People v. Williams (7 Cal. App. 5th 644, 2017)

Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

A jury convicted Jarrod Williams, Alphonso Williams, James Wilson, and Jonathan Wilson of multiple counts of kidnapping to commit another crime, second degree robbery, kidnapping, and felony false imprisonment, in connection with a series of robberies targeting retail electronics stores. All four appeal, and we affirm in part and reverse in part.

BACKGROUND

An information filed October 11, 2013, charged Jarrod, Alphonso, James, and Jonathan with 29 counts, including second degree commercial burglary (Pen. Code, § 459), second degree robbery (§ 211), attempted second degree robbery (§§ 664, 211), kidnapping to commit another crime (§ 209, subd. (b)(1)), and false imprisonment by violence (§ 236), on 10 occasions between April and September 2012. The information named Jarrod in all 29 counts, Alphonso in 19 counts, James in 16 counts, and Jonathan in seven counts. (The information also named another defendant, Mister Johara Richardson, in eight counts, but the jury acquitted him on all counts after trial.)

The charges against Jarrod were commercial burglary (count 1); kidnapping to commit another crime (counts 2, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 25); robbery (counts 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 26, 27); attempted robbery (counts 23, 24); and false imprisonment by violence (counts 28, 29). Two counts, 23 and 24, also alleged that Jarrod was armed with a handgun, and counts 4 through 29 alleged that Jarrod committed the crimes while on bail.

The charges against Alphonso were kidnapping to commit another crime (counts 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 25), and robbery (counts 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22).

The charges against James were kidnapping to commit another crime (counts 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20), and robbery (counts 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22). Count 15 alleged that James used a deadly weapon, a knife.

The charges against Jonathan were kidnapping to commit another crime (counts 16, 18, 20), and second degree robbery (counts 17, 19, 21, 22).

All four defendants pleaded not guilty.

I. Prosecution Evidence

A. The charged robberies

The prosecution presented evidence of a series of robberies in 2012 at Radio Shacks and cell phone stores, during which multiple robbers pushed store employees into the back rooms of the stores before fleeing with cell phones, cash, and other merchandise.

1. Counts 2 and 3, Riverside, April 25 (robbery and kidnapping) (Jarrod)

The store manager at a Diamond Wireless store in Fontana (where cell phones were kept in a locked cage) testified that a window was smashed sometime after she locked the store and left at 8:45 p.m. on April 24, but the next day nothing was missing. (The jury acquitted Jarrod of the commercial burglary charge in count 1 regarding this event.)

The night of April 24, Jarrod called Steve Prado, a current employee of the Riverside Diamond Wireless store who used to work with Jarrod at the store in Riverside. Jarrod told Prado he had broken the window at the Fontana store, and offered Prado $3,000 for the key to the merchandise cages at the Riverside store. Prado refused.

The next morning, April 25, at 9:50 a.m., Prado and Monique H. prepared for the 10:00 a.m. opening of the Riverside store. Jarrod texted Prado that he was outside the store. To discourage Jarrod from robbing the store, Prado replied (falsely) that the district manager was there. Prado then heard the doorbell ring at the exterior door to the back room and froze, knowing it was Jarrod.

Monique H. opened the door thinking it was a coworker, and saw a man dressed in black and wearing a ski mask. Repeatedly saying “shut the fuck up,” the man grabbed her, showed her a knife, held it to her neck, and pulled her about 25 feet to a corner of the back room so that she faced the wall. Prado entered the back room and saw the man with the knife. A second man whom he recognized as Jarrod knocked Prado to the floor with his forearm. Having worked with Jarrod also, Monique H. recognized Jarrod’s voice. After a few minutes, the man with the knife ordered Monique H. to lie on the floor facedown next to Prado, who was also facedown. Monique H. heard the men taking phones. The men left the store by the back door (leading to a stairway down to the parking lot) with more than 20 iPhones, each valued at over $500, and a trash can.

A witness, who was sitting in his car in the parking lot near the store waiting for the mall to open, saw two Black men, one taller than the other, descend the stairs and walk to a tan vehicle. They carried merchandise boxes, a trash can, and a white trash bag. The man who got into the driver’s seat wore sunglasses, a grey beanie with tassels, and black gloves with white outlines, like bones. The witness, who was 10 feet away, saw the face of the other man as he got into the passenger seat, and in a photo lineup identified that man as Jarrod. At 9:36 a.m. that day, Jarrod’s cell phone (registered to his wife Anisha Williams) had pinged off a cell tower at the mall.

Later that night Jarrod called Prado, who agreed to help him sell the cell phones. A “fence” paid $19,000, which Prado gave to Jarrod, who then gave Prado $3,000. Jarrod drove a gold Toyota. Prado was serving a prison sentence when he testified.

2. Counts 4, 5, and 6, Fontana, May 8 (robbery and kidnapping) (Jarrod and Alphonso)

On May 8, Vanessa Martinez, who was pregnant, worked in the front area of the Diamond Wireless store in Fontana, which had an all-glass Facade bordering the sidewalk. About 7:00 p.m., she and coworker Aaron Aguilar observed a dark green Toyota Camry parked backwards, with its windows up and the engine idling. A few minutes before the 8:00 p.m. closing time, Aguilar walked to the break room in the rear of the store to put on his jacket.

A man wearing a hoodie and a skeleton mask and holding a five- to six-inch kitchen knife and a white trash bag ran into the store. He approached Martinez, said, “get the fuck up. This is not a joke. I’m robbing you,” and asked “where is the other guy?” Grabbing Martinez by the arm, he pushed her about 40 feet to the back of the store, through a door, into a hallway, and into the break room; she was terrified. Aguilar saw the man open the door to the break room; he was holding the knife to Martinez’s stomach. He told Aguilar not to look at his eyes and to go to the middle of the conference room/storeroom, about 20 feet farther back (and reachable only by going through the break room). This room contained the vault holding the cell phones. Aguilar thought he recognized the robber’s voice, perhaps from company meetings. The man took Aguilar and Martinez to the conference room/storeroom, which could not be seen from the street, and told them to lie facedown, and that if they looked up he would kill them. He demanded their cell phones, and threw them into the break room.

Martinez heard a knock at a back entrance, which the man opened to let another man run in. Both men wore hoodies, masks, and gloves; one was taller. Seeming to know where things were, the second man went through the break room into the conference room/storeroom, and took about $33,000 worth of cell phones from the vault (which was left open during store hours). Both men left by the back door. Aguilar locked the front and back doors, pressed the emergency button, and called the police. The car in front of the store had departed.

