By: Staff, City News Service
Trial is set to get under way today for an ex-con accused in a daylong robbery spree that culminated in a shooting and police pursuit near Corona.
Willis Webb Bagley, 39, is charged with attempted murder, attempted robbery, five counts of robbery and multiple allegations of using a firearm during a felony for the Sept. 16, 2009, attacks.
His codefendants — Jacob Buschow, 20, of Pomona; Anthony Coleman, 22, of Chino; Timothy Jacqueman, 19, of Pomona; and Andrew Swindle, 24, of Pomona — have all been convicted of similar charges. Jacqueman and Buschow are serving time, while Coleman and Swindle are slated to be sentenced next month.
Bagley — who faces a possible third-strike conviction — is representing himself.
According to prosecutors, over a 10-hour span, the defendant and his alleged cohorts held up three restaurants in Los Angeles County and two in Riverside County. One of the establishments was an IHOP; the other four were Denny’s franchises.
At one point, Bagley and the others stopped at Our Lady of Tepeyac, 13462 Magnolia Ave., in Home Gardens and tried to rob a former Catholic bishop, 52-year-old Anthony Martinez Garduno, prosecutors allege. During a confrontation, the ex-clergyman was shot in the stomach.
Garduno recovered from his wounds and, in a twist, was investigated himself a few months later for the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage boy. He ended up pleading guilty to possessing methamphetamine for sale and receiving stolen property and is serving the final year of a two-year prison term.
As Bagley and his codefendants allegedly fled through Corona, a police sergeant spotted their dark green getaway car, recognizing it from a
description broadcast over the radio. He tailed the vehicle several miles to the Pomona (60) Freeway and Milliken Avenue in Ontario, stopping the suspects on the freeway.
Jacqueman, who was driving, exited the car, but as he was being detained, “Coleman … jumped behind the wheel and fled” with the other men, said Corona police Lt. Jon Stofila.
Corona police pursued the suspects into Rancho Cucamonga, where California Highway Patrol officers took over the chase.
Stofila said Coleman collided with another vehicle, and the pursuit came to an end near the intersection of Haven Avenue and 7th Street, with the remaining suspects surrendering without incident.
Several handguns and long rifles were recovered from the vehicle.
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