Police name suspects in church robbery

CLOVIS — Police last week named suspects in the armed robbery of an elderly woman who was waiting in her church’s parking lot for Sunday school to start.

Arrest warrants were issued for Cherry Anaya, 43, and Jamie Vega, 36, both of Clovis, on felony charges of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, unlawful use or theft of an ATM or debit card and theft of identity, according to court records. Each woman is also charged with four counts of petty misdemeanor fraud.

Clovis police on Monday had requested public assistance in locating the two female suspects driving an early-2000s Nissan. The 88-year old victim said one of the suspects used a small gray handgun but she “did not get a good look at either female,” records show.

Additional information was slim at the time, but in the days following police narrowed their search by tracing purchases in Clovis made on the victim’s stolen debit card and correlating them with surveillance footage. Those transactions included $25 at a McDonald’s drive-thru (barely an hour after the 8:45 a.m. robbery Aug. 18) and three cartons of Marlboro 100s.

Court records on Friday did not list an attorney representing either woman, both of whom were still at large. CPD said in a release on Wednesday that the suspects “are believed to be armed” and asked anyone who knows their location to contact police.

Police said they are also trying to locate Delilah Kerby, 31, “in reference to this incident,” though she is “not currently wanted on any charges.”