3. Arrest of Jarrod, May 10

Detectives serving a search warrant on May 9 or 10 noticed a gold 2005 Toyota Canary arrive at Jarrod’s home, driven by Jarrod’s wife Anisha. Jarrod came out, spoke to Anisha, and returned inside with her. Jarrod and Richardson then came out; Richardson put a plastic bag in the trunk of the Canary, and they drove away. The detectives detained them, opened the trunk, and found in the plastic bag 23 of the 25 items stolen from the Fontana Diamond Wireless store on May 8, including numerous cell phones and iPads in original boxes. Two beanie caps (one tasseled) and a pair of batting gloves were also recovered from the Canary. A police search of Jarrod’s residence discovered four gray hoodies, three beanies, empty electronic boxes, a pair of batting gloves (black with white designs), and a black-handled knife. Martinez identified the knife as the one used in the robbery.

Jarrod was arrested and released on bail on May 11.

4. Counts 7, 8, 9, Willow Street/Long Beach, June 19 (robbery and kidnapping) (Jarrod, Alphonso, and James)

Around 9:00 a.na. on June 19, Jorge Magana arrived for work at a Radio Shack on Willow Street in Long Beach. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the front of the store, he saw a green Toyota Camry circling the parking lot, driven by a man who looked like the rapper Drake, with two other Black people in the car. In court, he identified the driver as Alphonso. A man walked into the store wearing a beanie and gloves, with his face covered and carrying a folding knife which Magana identified as the knife shown in the prosecution’s photographic exhibit 4. The man told Magana to lie facedown on the floor “or I’m going to shank you.” Magana could see two other men, masked, gloved, and wearing sneakers, enter the store and go to the back room. The first robber told Magana to count to 100. Magana was not sure whether the driver who looked like Drake was one of the three robbers inside the store.

The store manager, Juan Mares, had been in the back room on a conference call. Two robbers entered, grabbed Mares’s cell phone, and threw it across the room, where it shattered. They lifted Mares off his chair by the collar and asked where the high-end phones were, and Mares told them the key to the cage (five feet away) hung on his belt loop. He opened the cage for the robbers and they pushed him to the ground again; he could feel something hard pressing on the back of his head. The men tried but failed to disable the surveillance video. They moved Mares to the far end of the back room (where there was additional merchandise on the wall they did not take), about 50 feet away from his desk, and again put him facedown.

The robbers next moved Magana to the back room, then to the middle of the store where they told him to get on the ground again, and then back inside the back room, where no one outside could see him. The distance they moved Magana to the back room was 40 to 50 feet. Mares, who was facedown on the floor, could see the robber holding something shiny to Magana’s head. The robber told Magana to go to his knees and then lie facedown. No one outside the store could see the back room and there was no way to escape. Magana could see them taking merchandise from the cage in the back room (which had been locked). The robbers also emptied the cash register. They left by the fire exit after Mares told them how to open it; they instructed Mares and Magana to count to 100. When the robbers were gone, Magana went to the hallway and ran to lock the front door, and they called the police. The loss to the store was more than $33,000 in merchandise and $200 in cash.

A half-block from the store, a mailman delivering mail in the area saw a green four-door sedan, parked backwards outside the Radio Shack. The store door was open, and a Black man inside the store passed something to another Black man outside, who put it inside the car. Shortly afterward the car drove past the mailman, and he noticed it did not have a rear license plate. After he finished deliveries on the block, his next delivery was to the Radio Shack, where he found the front door locked and observed police arrive at the store.

Surveillance video showed the robbery. Video from the parking lot showed a dark green Toyota Camry (with a rear license plate) stopping in front of the store at about 9:25 a.m. Feet exited the passenger side and moved toward the store, and the car drove away. A different light green Camry stopped in front of the store, backed up, and pulled forward. A backpack recovered from inside the store bore the logo of Alpha Phi Alpha, an historically Black fraternity. Jarrod had a tattoo of the fraternity’s Greek letters and logo on the left side of his chest.

Mobile phone records showed that James’s cell phone was in the area of the robbery on June 19 and pinged a nearby cell phone tower three times between 8:40 a.m. and 9:22 a.m.

5. Counts 10, 11, 12, Corona, July 3 (robbery and kidnapping) (Jarrod, Alphonso, and James)

At 10:30 a.m. on July 3, John Johnston was helping a customer at a Radio Shack in Corona. Francisco Rodriguez was stocking merchandise. Johnston noticed a green Toyota four-door with no license plate back into a parking stall in front of the store. Three or four Black men rushed into the store, disguised with blue hoodies, gloves, and face coverings (a white T-shirt and darker bandannas), and ordered Johnston, Rodriguez, and the customer to lie facedown on the floor. They told Johnston to open the safe but he said he had neither the combination nor the keys. The two safes were adjacent to two registers in a circular desk area, and the robbers seemed to know the safes’ location.

A robber asked for Rodriguez’s store keys, and he took them from around his neck. The robber also asked if Rodriguez had a cell phone, rifled through his pockets when he answered yes, and took it. The robbers locked the front door and told Rodriguez to open the safes, which he did while on his knees. They seemed to know the safes were time delayed.

Telling Johnston to get up, keep his head down, and not to look at them, the robbers pushed him about 40 feet to the back room (which could not be seen from outside), where they made him open boxes of merchandise to look for iPhones. Johnston testified he was afraid for his safety, because he did not know what the robbers would do. The robbers asked him if the back door had an alarm, and Johnston told them the door just beeped when it was open, but it was not alarmed. When the robbers finished in the back room they commanded everyone to lie facedown and count to 100. Video showed a robber opening the cage in the back room and putting phones and other merchandise in a white garbage bag.

Rodriguez testified that at some point while he was lying on the floor by the safes, the store phone rang and the robbers told Rodriguez to pick it up and act “mother fucking happy.” Rodriguez told the customer on the phone that the store did not have the part he wanted; he could feel something hard on his back that felt like a knife or a gun. The robbers ordered him back down on the floor and told Rodriguez not to look up and to count loudly to 100. While he was counting, Rodriguez heard the back door beep and believed they had exited that way. He got up and went to the back of the store, where he found his cell phone on the floor.

