NCIS investigating Pendleton exchange robbery - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

NCIS investigating Pendleton exchange robbery

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A third suspect is in custody as naval criminal investigators continue to investigate the latest robbery of an exchange at Camp Pendleton, an official said. The robbery was the third at the store this year.

“Whether Sunday night’s robbery was connected to the earlier incidents is among the matters currently under investigation,” Ed Buice, a spokesman for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said Tuesday.

Officials have provided few details about the latest robbery as of late Tuesday. The alleged robbers — it’s not clear whether there were more than three — “used duct tape to bind employees and attempted to flee the scene,” Buice said. A Marine who lives in the nearby housing area of Stuart Mesa assisted military police in catching one of the suspects, he said. Two other suspects were detained by NCIS, he added. One was jailed in Vista, Calif., on a probation violation, and the other two were being held at a jail in San Diego.

The Stuart Mesa mini-exchange, which is near Edson Range at the base, was robbed April 14 by suspects who allegedly used a weapon, although officials have not said what weapon was used. On Sept. 15, robbers with weapons hit the same exchange.

Officials haven’t said what time the latest incident happened. The exchange is open until 8 p.m. on Sundays.