Eureka Robbery Suspect Arrested In Ukiah

Police also search home of William Mulligan in Stafford

Humboldt Sentinel
3/16/09
By Sentinel Staff

UKIAH -- An investigation into the hold-up at the Harris Street Market in Eureka last Monday has led to the arrest of a Stafford resident who had left the county in violation of his probation.

William Eugene Mulligan, 22, had a search warrant issued for his home at the behest of the Eureka Police Department after officers obtained eyewitness testimony, surveillance footage and evidence processed from the scene of the crime. Upon service of the search warrant in Stafford, more items believed to have been used in this robbery were located, and a further warrant was issued for his arrest.

Not long afterward, Mulligan was located in Ukiah by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and taken into custody. He is being held in the Mendocino County Jail on his arrest warrant, as well as for a federal warrant for violating the terms of his probation.

The possible connection between the Harris Street Market and Liquor robbery and a secondary armed robbery last Thursday at the Patriot Gas Station is being investigated due to several similarities, according to EPD public information officer Murl Harpham in a release issued this morning.

EPD also identified David Joel Shields, a 23-year-old Fortuna resident, as a person of interest in both of these robberies. He is also wanted for the violation of his parole conditions.

The investigation is ongoing, according to Harpham, and anyone with information regarding these two robberies, or the whereabouts of Shields, is asked to call the EPD Criminal Investigations Section at (707) 441-4300.