Photo: APU GOMES / AFP / Getty Images
The accomplice of the so-called 7-Eleven Killer pleaded guilty this Monday and was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a series of robberies at various convenience stores in Southern California in July 2022.
Jason Payne, 44, pleaded guilty to three felony robbery charges and one felony attempted robbery charge.according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Payne never actually entered the stores, but rather was an accomplice of 20-year-old Malik Patts.
Patt, who has not yet been tried, is charged with the murder of three people when he was committing shoplifting.
The crime spree allegedly began on July 9, 2022, with the homicide of a homeless man in the 16100 block of Parthenia Street, near Woodley Avenue, in the North Hills. The crime occurred about 200 yards from a 7-Eleven store that was robbed earlier that day.
On July 11, there were several robberies at 7-Eleven stores, beginning in Ontario, San Bernardino County. Police said that shortly after midnight, the 7-Eleven at 636 N. Vine Avenue was robbed. The suspect assaulted the business with a handgun, but no shots were fired.
At 1:35 am, the 7-Eleven store at 2410 W. Arrow Route, in Upland, also in San Bernardino County, was robbed.
At 1:50 am, an armed subject assaulted the 7-Eleven located at 5102 La Sierra Avenue, in Riverside. That robbery escalated and the suspect shot a customer, who was hospitalized.
Minutes after 3:00 am, there was a robbery at the Yum Yum Donuts store at 2441 N. Tustin Street, in Santa Ana, Orange County. About 20 minutes later, Matthew Rule, 24, of Santa Ana, was shot and killed outside the 7-Eleven store at 302 E. 17th Street in Santa Ana.
Officers found Rule in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the upper body, the Santa Ana Police Department said. The victim died at the scene of the shooting.
Brea police responded at 4:17 a.m. to the 7-Eleven at 109 W. Lambert Road, where they found a store clerk who had been shot in an incident officers said they determined to be a Stole.
About half an hour later, the 7-Eleven store at 381 E. Whittier Boulevad in La Habra was robbed, where two people were shot, according to the La Habra Police Department. Both victims were taken to a hospital and survived.
Using surveillance camera footage, police were able to link the same suspect to all incidents.
The thefts that occurred in Ontario and Upland will be prosecuted in San Bernardino County.
Patt and Payne were arrested in Los Angeles on Friday, July 15, 2022. by the Orange County Violent Crime Task Force on Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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