PURSE SNATCHER CAUSES POWER OUTAGE AND ROAD CLOSURE IN YUCCA VALLEY

A purse snatching in Yucca Valley resulted in a crashed U-Haul that shut down Highway 62 between Old Woman Springs Road and Sage Avenue and caused a power outage throughout the Morongo Basin for hours Friday afternoon. According to Sheriff’s Sergeant Steve Wilson, three women from Palm Springs drove up to Yucca Valley Friday in a rented U-Haul trailer to possibly buy an appliance. While in Yucca Valley, the women stopped at Food 4 Less. While in the store, Wilson said one of the women, identified in a Sheriff’s press release as Randolyn Daniels, 54, snatched a purse from an elderly woman about 1:30 p.m. and ran out of the store while one of her companions was in line buying groceries, and another, Shatara Lee, 31, was in the U-Haul truck. Daniels ran to the U-Haul, followed by employees and customers. When Daniels arrived at the U-Haul, Lee who was in the driver’s seat, got out of the truck, refusing Daniels’ commands to drive off. Meanwhile, a Food 4 Less employee grabbed the snatched purse off the truck’s front seat while Daniels assaulted the employee. Then Daniels got into the driver’s seat, backed up into a parked vehicle, and then hit a 2005 Honda Accord parked next to the truck as she left the parking lot. Daniels started driving westbound on Highway 62 when for unknown reasons, she lost control of the U-Haul, and crashed into a power pole in front of Carrow’s restaurant. Daniels then fled the scene on foot, running northbound into the residential area. The crash caused the power pole to fall over onto the U-Haul truck, and thereby causing a power outage in pockets from Morongo Valley to Twentynine Palms.  
Southern California Edison estimated it would take possibly all night to re-route the power lines, which kept the highway closed until early this morning. Meanwhile, a resident in the 56900 block of Antelope Trail, just two blocks from Food 4 Less and the crash scene, called the Sheriff’s Department about 3:40 to report that a strange woman was hiding in his bathroom and had attacked him when she was told to leave. Deputies responded to the scene and were able to remove her without incident. Witnesses confirmed the woman hiding was Daniels, the alleged purse thief who stole the U-Haul. Randolyn Daniels was booked into the Morongo Basin Jail for investigation of attempted strong armed robbery, burglary, and vehicle theft, with her bail set at $50,000. Additional charges are pending.