The owner of a small
Stockton
market says he’s living in fear after a man allegedly walked into his business with a machete, robbed him of thousands of dollars and later sent threatening messages claiming to be part of a gang.
The robbery happened around 2:30 p.m. Monday at Tienda Guatemala, a small store and check-cashing location on Main Street. Francisco Pablo Gomez, the store owner, said the suspect initially came in trying to cash a check but left upset after his wife, who was working the register, declined to process it due to a suspected fake ID.
“He came here again with the machete in his hand,” Gomez said. “He got in and tried to hurt her. He took some money and a couple of checks.”
The incident was caught on surveillance video. Gomez said his 3-year-old son was standing between the suspect and his wife during the confrontation, but no one was injured.
Gomez said his wife and kids are not typically left alone at the business, but that he had to do so for only a few minutes Monday in order to pick up their other kids from school.
Stockton police later identified the suspect as 31-year-old Pedro Sosa. He was arrested Wednesday morning in Oakdale on seven charges, including robbery, identity theft and fraud.
According to Stanislaus County jail records, Sosa was born in Mexico. His bail has been set at $340,000.
Gomez estimates Sosa took around $15,000 in cash.
“It’s a lot of money because we are a small business,” Gomez said. “It’s not OK what he did. It’s really bad.”
After the robbery, the situation escalated when Gomez received a text message from a number he didn’t recognize.
“Yesterday, at like two o’clock, (the suspect) texted me and said he’s a member of a gang,” Gomez said. “He knows where I live. He was going to shoot my house or something like that.”
Gomez believes Sosa found his number on a business card taken during the first visit.
While relieved that his family is physically unharmed, Gomez said the emotional toll has been severe.
“(I’m) kind of stressed, still thinking about that,” Gomez said. “The main thing is my family is OK, that’s the main thing. The money, we’ll work on that.”
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