Police nab suspect after 12 hours of nothing

Alex Coolman

COSTA MESA -- Police staked out a Logan Avenue business for nearly 12

hours Monday, finally resorting to an afternoon assault on the office by

SWAT teams before flushing out a suspected parole violator considered to

be armed and dangerous.

Police pulled 47-year-old Raymond Richie Bettis out of the office of

the Airship and Balloon Design company at 4:15 p.m., handcuffing him on

the ground and frisking him before escortinghim to a waiting police

cruiser.

Bettis was wanted in connection with violations of his parole.

The late-afternoon arrest came after a full day of cat-and-mouse games

that began at 8:30 a.m., when police spotted Bettis’ white El Camino

outside the office, where he had reportedly been working and sleeping.

For about four hours, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick,

police attempted to lure Bettis out of the building. But police tactics,

which included opening the hood of his car, drew no response.

SWAT teams were called to the scene around midday and the officers

broke out the doors and windows of the office in the early afternoon.

For hours, however, it was impossible to determine if there was anyone

at all inside the building.

Despite officers bristling with weapons and body armor scurrying about

in the parking lot and the curious employees of nearby businesses staring

from behind yellow police tape, nothing emerged from inside the shop but

a mangy springer spaniel named Mickey.

Finally, just when it appeared that all the commotion may have been

over nothing, the police found their man.

“It was way in the back of the back,” of the office, said Police Chief

Dave Snowden. “He was in the bottom of one of the hot air balloon baskets

with a bunch of parachutes stuffed over him. He was way hidden.”

Lt. Ron Smith, still walking stiffly in his heavy flak jacket,

described the densely crowded interior of the shop as “a nightmare from a

tactical standpoint. There’s so many places where he could hide.”