Two Landers men were arrested early Thursday morning (July 1) accused of residential robbery after breaking into a Joshua tree home and assaulting the homeowner. According to Sheriff’s reports, Deputies responded to a report of a break-in at a home in the 61800 block of Verbena Road in Joshua Tree around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (June 30). The victim told deputies that he was in his back yard when he heard a loud smashing sound coming from his home. The victim entered his home and discovered that two men; John Delaney, 28 of Landers and Darrell Mathis, 43 of Landers; had broken into his home and were quickly approaching him. The victim backed away into his back yard out of fear as Mathis told the victim he would kill him for something he had done.
Mathis punched the victim in the left side of his face, then Delaney punched the victim on the right side of his face. Mathis then grabbed the victim by the throat until the victim became dizzy as Delaney went back into the victim’s home and broke a laptop, two phones, and other property. Delaney and Mathis left the scene in a white Ford F-150 truck. Deputies and medical personnel responded to the scene, but the victim declined medical treatment. The Sheriff’s department issued warrants for the arrest of Delaney and Mathis and around 1:15 a.m. Thursday morning (July 1), deputies located Delaney and Mathis nearby. John Delaney and Darrell Mathis were both arrested for investigation of residential robbery and were booked into the West Valley Detention Center with their bails set at $500,000 each.
