Defense says man didn't commit Grand Terrace robberies
SAN BERNARDINO - The family and lawyer of a Lancaster man who is accused of robbing a Grand Terrace liquor store three times in 2009 say he isn't the armed man who authorities see in surveillance videos.
Derik Carl Garcia appeared Friday before Judge Harold Wilson in San Bernardino Superior Court, where lawyers set a jury trial for Garcia in December. He returns to court Nov. 23.
Garcia, 30, is charged with robbing Smart Time food store at gunpoint in August and twice in December 2009. Sheriff's detectives have surveillance videos that show a Hispanic man robbing the store on Barton Road, near Canal Street, according to the defense.
After a robbery on Dec. 2, 2009, the store clerk reported the robber was 5 foot 6 inches tall, about 180 to 190 pounds, with a medium build, according to Garcia's lawyer James Gass. The defendant's family and Gass say Garcia is bigger and taller.
"I think it's mistaken identity, is what it is," said Julie Cantu, Garcia's mother. Her son worked at a barber shop in Lancaster and has had a goatee for years. He also never had a pierced ear, she said.
Gass said his client is about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs close to 300 pounds. "To me, he's bigger and doesn't look anything like the guy," Gass said.
Detectives have no fingerprints from the scene nor witnesses, other than clerks, said the defense.
Garcia was arrested July 30, 2010, and he's being held at West Valley Detention Center in lieu of $500,000 bail. Sheriff's inmate records show Garcia is 5 feet 11 inches and 240 pounds.
mike.cruz@inlandnewspapers.com, @sbcourts
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