Around 10:40 a.m., Jonathan McConnell tried to enter the store and found the door locked, although merchandise was outside. A Black man was leaning against the open trunk of a teal or aquamarine car, which was parked facing away from the store. The man told McConnell that he was airing the trunk out because it smelled like fish, and that a Radio Shack employee had left in a hurry and would be back soon. The man got into the car, did something with his cell phone, got out of the car, closed the trunk, reentered the car, and pulled around the corner to the rear of the store, popping the trunk. McConnell looked around the building and saw four men, wearing hoodies and with their faces covered, come running out through the back door of the Radio Shack; they carried merchandise to the car. McConnell ran back to his car intending to try to block them. When he pulled up next to the teal car, the driver was looking back, and the left rear passenger took his mask off. The middle passenger took his mask off too, pointed at McConnell, and said something. “They all kind of just looked at me and freaked out, and then they took off.” McConnell chased them in his car, but they drove so fast that McConnell could not safely keep up with them. He gave up when they drove erratically, and called 911.

On September 19, 2013, McConnell identified a photograph of Alphonso as the driver, a photograph of James as the left rear passenger, and said a photograph of Jarrod “looked familiar but not positive.” At trial, he identified Alphonso and James, and identified Jarrod as the middle rear passenger.

Cell phone records for Jarrod’s and James’s phones indicated they were in the area near the Radio Shack at the time of the robbery.

6. Counts 13, 14, Torrance, July 17 (robbery and kidnapping) (Jarrod, Alphonso, and James)

On July 17 at 9:20 a.m., assistant manager Tam Doan worked alone inside the Torrance Radio Shack, removing merchandise from the cage in the back room to ship to another store. He heard the front door chime and headed for the front, and in the hallway he encountered three Black men wearing gloves and face covers and carrying a bag. Doan dropped the merchandise, and one of the men grabbed his collar and shoved him into the back room, past the cage, and to the rear of the back room, about 40 feet in all. The robbers asked him repeatedly for the combination to the safe, but he told them he did not know it because he was at the store only temporarily. Doan was afraid they might hurt him because he did not have the combination. He gave the robbers his store key, one robber disconnected three of the four surveillance cameras, and they locked the front door. The robbers made him kneel down. One grabbed his collar while the others took merchandise from the cage. At no time could Doan be seen from the outside; he was afraid for his life. The robbers took merchandise worth about $39,000, and around $300 in cash.

The robbers told Doan to lie facedown and count to 100. When he finished, he heard the door chime. He waited a few minutes, locked the back door, and called 911. Afterward, Doan was so afraid he was unable to work and was on workers compensation for a few months after the robbery, during which he saw a psychiatrist.

Surveillance video at 9:20 a.m. that day showed a light green Toyota Camry pull into the parking lot at an angle, and three men get out and enter the Radio Shack. A few minutes later, the car backed up directly in front of the store and the trunk popped open. The robbers came out of the store, put merchandise in the trunk, and got into the car which drove away around 9:36 a.m.

Cell phone records for James Wilson showed he was in the area during the robbery, and Jarrod’s phone pinged off a cell tower nearby.

7. Count 15, Harbor City, July 30 (kidnapping with knife use) (Jarrod, Alphonso, and James)

On the evening of July 30, at 9:00 p.m., employee Laniece Renfroe left the Radio Shack store on Sepulveda in Harbor City with her assistant manager Juan Batz. Batz set the alarm and locked the front door. Renfroe got into her car and headed to her father’s house in Rancho Palos Verdes. Surveillance video showed a green vehicle and a tan Camry that had been parked nearby following Renfroe. Renfroe stopped for gas nearby, and as she drove on, surveillance video showed the cars still following her. A teal Toyota Camry with a white triangle sticker on the back window kept braking in front of her and then stopped. She slammed on her brakes and put her car in park, which unlocked her doors. A man got out of the teal Camry, banged on Renfroe’s window with a grey folding pocket knife in his hand, and told her to open the doors. He opened her back driver’s side door and got into the backseat, putting the knife to her throat.

In court, Renfroe at first testified she could not distinguish James and Jonathan. Asked again after a sidebar and a lunch break whether she saw the person who had the knife to her throat, she identified James as the man who entered her car. She had thought about what she said about the skinnier face and had had a better look at the two defendants; she had not spoken to the prosecutor or the detective. Renfroe also identified the knife at trial; it said Smith and Wesson on the back.

James told Renfroe to follow the teal Camry, which had two other men in it. The Camry turned into a school driveway, and James told Renfroe to head back to Sepulveda and Western and lead the way. Her cell phone rang; telling her he would kill her if she answered it, James took her phone and keys. At Sepulveda and Western, the teal Camry got in front of Renfroe again. A gold car that looked just like the Camry followed Renfroe but drove away when she turned onto Western to go to the back alley behind the Radio Shack, where James told her to park. The teal Camry pulled in next to her. James got her out of the car. The driver of the Camry, whom she identified as Alphonso, and the passenger, whom she identified as Jarrod, tried to open the Radio Shack’s back door. They told her to open the front door, but she explained she did not have the keys and would have to call her manager. All the men’s faces were covered with some kind of shirt from the nose down. They gave her cell phone back and ordered her to call the other man who was with her when she left the store. She called Batz and told him she needed to get back inside the store, but Batz said he was too far away to come back, and she would have to call the manager.

James’s cell phone records showed he was in the area of the Radio Shack during the kidnapping, and Jarrod’s phone pinged off a nearby cell phone tower at 9:52 p.m.

On January 28, 2013, in photographic lineups, Renfroe identified Alphonso as the driver of the teal Camry, writing: “Driver and I looked eye-to-eye for at least five minutes.” She identified Jarrod’s voice as that of the organizer, and Jonathan as the robber who held a knife to her neck. Two days later, she wrote under a photo of James: “[I]t could be one or the other. They both look really alike.” She said the man who got into her car had a slimmer face, but she still was not sure which man it was. At the time James’s face was slimmer. When she made the second identification, she did not know that the man she identified earlier had a brother; she just thought they looked similar.

