Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : AT THE SCENE : Life in the Fast Lane Came to a Quick Stop for Holdup Suspects

They were riding in style. A chauffeured limousine, $3,100 in cash, new watch, new clothes, a young lady. And there was more than $200,000 in stolen gold ingots in the trunk.

But the night out was cut short for Gerald M. Stafford, 30, of Anaheim when police greeted him Monday as he stepped out of the limo near a Garden Grove apartment complex.

Stafford was arrested on suspicion of robbery and kidnaping in connection with the theft Sunday of the gold from a Placentia dental supply firm.

An alleged accomplice, Bret A. Langford, 18, of Garden Grove, who was along on the Monday night cruise, escaped and is still being sought.

Langford’s 17-year-old girlfriend was taken into custody, but released a short time later.

Placentia police said the suspects in the theft had left a pretty good trail following the kidnaping of the dental firm’s secretary at gunpoint Sunday.

The Huntington Beach woman, whose name was withheld, was forced to open the company safe, and the suspects made off with about $250,000 in gold. Most of it was found in the limo’s trunk Monday, and more was recovered from a gold dealer.

Police said the pair rented the $40-an-hour limousine in Irvine, drove to dinner where they ate $3.95 steaks and bought some new clothes.

The high-life ended abruptly, however.

Police were waiting when Langford drove his girlfriend home later that night.