Bail set at $150,000 for Arkansas suspect in 2 heists

A Pulaski County circuit judge set bail at $150,000 on Thursday for one of two men accused of robbing two North Little Rock Mexican-food restaurants over the span of a week last year.

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Cesar Enrique Rivera, represented by attorney Sandy Cordi, had asked for $25,000 bail. Judge Leon Johnson set the higher level after deputy prosecutor Luke Daniel said Rivera, 25, had reportedly admitted to clubbing one man with his gun during the robberies.

Daniel also said bail is $50,000 for Rivera's co-defendant, 26-year-old Jose Braulio Gurrola.

The men are charged with five counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of felony theft. They are accused of robbing Cactus Jack's at 4120 McCain Blvd. on Oct. 27 and the El Porton at 5021 Warden Road on Nov. 2. Court filings say Gurrola is a former Cactus Jack's waiter.

Gurrola and Rivera are to stand trial together in May. The charges carry potential life sentences.

The prosecutor also told the judge that Rivera also has 17 prior felony convictions, 12 for breaking or entering and five for theft, plus seven misdemeanor theft counts for his role in a Sept. 10, 2010, string of car break-ins in Maumelle.

He served three years on probation for the break-ins after pleading guilty in November 2011. He and his co-defendant -- Antonio Barahona, 25 of Conway, who pleaded guilty to the same charges for probation -- also paid $1,535 in restitution, court records show.

According to police reports, two armed masked men entered Cactus Jack's about 10 minutes before closing, possibly using the back entrance. The door was unlocked because workers were waiting for the manager, Aaron Cendejas, to return.

The gunmen's sudden appearance in the dining room caused Kaicce Ortiz to scream. Another employee, Eric Cendejas, said the robbers kept their guns trained on them, the report said.

One worker, Jose Cendejas, was forced to empty a cash register for the robbers, who fled out the back to a waiting car.

Victims in the El Porton holdup a week later reported that three armed robbers, with their faces covered, came through an unlocked back door.

Manager Jose Valdemar Leon said the robber who made him empty the cash register told him, "I don't want to do this. I have a family," a police report said. Leon described that robber as a white man wearing a mask and gloves.

Joe Doyle Burns Jr. told police that someone came up behind him, put something to his head and told him not to move. Burns said he thought it was a late Halloween prank, so he jokingly told the man to shoot him.

When he heard, "It's not worth your life," he turned and saw an armed man wearing a hockey mask, the report said.

When the robber lowered the gun briefly, Burns charged him, knocking the man down and pulling off his gray hood. But another robber hit Burns in the face with a gun before running out the back door with his companion.

Burns said he chased them outside, saw them get into a silver or gray Nissan Sentra, then got into his own car and pursued them south down Warden Road until they were able to elude him when they got on U.S. 67/167.

Police did find a black hockey mask behind the restaurant and a BB gun magazine on the kitchen floor.

Gurrola, who had been working in construction, was arrested two days later at his home at 9009 McCain Road, Jacksonville, and has admitted to participating in both holdups, according to an arrest report.

Rivera, who reports his last job was as an Outback Steakhouse waiter, also confessed after his arrest at his apartment, 601 Mockingbird Lane in Cabot, about a month after the El Porton robbery. A third suspect has not been charged.

Gurrola is also awaiting trial on a felony drug-possession charge stemming from his May 20 arrest during a traffic stop at 4400 Camp Robinson Road during which police found a half-tablet of oxycodone in his pocket.

An arrest report said he told police he paid $25 for it. Gurrola also has an October 2011 misdemeanor marijuana conviction, a charge that was reduced from a felony in exchange for his guilty plea.

Metro on 02/04/2017

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