Spotted ‘Loitering’ at an Irvine Restaurant : Man, 2 Youths Held After High-Speed Chase

A 22-year-old man and two youths were arrested after they allegedly led officers on a 30-mile, high-speed chase that ended at San Onofre State Park, police said Wednesday.

Two revolvers, one of which was loaded, and a wallet allegedly taken in a Westminster robbery were found in the 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass, which had been reported stolen in a Santa Ana burglary, officers said.

Gilbert John Peralta of Santa Ana was being held Wednesday at Orange County Jail on suspicion of robbery, burglary and auto theft, Irvine Police Sgt. Tom Hume said. The youths, Santa Ana residents for whom police did not have ages, were booked into Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of the same charges. Their names were withheld because they are juveniles.

Police said the pursuit began about midnight at the Pavilion restaurant in Irvine, where Officer Gary Harvey saw the three persons “loitering,” Hume said. When the three noticed the officer, Hume said, they ran to a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass and drove off.

Officers followed the car south on Interstate 5 at speeds in excess of 100 m.p.h., Hume said. He said that at one point, after the car pulled off the freeway at Basilone Road in San Onofre, it cruised down the wrong side of the road. There were no injuries.

When the three suspects reached the state park, Hume said, they jumped from the car and ran. Officers from the California Highway Patrol and the San Clemente Police Department, who had joined in the pursuit, also helped search the park for the suspects, one of whom was captured by a San Clemente police dog, Hume said.

Officers checked the registration on the car, which reportedly had been stolen. They also found a .22-caliber and a .32-caliber revolver.