Armed robbery at El Centro Jack in the Box

An arrest was made following an armed robbery at a Jack in The Box in El Centro.

The El Centro Police Department (ECPD), responded to the report early Friday morning.

ECPD said the suspect had a knife on him when he demanded money from the cash register.

The suspect entered the 24 hours a day Jack in The Box located on Cottonwood Drive.

Holding a knife by his side, police said the suspect demanded money from an employee.

“The employees cooperated with the subject and gave him the money from the register, and he fled the scene,” said Sergeant James Thompson, ECPD.

ECPD says the suspect fled with approximately $500 of stolen money.

“Officers were able to locate the subject shortly after, in the parking lot of Sonic Drive-In. That’s where he was taken into custody without incident and the stolen cash was recovered,” said Thompson.

Jack in The Box customer, Martha Quintero said that the employees working late at night run the risk of being in a dangerous situation like this one.

“It’s scary, once it’s night time I don’t go out because I hear of a lot of bad things happening, there’s a lot of people in this area that are asking for money and in reality, you never know what could happen,” said Quintero.

“Anytime they face a situation like this, there’s no amount of money worth getting hurt for. We ask that they just cooperate. In this situation it ended up that we recovered the stolen cash,” said Thompson.

The suspect is facing armed robbery charges.

He is currently in custody at Imperial County Jail and is being held on a $100,000 bail.