A man and a woman arrested two months ago connection with a robbery that ended in a paintball shooting were placed on three years probation after pleading no contest to second-degree robbery, a spokesman with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
Daniel Edward Armand, a 30-year-old transient, described in a prior arrest as a tattoo artist, and Jessica Poppe-Clifton, 27-year-old unemployed woman from Canyon Country, appeared Dec. 13 in San Fernando Superior Court where they each entered no contest pleas.
“They pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree robbery,” Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Wednesday.
“Both were sentenced to 3 years formal probation,” he said.
Each of the accused faced additional charges which were not pursued by prosecutors.
The pair was arrested on Oct. 31 after Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to reports of a robbery at the Hobby Lobby in Saugus.
Deputies came under apparent fire from a paintball shooter when at least four gun shots were heard during the arrest of one suspect.
“The shots were from a paintball gun it seems,” one deputy told The Signal at the time of the incident.
The alleged robbery – which reportedly began as a shoplifting but ended in a scuffle with the manager – happened shortly after the Hobby Lobby store opened.
It’s located on Bouquet Canyon Road, north of Newhall Ranch Road.
Within a couple of minutes of having arrived at the store, deputies reported at least four shots fired.
Those shots turned out to be four “bright light blue” paintballs fired at the store by a woman driving a light grey GMC van, the manager of the Hobby Lobby store told The Signal.
When deputies arrived, they arrested the robbery suspect and immediately began looking for the woman in the van.
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