CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department issued a report Thursday detailing the arrest of two men earlier in the day in connection to the robbery in a city park of an elderly man.

Darius Durand Louis of Contra Costa County and Clifford Joseph McDonald of Clearlake, both age 18, were arrested shortly after the incident was reported, according to Sgt. Rodd Joseph.

Just before 11 a.m. a 76-year-old Clearlake resident called police to report that he had just been robbed of his wallet by two black male adults at Austin Park, located at 14077 Lakeshore Drive, Joseph said.

Joseph said the man described the responsible subjects to the dispatcher, who provided the information to responding units.

The victim was uninjured in the attack and no weapons were used. He reported being physically held by one of the subjects while the second man removed his wallet. The two suspects then fled the area on foot, Joseph said.

Within minutes of the call, Det. Mark Barnes observed two black male subjects, matching the general descriptions of the men responsible for the robbery, in the area of Howard Avenue and Ridge Road, Joseph said.

As Barnes approached, the two males fled the area on foot and began jumping fences in and through numerous residential yards, according to Joseph.

Joseph said several uniformed and plain-clothed officers began trying to establish a perimeter around the subjects and, while doing so, were able to apprehend Louis at Tire Pros, located at 14320 Lakeshore Drive.

Louis is a convicted felon on parole who also had a felony arrest warrant out of Contra Costa County for a prior parole violation, Joseph said.

Within a few minutes of Louis’ arrest, officers located McDonald in a vacant field off of Pearl Avenue, not far from Tire Pros, according to Joseph.

The elderly victim was transported to the location near Tire Pros in an attempt to identify the two men. Joseph said the man was able to make a partial identification of both by their respective clothing and some physical characteristics.

Officers retraced the steps of Louis and McDonald and were able to recover most of the victim’s stolen property, but Joseph said they did not locate the actual wallet, some cash and some personal identification belonging to the victim.

During questioning, both Louis and McDonald confessed to the robbery, Joseph said.

The two men told police that the victim was chosen as they could see his wallet in his pants pocket and believed it to be full of cash. Joseph said the two worked in concert to rob the elderly victim of his money as Louis needed money to get back to Contra Costa County.

Both Louis and McDonald later were booked into the Lake County Jail on felony charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and elder abuse. They also were each charged with a single misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, Joseph said.

Joseph said the case will be submitted to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for filing and to State Parole.

Burns Valley School staff temporarily placed the school on lockdown for precautionary reasons due to the school’s close proximity to the incident. Joseph said the lockdown was lifted as soon as both subjects were taken into custody.

Anyone who may have witnessed this incident is urged to contact the Clearlake Police Department. The investigating officer is Officer Joseph Myers, who can be reached at 707-994-8251, Extension 505.