8. Counts 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, West Covina, July 31 (robbery, kidnapping) (Jarrod, Alphonso, James, and Jonathan)

On July 31 about 9:30 a.m., Caroline Chavarria and Sergio Garcia worked at separate cash registers in an AT&T store in West Covina. Security guard Teresa Gray had stationed herself in the front of the store, and housekeeper Alma Cruz was cleaning in the back room. Garcia noticed a bluish-green four-door sedan similar to a Camry pull up and block two parking spaces in front of the store. The car doors opened and four Black men wearing masks and gloves ran into the store, yelling at Garcia and Chavarria to get facedown on the floor. Chavarria testified the robbers told her “not to do anything stupid because I didn’t want to get hurt.” Both Chavarria and Garcia got down by their registers. Another man wearing a black-and-white striped sweater stayed by the door. Another man wore a red sweater, and another wore a sweater with red stripes on one arm. One of the robbers went to the break room and told Cruz to get down on the floor, taking her cell phone. The robber with the red striped sweater pushed Gray to the back of the store and into the break room, holding his forearm across her throat. A robber in a red sweater pushed Chavarria by her lower back to the break room, about 50 feet away, and ordered her to lie facedown on the floor where Gray was already lying.

A robber wearing a white T-shirt and a beanie, a black-and-white bandanna, dark shorts, and Air Jordan shoes lifted Garcia up by his shirt collar and pushed him toward the back. Garcia heard the front door being locked from inside. The robbers pushed Garcia facedown on the break room floor and asked him, “ ‘where’s the stuff.’ ” Garcia pointed to the door between the break room and the vaults. A robber lifted him up and ordered him to use the code to open the vault door. They pushed Garcia inside and ordered him to open the safes containing the iPhones and other merchandise, which they subsequently loaded into a big green bag. They ordered Garcia back to the break room and told everyone to lie down and count to 100. The robbers removed Garcia’s wallet from his back pocket, and took $800 in $100 bills. The robbers also took cash from the cash safe.

When Chavarria saw on the television showing the store video that the robbers had left the store, they got up, locked the doors, pulled the alarms, and called the police. Surveillance video showed the robbery, including the robbers loading merchandise into the car.

One of the stolen phones and the stolen cash contained GPS tracking devices. Responding to a robbery call identifying a light blue Camry carrying three Black men, a police officer spotted the car, and followed it to a parking lot at Cal Poly Pomona. The car stopped; two passengers fled on foot; the driver stayed in the car. The police detained both passengers. A robber wearing a bright red sweat shirt and identified as Jonathan carried $800 in $100 bills. The other, later identified as James, wore Jordan shoes, a white T-shirt, and a dark do-rag, and carried a knife. The driver, later identified as Alphonso, wore a black-and-white striped sweat shirt. The police brought Chavarria and Garcia to Cal Poly Pomona, where they identified the three men as the robbers.

The Camry contained boxes of electronics, six pairs of gloves, a beanie, a bandanna, a gray ski mask, a cell phone, a GPS tracker, and over $3,000 in cash. Alphonso’s wallet and driver’s license were in the center console. The car was registered to Alphonso’s grandfather. Forensic investigators found fingerprints matching Alphonso, Jarrod and Jonathan in the car, and DNA on the gray mask matched Jarrod’s. Text messages on Alphonso’s cell phone between Alphonso, Jarrod, and James contained messages on June 19, July 3, July 23, July 30, and July 31, discussing dividing up money, scheduling, directions, driving, and pickup. On the dates of the robberies, records reflected significant call activity between Jarrod, Alphonso, and James. Alphonso’s and James’s phones, and a phone registered to James’s wife Anisha, pinged off of cell towers in the specific robbery vicinities during several of the robberies.

9. Counts 23, 24, Harbor City, August 29 (attempted robbery) (Jarrod)

On August 29, Alexis Alvarez and Juan Batz were working at the Harbor City Radio Shack on Sepulveda (the same Batz, and the same store, as was involved in the July 30 kidnapping of Renfroe). About 6:40 p.m., two Black men ran into the store wearing cloth masks and gloves; one had a black gun. The men ordered Alvarez and Batz to the floor and asked who had the keys. Batz had the keys, and when they told him to lock the door, Batz went to the door but ran out. One of the men yelled, “ ‘Abort, abort,’ ” and the other ran to the back. Alvarez ran out the door and to other stores in the area, and was telling other people what had happened when she saw the two men run out of the Radio Shack with their masks on. The men got into a small black SUV (sport-utility vehicle) with a license plate she remembered as 2GCV150 or 6GCV150.

10. Counts 25, 26, 27, Willow Street/Long Beach, September 13 (robbery, kidnapping) (Jarrod)

On September 13 at 8:00 p.m., Ricky Ixtlilco was working at the Willow Street/Long Beach Radio Shack. He knew about the June 19 robbery at the store and usually kept the front door locked, but after he let in a customer and her daughter, he forgot to relock the door. Juan Mares, the manager, was counhng the money from the cash till in the back room with the door locked, a precaution after the previous robbery.

At 8:15 p.m., two men entered the store yelling, “get down to the floor, get down on your stomach, don’t look up”; Ixtlilco and the customers obeyed. The men wore black hoodies and gloves. The taller one wore a leather face mask and the other a blue bandanna covering his face. The robber wearing the blue bandanna directed Ixtlilco to walk to the back of the store and he facedown on the floor. No one could see Ixtlilco from the street. The robber took the keys from Ixtlilco’s pocket, asked him where the good stuff was, and ran to the back room. Later, the robbers forced Ixtlilco to return to the counter and he down near the registers.

Mares heard the second door chime, looked at a video monitor, and saw the robbers grabbing and pushing customers. He immediately called 911. A robber wearing a Halloween mask and cargo pants let himself into the back room with keys and asked who was on the phone; Mares said a customer, and hung up. The 911 operator called back and Mares answered, put the phone on the desk, and got down on the floor. The robber picked up the phone and went along with the call. When the robbers heard sirens, they ran around trying to leave, and Mares called 911 again. One robber ran out the front door and the other ran out the back. They took $1,300 in cash but left a duffel bag behind.

A police officer saw a suspected robber running out of the back door with something in his hands; the individual was wearing a white hockey-type Halloween mask, a dark hooded sweat shirt, and cargo pants. The suspect saw the officer and ran into an alley. Another officer saw Jarrod hunkered down behind a retaining wall a block away from the Radio Shack. The officer detained him and on the walk to a police vehicle, Jarrod said, “ ‘Man, I did not use a gun to rob that place.’ ” The officer asked him if he had anything illegal, and Jarrod said, “ ‘Just the money from the Radio Shack.’ ” Two rolls of cash were in his pocket. From the backseat of the police car, Jarrod explained that he had worked at a Radio Shack before, and was trying to help a friend rob the store; he knew there was money in the register and that Radio Shack kept electronic items in the back. He had planned the robbery just to take cash, but he got greedy and stole stuff from the back. He did not answer and looked away when the officer asked if he had been involved in any other robberies. A second suspect (not one of appellants) was also detained. Shown the detained men, Ixtlilco identified one as the robber with the bandanna, and Mares identified both individuals as the robbers.

