Crime & Safety

Bound, Beaten and Robbed

A man was arrested on suspicion of attacking a Temecula victim in his garage.

A man suspected of binding, beating and robbing a Temecula man was behind bars today.

Charles Andre Powell, 40, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of illegal drugs. He was booked at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley and held on $275,000 bail, according to jail records.

The happened on Feb. 22 at a home in the 40000 block of Paseo Sereno, according to Sgt. Kevin McDonald.

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Powell and another man yet to be identified allegedly sneaked into the victim’s garage wearing masks while he warmed up his pickup truck. They tied his hands together, taped his mouth shut and demanded money and other property, the sergeant wrote in a report.

When a woman burst out of the home and ran to a neighbor’s house, the robbers panicked and fled, according to the report.

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The investigation leading to the arrest took two months, according to the report. “During the following investigation, detectives from the Temecula Police Department focused on past associates of the victim,” it stated. “They conducted surveillance of these associates and served numerous search warrants for phone records, computer records and social media accounts.”

The evidence pointed to Powell, so they served a search warrant on his home in the 11000  block of Herminia Court in Moreno Valley around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. They found evidence of his involvement in the attack as well as possession of methamphetamine for sale. The suspect gave up without a fight, according to McDonald.


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