $800. Two days later they were caught after fleeing from the Ranch House Inn, where they allegedly stole $1,200, Johnson said.

Both men are being held in the County Jail in Castaic. Heermann’s bail was set at $45,000, and McLean’s was set at $50,000.