B. Trial evidence: the investigation

A Long Beach detective investigating the June 19 robbery at the Willow Street/Long Beach Radio Shack learned of similar robberies before and after the June 19 robbery, including one on September 6. The robberies involved common vehicles, including a green or blue Toyota Camry; common methods (wearing gloves, covering the face, ordering the victims to fie facedown and count); common victims (Radio Shacks or cell phone stores); and common products stolen (Samsung and Apple). The same methods were commonly used in the large number of robberies of cell phone stores throughout the state.

The detective also investigated the September 13 robbery at the same Radio Shack. In a recorded jail call on September 14, Jarrod called his wife Anisha and told her to pick up her truck at a Long Beach intersection near a Radio Shack, to retrieve his cell phone, and to remove the battery. The detective learned that a black SUV had been used in the Harbor City robbery, and that Anisha was the registered owner of a black Ford Escape. In an interview the same day, Jarrod told the detective that the night before he went with his sister’s boyfriend to the store, got the keys from another employee, and went into the back, where he found the manager on the phone with the police. He had no weapons, grabbed the cash and some equipment, exited through the rear door, and ran about a block. Jarrod claimed it was his first robbery although he had been accused of others.

Jarrod’s wife Anisha sold a Camry and bought a 2008 Ford Escape on August 27.

IF Defense Evidence

A. Jarrod

Jarrod testified that he had worked at the Riverside Diamond Wireless store and admitted he had worked with Monique H., but insisted he had never seen Aguilar before trial. Jarrod stored Prado’s stolen merchandise in his car as a favor. Jarrod was in Long Beach for business on June 19; at home in Corona on July 3; in St. Louis for a fraternity reunion on July 30; picking up his paycheck at a shoe store on July 31; and he had been in Alphonso’s car a number of times. He used the ski mask with his DNA on it when the weather was cold. The fraternity backpack was from a sponsored event and not one he would carry. Jarrod owned a music management company as well as managed a band. Alphonso was one of his artists, and he knew Jonathan and James (who was a drummer in the band) from church. The text messages about money referred to the band, and the texts about time referred to rehearsal schedules.

Jarrod described confessing to the September 13 robbery. He said he knew it was wrong, and he was there to help someone out. He denied being anywhere that his cell phone pinged. The Ford Escape with license number 6GBC159 was his wife’s car.

B. Alphonso

Alphonso presented testimony that Renfroe told a deputy investigating the July 30 kidnapping that the driver was Black, six feet tall, and 160 pounds, but she could not identify any of the men if she saw them again. A coach at Los Angeles Harbor College testified that Alphonso was an assistant coach and was at the college on July 30 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and thereafter got into his car with a player to drive him home. Alphonso drove his grandfather’s green Camry. Alphonso’s grandfather Willie Williams testified that Alphonso visited him in the hospital on the morning of July 30 and that he saw Alphonso again at the house (where Alphonso lived with him and his wife) around 7:30 p.m. Alphonso’s girlfriend testified that he responded to her on Twitter on July 30 at 9:44 p.m.

Psychologist Dr. Mitchell Eisen testified that human memory is affected by time, and additional information learned later can affect what a person thinks he or she remembers. Stress, trauma, and exposure duration can affect memory, and photographic lineup identifications such as six-packs are not always reliable. Cross-racial identification is more difficult.

C. James

James and Jonathan’s mother testified that they are identical twins and James is one inch taller and left handed. She agreed that their voices sound the same, but as their mother she could distinguish them. James lived with her in July. A cell tower near her home affected reception. On July 30, James was home all day with his girlfriend, who left at 1:00 a.m.

D. Jonathan

Jonathan did not testify and presented no evidence.

III. Rebuttal

The human resources coordinator for the shoe store where Jarrod worked on Wednesdays testified that he stopped working on April 13, was terminated on May 4, and came into the store for the last time on April 30.

IV. Verdicts

The jury found Jarrod not guilty on count 1 (commercial burglary, Fontana, April 24), as well as counts 23 and 24 (attempted robbery, Harbor City, August 29). The jury found Jarrod guilty as charged on 20 counts (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27). The jury found Jarrod guilty of the lesser offense of false imprisonment by violence (§ 236) on counts 2 and 10; and of the lesser offense of kidnapping (§ 207, subd. (a)) on counts 16 and 18.

The jury found Alphonso not guilty on counts 4, 5, and 6 (robbery and kidnapping, Fontana, May 8). The jury found Alphonso guilty as charged on counts 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 22. The jury found Alphonso guilty of the lesser offense of false imprisonment by violence on counts 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, and 20.

The jury found James guilty as charged on counts 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, and 22. The jury found James guilty of the lesser offense of false imprisonment by violence on count 10, and guilty of the lesser offense of kidnapping on counts 16 and 18. The jury found the knife allegation true.

The jury found Jonathan guilty as charged on counts 17, 19, 20, 21, and 22; and guilty of the lesser offense of kidnapping on counts 16 and 18.

V. Sentencing

The court sentenced Jarrod to a total term of 69 years to life in state prison; Alphonso to 24 years to life in state prison; James to 48 years four months to life in state prison; and Jonathan to 20 years eight months in state prison. All received presentence custody credits.

All four filed timely appeals. Each appellant joins in the opening briefs of the other.

DISCUSSION

I. Insufficient evidence supported the convictions for kidnapping to commit robbery and kidnapping, but sufficient evidence supported the convictions for felony false imprisonment.

A. Kidnapping to commit robbery (aggravated kidnapping)

Jarrod, James and Jonathan were convicted of kidnapping to commit another crime (robbery) (aggravated kidnapping), in violation of section 209, subdivision (b)(1) (Jarrod: counts 4, 7, 13, 20, 25; James: counts 7, 13, 20; Jonathan: count 20). Jarrod, James, and Jonathan argue there was insufficient evidence to support those convictions, and we agree.

