Police arrest drugstore robbery suspects
Costa Mesa police have arrested three men suspected of robbing a Rexall drugstore, including one man who allegedly threatened the store’s employees with a knife and demanded cash and drugs.
Roger B. Jones, 48, and Derek Lloyd, 30, both of Perris, and Marquis T. Blunt, 27, of Sun City, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing fewer than 800 painkillers, other medication and less than $100 in cash from the Ramsay Rexall drugstore at 2246 Newport Blvd. about 9:30 a.m., according to the Costa Mesa Police Department.
Two of the men entered the business, and one wielded a knife and demanded cash and drugs, police said. The men left with the goods, bumping into a FedEx employee delivering a package on their way out, according to police. They stole that package and got into a blue Lincoln Town Car waiting for them outside, police said.
Police have not said which of the men entered the store, who had the knife or who drove the car.
Before they fled north on Newport Boulevard and got on the 55 Freeway, employees at the drugstore caught part of the license plate number, police said.
About 30 minutes later, after police put out a bulletin to other law enforcement, an employee with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department spotted a car matching the Lincoln’s description heading inland on the Ortega Highway. Deputies stopped the car and detained two of the suspects in the Lake Elsinore area, police said. The third fled but was found and detained following a Sheriff’s Department helicopter search.
Authorities have not said which of the men fled.
Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Ed Everett at (714) 754-5395 or Det. Bang Le at (714) 754-5361.
Twitter: @lawilliams30