Police: Man heard bag being stolen

In some cases, it’s a good thing when the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease.

Take Saturday, for example, when a Newport Beach man realized someone was stealing his bag full of hockey equipment because he heard the bag’s distinct noise as they rolled it to a waiting car.

It was almost 2 in the afternoon when a homeowner in the 300 block of Onyx Avenue on Balboa Island was watering his plants. From the alley, he heard what sounded like his duffel bag full of hockey equipment getting wheeled away.

Police declined to identify the man saying he was a victim of a crime, and it could jeopardize the investigation.

The man peered over his balcony and saw a black car in front of his carport, but that was all, police said.

He ran to his car and saw his bag full of hockey equipment, valued at about $5,500, was gone. The man quickly put two and two together, and hopped into his car to chase down the black car. He caught up to it off Balboa Island, at Jamboree Road and East Coast Highway, and pulled up next to it.

The homeowner got out and made eye contact with the driver as he looked through the car’s windows into the backseat and saw his stuff, police said.

The driver immediately tried to escape, cutting across lanes westbound on East Coast Highway, said Sgt. Steve Burdette.

The hockey fan, undeterred, gave chase. As he followed the man, he called police, who caught up to the car at 16th Street and Dover Drive on the other side of the Back Bay.

Police conducted a felony stop and arrested James Everett Jones, 37, and Tina Jean Dillon, 40, both of Buena Park, on suspicion of burglary.

Jones posted $50,000 bail and was released. He is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 15 on felony grand theft and receiving stolen property charges. Dillon pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the same charges and posted bail Wednesday. She is due back in court Oct. 14.

Police found other property in the pair’s car with a Coral Avenue address that they later admitted to stealing, Burdette said.