The California Highway Patrol and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department worked together to put two suspected armed robbers behind bars late Monday evening.

At about 10:30pm May 30, an 18-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident was walking alone in a residential neighborhood to visit a friend. A vehicle pulled up beside her. As it did, a man jumped from the front passenger seat of the vehicle and demanded she give him her purse. When the victim hesitated, the suspect brandished a knife and the victim surrendered her purse.

The thief then got back into the vehicle and a female driver sped away.

Officers Travis Cabral and Ric Martinez broadcast a suspect and vehicle description to other officers and agencies in the area. A CHP officer heard the description. He had just issued a citation to a female for running a stop sign in the same area as the robbery.

He was able to provide a name, description, address and vehicle information, including the license plate number to the South Tahoe officers.

Kathryn Mundt of Rocklin admitted to the robbery and told officers she and Michael Barnett, also of Rocklin, had committed the robbery to obtain gas money. Barnett did not admit to the theft, but was positively identified by the victim as the man who took her purse at knifepoint.

The knife was recovered in the suspect vehicle.

Barnett and Mundt were booked into the El Dorado County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.