County-Wide Crime Spree Curtailed

Armed robbers suspected in a string of heists across Santa Cruz County were arrested at gunpoint Monday night, authorities reported.

The crime spree began Monday evening in Watsonville when the two Salinas men robbed three brothers on Fifth Street, according to Watsonville police Sgt. Saul Gonzalez.

The robbers, both armed with guns, fled in a black BMW, police said.

Twenty minutes later, the robbers struck in Capitola. There was a third robbery in Santa Cruz. Witnesses got a partial license plate, so police set up Project ROPE to search for the vehicle, Gonzalez said.

The car was pulled over in a parking lot at Soquel Avenue and Morrissey Boulevard in Santa Cruz and two men were arrested. Rudy Ruiz and Ruben Hernandez, both 20, were jailed on suspicion of robbery, police said.

Officers found one gun in the car and expected to locate stolen property once they obtained a search warrant to comb through the car, Gonzalez said.