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Suspects Use Toy Gun To Rob Woman In Saratoga Parking Lot

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A woman was held up at gunpoint as she left her car at an unincorporated Saratoga shopping center parking lot last weekend, according to information released Friday by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

The victim was at the Argonaut Place Shopping Center in the 12000 block of Saratoga Sunnyvale Road at the border of incorporated Saratoga where the two men allegedly robbed her just before 7:40 p.m. last Sunday, according to sheriff's officials.

The first suspect later identified as Mark Morashky, 26, of Saratoga, allegedly produced a black handgun and took the woman's backpack.

He then fled in a vehicle with another man, 23-year-old San Jose resident Tawni Miser, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies discovered the suspect vehicle had been stolen out of San Jose during a carjacking from the day before. The car was also linked to another armed robbery at the Valley Fair Shopping Center parking lot in San Jose, officials said.

The stolen vehicle was tracked down just hours after the robbery was reported and the two men inside the car were found and believed to be the suspects in the Saratoga robbery. Property belonging to the victim was found inside the car, according to the sheriff's office.

The black handgun used during the robbery was also found; however it was later determined to be an Airsoft pistol that had been modified to look like a handgun, officials said.

Both suspects were arrested on suspicion of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of stolen property, sheriff's officials said.

They were booked in the Santa Clara County Main Jail.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed)

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