Montclair-Ontario teens must stand trial for alleged crime spree
After three days of testimony, a judge ruled Friday that five local teens must stand trial on attempted murder and other charges for a late-night violence and robbery spree in April.
Prosecutors say the five teens committed multiple robberies in four different cities during their crime spree and in the course of the robberies shot one man and pistol-whipped three other people.
Each of the young men must stand trial on seven felonies -- attempted murder, assault with a firearm on a person, four counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.
Prosecutors also allege the men were members of a street gang. If the allegation is proved in court it could result in harsher sentences for the men.
Facing charges in connection with the crime spree are Daniel Bernal Jr., 19, Jose Narciso Estrella, 19, Kevin Quiroz, 17, Felipe Curiel, 17, and Andrew Michael Fraijo, 18.
All of the young men are from the Montclair-Ontario area, said Deputy District Attorney Tom Colclough.
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Prosecutors say that during two hours starting at 11 p.m. April 17, the young men committed robberies against random victims in Upland, Ontario, Montclair and Rancho Cucamonga.
The victims included a jogger and people sitting in parked cars. One 24-year-old man who resisted a robbery attempt in Rancho Cucamonga was shot in the stomach but survived, Colclough said.
As the violence mounted, police were on heightened alert for the green Ford Explorer that witnesses and victims said was the suspects' vehicle.
An Ontario police officer saw the vehicle in the area of Mountain Avenue and Mission Boulevard, and with the assistance of several other officers took the men into custody.
Police officers from Upland, Montclair, Ontario and the Sheriff Department's Rancho Cucamonga station testified during the three-day preliminary hearing.
Several witnesses and victims of the alleged crimes also testified, Colclough said.
At preliminary hearings, prosecutors must present sufficient evidence -- usually through testimony -- for charges against accused criminals to proceed to trial.
At the end of Friday's hearing, Judge Richard Montes threw out felony charges against each man for evading police, and reduced one of the robbery charges against each man to attempted robbery.
The men are scheduled to be re-arraigned Oct. 27 at West Valley Superior Court.
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