On a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, our task is to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. (People v. Young (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1149, 1175 [24 Cal.Rptr.3d 112, 105 P.3d 487].) We “ ‘ “presume in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence.” ’ ” (Ibid.)

Aggravated kidnapping for the purpose of robbery under section 209, subdivision (b)(1), “requires movement of the victim that is not merely incidental to the commission of the underlying crime and that increases the risk of harm to the victim over and above that necessarily present in the underlying crime itself. [Citations.] ‘These two aspects are not mutually exclusive, but interrelated.’ [Citation.] [¶] In determining ‘whether the movement is merely incidental to the [underlying] crime ... the jury considers the “scope and nature” of the movement. [Citation.] This includes the actual distance a victim is moved. However, we have observed that there is no minimum number of feet a defendant must move a victim in order to satisfy the first prong.’ [Citations.] [¶] ‘The second prong . . . refers to whether the movement subjects the victim to a substantial increase in risk of harm above and beyond that inherent in [the underlying crime]. [Citations.] This includes consideration of such factors as the decreased likelihood of detection, the danger inherent in a victim’s foreseeable attempts to escape, and the attacker’s enhanced opportunity to commit additional crimes. [Citations.] The fact that these dangers do not in fact materialize does not, of course, mean that the risk of harm was not increased.’ ” (People v. Martinez (1999) 20 Cal.4th 225, 232-233 [83 Cal.Rptr.2d 533, 973 P.2d 512] (Martinez).) “Whether the forced movement of the victim was merely incidental to the target crime, and whether that movement substantially increased the risk of harm to the victim, ‘is difficult to capture in a simple verbal formulation that would apply to all cases.’ ” (People v. Curry (2007) 158 Cal.App.4th 766, 780 [70 Cal.Rptr.3d 257].)

“[W]hen in the course of a robbery a defendant does no more than move his victim around inside the premises in which he finds him—whether it be a residence ... or a place of business or other enclosure—his conduct generally will not be deemed to constitute the offense proscribed by section 209. Movement across a room or from one room to another, in short, cannot reasonably be found to be asportation ‘into another part of the same county.’ (Pen. Code, § 207.)” (People v. Daniels (1969) 71 Cal.2d 1119, 1140 [80 Cal.Rptr. 897, 459 P.2d 225].) “ ‘ “ ‘It is a common occurrence in robbery, for example, that the victim be confined briefly at gunpoint or bound and detained, or moved into and left in another room or place.’ ” [Citation.] Our Supreme Court concluded that “such incidental movements are not of the scope intended by the Legislature in prescribing the asportation element (People v. Leavel (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 823, 833 [137 Cal.Rptr.3d 817], citing People v. Daniels, supra, 71 Cal.2d at p. 1134.) “[T]he Daniels court recognized ‘ “the absurdity of prosecuting for kidnapping in cases where the victim is forced ... to the back of his store in the course of a robbery.” ’ Generally, brief movement inside the premises where a robbery is being committed is considered incidental to the crime and does not substantially increase the risk of harm otherwise present.” (People v. Hoard (2002) 103 Cal.App.4th 599, 603, fn. omitted [126 Cal.Rptr.2d 855].) ”[F]or aggravated kidnapping, the victim must be forced to move a substantial distance, the movement cannot be merely incidental to the target crime, and the movement must substantially increase the risk of harm to the victim. Application of these factors in any given case will necessarily depend on the particular facts and context of the case.” (People v. Dominguez (2006) 39 Cal.4th 1141, 1153 [47 Cal.Rptr.3d 575, 140 P.3d 866].)

Count 4 (Jarrod) charged the aggravated kidnapping of Vanessa Martinez at the Fontana Diamond Wireless Store on May 8. Martinez was working in the front of the store when a robber ran in, grabbed her by the arm, pushed her 40 feet to the back of the store and into the break room, and then took Martinez about another 20 feet into the conference room/storeroom behind the break room, where Aguilar was. Aguilar thought he recognized the robber’s voice from company training. The robbers took merchandise from the vault. The robber moved Martinez a total of 60 feet, from the front of the store to the conference room/storeroom where the unlocked vault containing the merchandise was located. The conference room could not be seen from the street.

Count 7 (Jarrod and James) charged the aggravated kidnapping of Jorge Magana at the Willow Street/Long Beach Radio Shack on June 19. Magana was in the front of the store when a robber made him lie down on the floor and two other robbers went to the back room. Eventually the robbers moved Magana about 40 to 50 feet to the back room, where they took merchandise from the cage. The robbers also emptied the cash register.

Count 13 (Jarrod and James) charged the aggravated kidnapping of Tam Doan at the Torrance Radio Shack on July 17. As Doan headed to the front of the store from the back room, three robbers intercepted him in the hallway. They grabbed Doan’s collar, pushed him to the cage in the back room, and then pushed him to the back of the back room, for a total movement of about 40 feet. The back room could not be seen from the street. The robbers took merchandise from the cage.

Count 20 (Jarrod, James, and Jonathan) charged the aggravated kidnapping of Caroline Chavarria at the AT&T store in West Covina. Four men entered the store, and one robber pushed Chavarria to the back of the store to the break room, a distance of about 50 feet from her cash register. The robbers took merchandise from the vaults, reached through a door in the break room.

Count 25 (Jarrod) charged the aggravated kidnapping of Ricky Ixtlilco at the Willow Street/Long Beach Radio Shack on September 13. Two robbers entered; one robber made Ixtlilco walk to the back of the store from the sales floor, where no one could see him from the street. Later, the robbers made him walk back to the counter and lie down near the registers. The cash till was in the back room and Jarrod told police he knew they kept the electronics in the back.

The evidence in each of the five counts on which the jury convicted Jarrod, James, and Jonathan of aggravated kidnapping shows movement of the employee victims distances of 60, 50, and 40 feet, always inside the store, from locations closer to the front of the store (and visible from outside) to the rears of the store or to back rooms, where the merchandise and/or cash was kept. Consistently, these movements were incidental to the robberies, which all followed the same pattern. The robbers entered the stores through the front doors and moved the employee victims to areas closer to the merchandise they planned to take. None of the movements was unnecessary to the robbery. (People v. Leavel, supra, 203 Cal.App.4th at p. 835.) ‘“[R]obbery of a business owner or employee includes the risk of movement of the victim to the location of the valuables owned by the business that are held on the business premises. Many retail businesses hold large amounts of cash or other valuable personal property on the business premises, frequently in a secure area away from public view, often in a safe or a vault. . . . The fact thresholds within the business are crossed cannot elevate robbery to aggravated kidnapping, given that all of the movement occurred within close proximity to where the robbery commenced and the only thresholds crossed were those that separated appellants from the . . . property.” (People v. Washington (2005) 127 Cal.App.4th 290, 300 [25 Cal.Rptr.3d 459].)

