Full Notification

Updated Information:

On May 18, 2015, Patricia Cheree Smith, 26 years of Hemet, appeared in Riverside Superior Court to answer for felony charges related to her role in the armed robbery at Pacific Premier Bank on February 4, 2015.

During the court proceeding, Smith entered a guilty plea on three counts of armed robbery with three strikes; she was sentenced to State Prison.

Previous Information:

On February 4, 2015 at about 4:07 p.m., officers from the Corona Police Department responded to the Pacific Premier Bank located at 102 E. Sixth St. Corona, regarding a take-over robbery.

Officers located a suspect vehicle and attempted a high risk enforcement stop near San Antonio Ave. and Bickmore Ave. in the City of Chino. The female driver, later identified as Patricia Cheree Smith, 26 years of Hemet, Ca. exited the vehicle and was contacted by police. The passenger, Paul Alfred Eugene Johnson, 59 years of Hemet, Ca. jumped into the driver’s seat and fled the area leading officers in a vehicle pursuit which resulted in an officer involved shooting.

Smith immediately told officers that she was a victim of a car-jacking by a man armed with a handgun. Corona police detectives conducted a follow-up interview with Smith and determined that she was an accomplice in the robbery.