Ceres Police detectives have arrested a female employee of Papa Murphy's Take ‘N' Bake Pizza, located at the 1600 block of Hatch Road, for her role in a Jan. 21 armed robbery of the restaurant.
Diana Castillo, 24, of Modesto, was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of robbery. She remains in custody on $150,000 bail and $20,500 bail for a prior DUI case.
Detectives say Castillo had provided sensitive information about the business to the suspects prior to the robbery. She also revealed intimate details pertaining to the robbery that had not been released to the public.
Detectives became suspicious about Castillo being involved in an inside job after reviewing the surveillance video. They checked into the backgrounds of the employees and their associates. A close associate of Castillo's was found to be on active Post-Release Community Supervision (PRCS) and had a previous arrest for armed robbery. PRCS is part of the state Public Safety Realignment program, which was signed into law in 2011 (AB 109) with the intention of reducing the number of inmates in state detention facilities.
Investigators learned that Castillo's associate was positively identified and arrested for his involvement in a home invasion robbery in Santa Clara County, where he is currently in custody. His identity was not released to protect the integrity of the investigation since the second suspect is being sought.
The robbery occurred just after 9 a.m. on Jan. 21 when two armed men took an undisclosed amount of cash from the business and were last seen running eastbound towards Richland Avenue from behind the building.
The suspects are both described as being thin and approximately 5-foot-8. One suspect was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark-colored jeans, and a mask. The second suspect was reportedly wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dark jeans, and a black ski mask. No one was injured during the robbery.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact Detective Derek Perry by calling 538-5730, emailing derek.perry@ci.ceres.ca.us. Tips may be anonymously reported (and rewarded up to $1,000) by contacting Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at 1-866-60-CRIME or by texting tips to 274637 and include the verbiage TIP704 in the wording.