Respondent argues that the backs of the stores were ‘“shielded from view,” and thus the movements from ‘“a relatively safe public sales area” put the victims at an increased risk of harm. We disagree. In People v. Hoard, supra, 103 Cal.App.4th at page 607, ‘“defendant robbed the jewelry store by forcing the two employees to move about 50 feet to the office at the back of the store. Confining the women in the back office gave defendant free access to the jewelry and allowed him to conceal the robbery from any entering customers who might have thwarted him. Defendant’s movement of the two women served only to facilitate the crime with no other apparent purpose.” (Ibid.) While ‘“a rape victim is certainly more at risk when concealed from public view and therefore more vulnerable to attack,” the same is not necessarily true for a robbery victim. (Ibid.) In People v. Leavel, supra, 203 Cal.App.4th at page 836, the court concluded that ‘“forcing [the robbery victim] outside in the dark increased the risk of harm to her from a possible escape attempt,” and noted that the defendant ‘“could have secured her in one spot in the home and left her alone while he searched the house and escaped with the loot. ... He had no cause to manhandle [the victim] to achieve his robbery objective.” Here, the robbers had good reason to move the victims to the back of the store to achieve their objective of emptying the cages and safes of merchandise without detection by customers or other people outside the store. Their objective was robbery, not harm to the store employees, and the record does not contain sufficient evidence that moving the victims to the backs of the stores resulted in an increased risk of harm from the robberies.

Thus, the convictions of aggravated kidnapping on the following counts must be reversed: As to Jarrod, counts 4, 7, 13, 20, and 25; as to James, counts 7, 13, and 20; as to Jonathan, count 20. We therefore need not reach Jonathan’s argument that section 209, subdivision (b) is void for vagueness, nor his argument that his life sentence for robbery and aggravated kidnapping is cruel and unusual.

B. Lesser included offenses (kidnapping and false imprisonment)

Each defendant argues that his convictions of kidnapping and/or false imprisonment, which are lesser included offenses of aggravated kidnapping, must also be reversed for insufficient evidence, as follows: Jarrod, counts 16 and 18 (kidnapping) and counts 2 and 10 (false imprisonment); Alphonso, counts 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 20 (false imprisonment); Jonathan, counts 16 and 18 (kidnapping); and James, counts 16 and 18 (kidnapping) and count 10 (false imprisonment). The defendants moved to dismiss the aggravated kidnapping counts before trial, and the court denied the motions.

1. Kidnapping

Section 207, subdivision (a), defines simple kidnapping: “Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, steals or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any person in this state, and carries the person . . . into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.” The prosecution must prove that the defendant unlawfully moved the victim by the use of physical force or fear, without the person’s consent, and the movement was for a substantial distance (the asportation element). (People v. Bell (2009) 179 Cal.App.4th 428, 435 [102 Cal.Rptr.3d 300].) For simple (rather than aggravated) kidnapping, the jury is to “ ‘consider the totality of the circumstances,’ ” not simply distance, in deciding whether the movement was substantial. (Id. at p. 436, quoting Martinez, supra, 20 Cal.4th at p. 237.) “[I]n a case where the evidence permitted, the jury might properly consider not only the actual distance the victim is moved, but also such factors as whether that movement increased the risk of harm above that which existed prior to the asportation, decreased the likelihood of detection, and increased both the danger inherent in a victim’s foreseeable attempts to escape and the attacker’s enhanced opportunity to commit additional crimes.” (Martinez, at p. 237.)

Unlike asportation for aggravated kidnapping, asportation for simple kidnapping does not require a finding of ‘“an increase in harm, or any other contextual factors,” so long as the victim was moved a substantial distance. (Martinez, supra, 20 Cal.4th at p. 237.) However, “in a case involving an associated crime, the jury should be instructed to consider whether the distance a victim was moved was incidental to the commission of that crime in determining the movement’s substantiality. . . . [Sjuch consideration is relevant to determining whether more than one crime has been committed, and is amply supported by the case law.” (Ibid.) An associated crime for the purposes of simple kidnapping “is any criminal act the defendant intends to commit where, in the course of its commission, the defendant also moves a victim by force or fear against his or her will. It is not more complicated than that.” (People v. Bell, supra, 179 Cal.App.4th 438-439.)

Jarrod, Jonathan, and James were convicted of simple kidnapping of security guard Teresa Gray (count 16) and employee Sergio Garcia (count 18) during the July 31 robbery at the AT&T store in West Covina. Four robbers ran into the store. One pushed Gray, the security guard, from the front to the back of the store and into the break room (about 50 feet), holding his forearm across her throat, and ordered her to lie facedown on the floor. Another robber lifted Garcia up by his shirt collar and pushed him from the register in the front of the store to the break room, then to the floor, facedown. They next pushed Garcia into the adjoining vault room and ordered him to open the safes. The robbers ordered Garcia back to the break room, told those inside to lie down and count to 100, and left the store. We must determine whether substantial evidence supports the convictions for simple kidnapping with an associated crime, with robbery constituting a criminal act defendants intended to commit when, in the course of its commission, they forcibly moved Gray and Garcia against their will.

We have already concluded that the asportation of Garcia’s colleague Chavarria, whom the robbers also forced from a cash register into the back room about 50 feet away during the July 31 robbery, was insufficient to support convictions of aggravated kidnapping in count 20 because it was within the store and incidental to the robbery. The robbers moved Gray and Garcia roughly the same distance. To determine whether the movement was substantial for the purpose of kidnapping with an associated crime of robbery, we examine whether the distance Gray and Garcia were moved was incidental to the commission of robbery. We again conclude that it was. Both victims were moved from the front of the store to the back room, and Garcia through a door to the vault room, where the robbers took the merchandise from the safes. The movement of Gray and Garcia was merely incidental to the robbery, and was therefore not substantial. The convictions of simple kidnapping on counts 16 and 18 must be reversed as to Jarrod, Jonathan, and James.

