Witnesses at the Check Into Cash location at 806 Southampton Road called Benicia police at 11:10 a.m. Thursday to report the store had been robbed by two masked, armed men, Benicia Police Lt. Mike Daley said.
Customers and store employees told police that two gunmen came into the business, confronted two employees and demanded money, Daley said. They fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and checks to a waiting, older-model white Lexus driven by a third suspect, he said.
Benicia police dispatchers relayed the vehicle's and suspects' descriptions to the Vallejo Police Department, Solano County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol's dispatch centers for a countywide broadcast alert, Daley said.
Within 10 minutes, Solano County District Attorney investigators Dick Nissen and Dave Gottlieb, who heard the broadcast while in an unmarked car, reported seeing a vehicle and suspects matching the description driving east on Interstate 80 through Vallejo, Daley said.
California Highway Patrol and Fairfield Police Department officers stopped the vehicle on Highway 12 just off I-80, he said.
Witnesses identified the vehicle and the suspects, and three replica handguns, clothing worn during the robbery, an undisclosed amount of cash and personal checks made out to
Check Into Cash were recovered from the car, Daley said.
Arrested were Tommie Barnett, 19, Darien Nelson, 20 and Courtney Johnson, 19, all of Fairfield, Daley said.
The suspects were expected to be booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of robbery.
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