Robbery suspects cornered in Costa Mesa

Alex Coolman

COSTA MESA -- Irvine police arrested a trio of armed robbery

suspects Tuesday at the Wyndham Hotel following a high-speed chase

through rush-hour traffic on the San Diego Freeway.

The three men are suspected of robbing the American Electronics Assn.

Credit Union on Barranca Parkway in Irvine at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Sgt. Rick Handfield of the Irvine Police Department said the men,

whose identities have not been released, are known by authorities to be

involved in a larger criminal ring.

“We’ve been tracking these individuals for several years,” Handfield

said. “[The crime ring is involved in] several otherbank robberies and

violent crimes, up to and including murder.”

Police spotted the suspects driving a sport-utility vehicle north on

the San Diego Freeway in Irvine only minutes after allegedly robbing an

undisclosed amount of money from the credit union.

Officers pursued the car through heavy traffic until it exited at

Bristol Street in Costa Mesa. The suspects hit a curb at the corner of

Sunflower Avenue and Avenue of the Arts, rolling on a flat tire into the

parking lot of the Wyndham Hotel.

At that point, Handfield said, two of the suspects attempted to enter

the hotel but ran into a locked door. Police arrested them on the spot.

The third suspect ran through the hotel grounds and was found hiding in a

car, police said.

Handfield said the outcome of Tuesday’s events was surprisingly

tranquil, given the crowded traffic conditions on the road and the

apparent desperation of the suspects.

“It could have been a lot worse,” he said. “We were very apprehensive

that there was going to be a shootout. I would characterize these people

as hardened criminals with nothing to lose.”

The men will be charged with felony evasion of arrest and bank

robbery, Handfield said. The case will be investigated jointly with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation, which typically deals with robberies of

federally insured financial institutions, and the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department.

Julie McWilliams, a special agent with the FBI, said the investigation

will center around possible connections to other crimes.

“They’re looking at the methods used in that particular robbery to see

if it can be linked to other robberies in Orange County and Los Angeles

in the past year,” she said.