LCSO releases more details about Center Road home invasion robbery
A home invasion robbery suspect who tied a woman up and held her for hours at gunpoint is now in the Lassen County Jail after a daylong manhunt on Sunday.
At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 14, deputies from the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a residence on Center Road near Belfast Road for report of a robbery in progress. The reporting party said a suspect had stolen the victim’s vehicle and that gunshots were being fired.
Moments later, a second 911 caller reported a vehicle had rammed through a metal gate on Center Road, approximately two miles from the original robbery call. The driver and vehicle matched the description called in by the witness of the robbery call who also managed to relay a good license plate number to dispatchers.
When deputies arrived at the original robbery crime scene, they were met by the female victim who reported she had stepped outside in the early morning hours and noticed a man she did not recognize crouching down near her back door. The man grabbed her by the shoulder, pointed a firearm at her and forced her back into the house.
The victim said he tied her hands and legs together behind her back, ransacked the residence then loaded stolen items into the victim’s vehicle. This lasted for several hours. Eventually, two of the victim’s family members arrived and immediately noticed something was wrong. After a family member went inside, the suspect immediately ran out, started to drive away in the victim’s vehicle, but then suddenly stopped and walked back toward the family member. That’s when the family member fired two shots but did not hit the suspect.
The suspect drove the victim’s car east on Center Road then rammed his vehicle through a metal gate several miles away. The suspect parked and took off running. When deputies arrived, they searched and cleared the vehicle and several outbuildings in an attempt to located the suspect, but they did not immediately find him. Air support was requested from the California Highway Patrol who provided both a fixed wing aircraft and helicopter.
Deputies searched the area for the suspect for the remainder of the day. At nightfall, deputies narrowed the search area to a creek bed north of where the suspect left the vehicle. About 11:20 p.m. deputies using handheld thermal imagers located movement in the creek bed area. The suspect attempted to run away but was met by deputies from every direction and was taken into custody without further incident.
The suspect, Angelo Atencio, 34, of Susanville, California, was transported to the Lassen County Jail where he was booked for the following charges: 212.5(a) PC- Robbery of an inhabited dwelling; 207(a) PC- Kidnapping; 236 PC- False Imprisonment; 29800(a)(1) PC- Felon in possession of a firearm; 10851 (a) VC- Vehicle Theft; and 3056 PC- Parole Violation.
Atencio is being held without bail for a parole violation as well as $117,500 bail for local charges. Lassen County Sheriff’s detectives are continuing the investigation in this case and additional charges may follow. The Lassen County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for their assistance.
Command staff from the LCSO would also like to recognize our dispatch center. Our solo dispatcher was able to untangle a confusing array of emergency calls, obtain vital facts and information and relay them appropriately to responding deputies. The clear and concise directions from our dispatcher made for a safer response by our deputies to multiple crime scenes.
