Two men were arrested in connection with an armed robbery that took place at the Argonaut Place Shopping Center on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road in Saratoga on June 17, officials said.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call at 7:40 p.m. that evening and hours later arrested Mark Morasky 26, of Saratoga, and Tawni Miser 23, of San Jose, according to the department’s spokesman Sgt. Jose Cardoza.
The men reportedly used a stolen vehicle—an early 1990s four-door green Honda Accord—as their get-away car after Morasky lunged at a woman after she got out of her car. The woman, in her 40s, is from Saratoga and was driving an early 2000s Mercedes. Morasky snatched her backpack from her hands and got back into the stolen vehicle and fled.
She saw a black handgun in Morasky’s hand and feared for her life, Cardoza said.
No injuries were reported.
Deputies discovered the Accord was stolen in San Jose in a car-jacking a day earlier and may have been used in another armed robbery in a Valley Fair Shopping Center parking lot in San Jose.
Deputies caught up with the suspect hours after the Saratoga robbery and found the woman’s backpack and other belongings inside the stolen Accord.
A black handgun used during the Saratoga robbery was also located and later determined to be an Airsoft pistol, modified to look like a handgun. Airsoft pistols are not actual handguns and are used in outdoor sports.
Both suspects have prior records. Morasky is on probation for fraud from Placer County and Miser is on parole from a previous burglary charge.
The suspects were arrested and booked into the main jail on suspicion of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and possession of stolen property.
