Man Arrested in Laguna After Car Chase, Store Theft

A 29-year-old Newport Beach man who allegedly robbed a Laguna Beach men’s clothing store and assaulted a clerk was arrested after a brief high-speed car chase Wednesday afternoon, police reported.

A police spokeswoman said Clifford Owen Bilbo entered the Today’s Male Store at 168 Mountain Road shortly after 5 p.m. He sampled some clothes and then approached a clerk and demanded money, police said. When the clerk refused, Bilbo beat him with his fists and a telephone receiver before fleeing with an undetermined amount of cash and a pair of sunglasses, according to police.

Officers responding to the call saw the suspect get into his car and followed him in a five-minute chase that reached 100 m.p.h. through a Laguna residential area, the spokeswoman said.

Bilbo was apprehended without further incident when his car collided with an empty bus at the intersection of North Coast Highway and Irvine Cove Drive, she said.

Bilbo, who said he was a self-employed security guard, was booked into the city jail on charges of robbery and assault. He was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail.