Bandits Take Cash, Cars in 2-Hour Spree

Three men went on a 2-hour robbery spree through south Orange County on Tuesday evening, stealing cash and cars along a route of six locations from San Clemente to El Toro, police said.

In each incident, witnesses described the robbers as three men in their early 20s, wearing dark clothes and bandannas on their faces or around their necks, Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson said Wednesday.

The robbers verbally or physically forced victims to turn over cash and fled each robbery scene in one of three stolen cars used during the spree, Olson said.

According to Olson, the following robberies occurred:

- 7:35 p.m.: Three men enter a Miller’s Outpost store at Avenida Pico and Interstate 5 in San Clemente and demand cash. They flee in a tan Toyota, which police later determine was stolen in San Diego. Amount stolen: unknown.

- 7:48 p.m.: Three men enter a K mart store at Camino de Estrella and Interstate 5 in San Clemente and demand cash. This time they flee in a blue Datsun 200 SX with California license plate 1 BOD 064. Amount stolen: unknown.

- 7:59 p.m.: Three men approach a woman and steal her purse in the Bullock’s parking lot at Mission Viejo Mall off Crown Valley Parkway near Interstate 5. They escape in the same blue Datsun. The woman loses $35 in cash and some credit cards.

- 8:08 p.m.: Three men in the same Datsun approach a man in the parking lot of Security Pacific Bank at La Paz Road and Chrisanta Drive in Mission Viejo. One of the men hits the victim over the head with a shotgun and robs him of an undetermined amount of cash. A second victim is robbed of $70 when one of the bandits places a knife against her ribs.

- 8:26 p.m.: Three men enter an Aaron Brothers Art Mart at 24350 Swartz Drive in El Toro and demand cash. They leave the store with $600 in cash and flee in a blue Datsun.

- 9:44 p.m.: Orange County Sheriff’s Department receives a report that a light blue Datsun pickup truck has been stolen from the parking lot at C & R Clothiers at 23542 El Toro Road in El Toro. Sheriff’s deputies also find the blue Datsun 200 SX in the parking lot.

- 10:26 p.m.: Authorities find the stolen tan Toyota reportedly used in the first robbery in the K mart parking lot at Camino de Estrella and Interstate 5 in San Clemente.

Olson said sheriff’s deputies began broadcasting advisories on the police radio when the third robbery occurred, but no officers ever observed the robbers.

“Evidently, the suspects are still in the wind,” Olson said Wednesday.

Investigators will search the stolen Toyota and Datsun for evidence and fingerprints, Olson said.

The only injury was to the victim who was hit over the head with a handgun in the bank parking lot. He was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was in stable condition Wednesday.