2. Felony false imprisonment by violence or menace

Section 236 defines false imprisonment as “the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another.” False imprisonment occurs “when ‘the victim is “compelled to remain where he does not wish to remain, or to go where he does not wish to go.” ’ ” (People v. Reed (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 274, 280 [92 Cal.Rptr.2d 781].) False imprisonment is a felony if, as stated in section 237, subdivision (a), “false imprisonment [is] effected by violence [or] menace.” Violence is “ ‘ “ ‘the exercise of physical force used to restrain over and above the force reasonably necessary to effect such restraint.’ ” ’ ” (Reed, at p. 280.) “ ‘Menace’ ” is defined as ‘ “ ‘a threat of harm express or implied by word or act.’ ” ’ ” (Ibid.) When a defendant ordered his victims to sit and when they resisted, told them “ ‘If you don’t, then I will do something,’ ” “[t]hese words alone, in context, constituted evidence of an implied, if not express, threat to harm them” and established menace. (People v. Aispuro (2007) 157 Cal.App.4th 1509, 1513 [69 Cal.Rptr.3d 585], criticizing People v. Matian (1995) 35 Cal.App.4th 480 [41 Cal.Rptr.2d 459].) “Threats can be exhibited in a myriad number of ways, verbally and by conduct.” (Aispuro, at p. 1513.)

No asportation is required. “[Kfidnapping, be it simple or aggravated, requires a degree of asportation not found in the definition of false imprisonment. Indeed, false imprisonment can occur with any movement or no movement at all.” (People v. Reed, supra, 78 Cal.App.4th at p. 284, fn. omitted.) In People v. Reed, the court found sufficient evidence of felony false imprisonment when the robbers directed the victims, at gunpoint, to get down and stay down on the floor; placed the gun against two female victims’ heads and pistol-whipped a male victim; and both women believed they would be killed. (Id. at p. 281.)

The jury convicted Jarrod of false imprisonment by violence of Monique H. (count 2) during the April 25 robbery at the Diamond Wireless store in Riverside. A robber holding a knife to Monique H.’s throat pulled her to a back room, and a few minutes later, made her lie on the floor facedown while he and another robber (whose voice Monique H. recognized as Jarrod) took cell phones. The use of a weapon escalated the force used to more than was reasonably necessary for the restraint, and constitutes sufficient evidence of felony false imprisonment by violence.

The jury convicted Alphonso of false imprisonment by violence of Jorge Magana (count 7) during the June 19 robbery of the Willow Street/Long Beach Radio Shack. A robber holding a knife told Magana to lie facedown on the floor or he would “shank” him. (Alphonso was identified as the driver bringing the robbers to the scene.) The robbers moved Magana to the back room, holding something shiny to his head, and made him lie facedown while they took merchandise from the cage. A threat, a knife, and a shiny object held to Magana’s head were used to force Magana to the back room and to the floor to stay facedown during the robbery. The use of a weapon and the threat to harm Magana is sufficient evidence of felony false imprisonment by violence or menace.

The jury convicted Jarrod, Alphonso, and James of felony false imprisonment of John Johnston in count 10 during the July 3 robbery at the Corona Radio Shack. Three robbers ran into the store, ordered Johnston to lie facedown on the floor, then made him get up and pushed him to the back room where they made him open boxes of merchandise and then again commanded him to lie facedown and count to 100. Johnston testified that he feared for his safety. The jury may properly consider fear as evidence of menace. (People v. Islas (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 116, 127 [147 Cal.Rptr.3d 872].) The jury could reasonably infer that the robbers “coerced [Johnston] into cooperating with their demands through an implied threat of harm” (id. at p. 128) when they commanded that he lie down and count to 100, with the implication that he would be harmed if he did not remain still for the full count. This constitutes sufficient evidence of menace to support Jarrod’s, Alphonso’s and James’s convictions for felony false imprisonment in count 10.

The jury convicted Alphonso of felony false imprisonment in count 13 (Doan), during the July 17 robbery at the Torrance Radio Shack. Three robbers grabbed Doan’s collar and shoved him to the back room, where they made him kneel down, and one held his collar while the others took merchandise from the cage. They then told Doan to lie facedown and count to 100, and were gone by the time he finished. As was the case for Johnston in count 10, this constitutes sufficient evidence of menace. The robbers repeatedly asked Doan for the combination (which he did not have), making Doan fear they would hurt him. They then forced Doan to his knees, and one robber held his collar while the others took merchandise from the cage; Doan feared for his life. The robbers ordered him to lie facedown and count to 100. Doan completed the count and waited a few minutes before locking the door and calling 911. On this evidence the jury could find implied threats of harm to Doan sufficient to support Alphonso’s conviction for felony false imprisonment in count 13.

The jury convicted Alphonso of felony false imprisonment in counts 16 (Gray), 18 (Garcia), and 20 (Chavarria), during the July 31 robbery at the West Covina AT&T store. Four robbers entered the store, and according to Chavarria, said not to do anything stupid if they did not want to get hurt. The robbers pushed Gray with an arm across her neck, and Garcia by the shirt collar, to the break room, made both lie down on their faces, made Garcia get up to open the vault, stole merchandise, and then forced him back down to the floor facedown and made him count to 100 while they left the store. One of four robbers pushed Chavarria by her lower back to the break room and ordered her to lie facedown on the floor while they made Garcia open the safes and took the merchandise, and then told everyone to count to 100. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, sufficient evidence showed that the robbers used menace in the form of a threat (made when they entered, and when all three victims were in the front of the store) to hurt the victims if they did anything stupid, to make the victims go to the back room, get down on the floor, and stay facedown while the robberies took place and the robbers left the store. Substantial evidence supported Alphonso’s convictions of felony false imprisonment on counts 16, 18, and 20.

II. Evidence of uncharged robberies was improperly admitted but did not prejudice Jarrod.

Jarrod argues that the trial court improperly admitted into evidence three uncharged robberies (on June 6, Aug. 20, and Sept. 6) which lacked any evidence establishing identity. We agree, but we also find the error harmless.

Alphonso and James objected to the admission into evidence of three robberies not charged in the information, on the ground that two of the three robberies occurred after July 31, when they were in custody. Jarrod did not object. The trial court denied the objection, stating that identification was not the only issue, but modus operandi was involved: wearing all black and gloves, targeting the end of the day, and moving the individuals from the front to the back of the store to avoid detection. “That goes beyond just the I.D. of the person,” and the probative va