Costa Mesa man arrested on suspicion of assault ID’d by police as possible robbery suspect

A Costa Mesa man arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon is believed by police to be the same man suspected in a robbery last week that caused law enforcement officials to place three schools on temporary lockdowns during their search.

Jose Guadalupe Arce-Dominguez, 31, was being held Tuesday at Orange County’s Theo Lacy facility stemming from his alleged involvement in two separate events that occurred on March 18 and 19, Costa Mesa police reported in a release issued Thursday.

Officers responded to the first incident last Thursday at 10:57 a.m. at a business on the 1900 block of Harbor Avenue, according to the release. Two employees told police they’d been laughing among themselves in an alleyway behind the business when Arce-Dominguez passed by on a skateboard.

“The suspect stopped and confronted the victims and asked what they were laughing at,” the release stated. “[He] opened a folding knife and threatened the victims, then lifted his shirt and exposed a handgun in his waistband.”

The employees retreated into the business as Arce-Dominguez reportedly fled on his skateboard north on Harbor Boulevard.

On Friday, at around 12:10 p.m., CMPD responded to a report of a robbery on the 2100 block of Placentia Avenue. A woman told officers she was confronted by a man after she’d reportedly parked her vehicle too close to his bicycle.

The man began to argue with the woman as she exited her vehicle and eventually punched her, knocking her to the ground, according to the release. As the victim fell, her cellphone fell on the ground next to her and was allegedly grabbed by the suspect, who fled north on foot and jumped a fence into a residential yard.

A responding officer saw the man on foot and chased after him as Costa Mesa police established a search perimeter. Nearby schools, including Estancia High School, Wilson Elementary School and Christian Lutheran School were advised to shelter in place until the perimeter was taken down, officials reported.

The suspect was still at large on Tuesday when, at approximately 2:30 p.m., officers noticed a man holding an open beer while skateboarding near Newport Boulevard and Vanguard Way who matched the description of the assault suspect, the release stated.

Officers arrested Arce-Dominguez for an outstanding warrant and transported him to the CMPD jail. But it wasn’t until an officer at the station noticed a distinguishable tattoo on the suspect’s body that he was linked to the March 19 robbery, in which the victim described a similar tattoo.

Arce-Dominguez was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.

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