Two Colombian nationals arrested after stolen Mercedes linked to Hawthorne carjacking, sheriff says

Two Colombian nationals were arrested after an automated license plate reader alerted deputies to a stolen Mercedes-Benz linked to a violent carjacking, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said.

The department said the 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300 had been reported stolen during a violent carjacking and an assault with a deadly weapon in Hawthorne on July 11. Days later, deputies received an alert showing the car traveling through Rolling Hills Estates, the department said.

Deputies located the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop near Palos Verdes Drive North and Rolling Vista Drive, the sheriffs department said. As the vehicle stopped, a passenger jumped out and ran, prompting deputies to establish a perimeter.

The driver, Yareht Pedraza, a 26-year-old from Bogotá, Colombia, was taken into custody at the scene, the department said. The passenger, Alan Pena Sabogn, a 21-year-old also from Bogotá, was later located and arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, obstructing a peace officer and providing false identification, authorities said.

The sheriffs department said deputies learned the Mercedes had also been linked to a residential burglary in Torrance and that Sabogn had an outstanding felony no-bail burglary warrant from Colorado. “This arrest is another example of how technology, proactive policing, and teamwork between deputies, dispatchers, and Air Support help quickly identify suspects and remove them from our communities,” the department said, adding that an LASD airship assisted in locating the fleeing passenger.

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