Anaheim man arrested for murder Police arrested...

Anaheim man arrested for murder

Police arrested an Anaheim man Friday whom they believe shot and

killed a Huntington Beach man outside of a Garden Grove convenience

store on Thursday, police said.

Steven Jimenez, 35, was arrested at his home Friday and charged

with the murder of Eric Robertson, 26, who was attacked by two men as

he sat in a car with his girlfriend outside of a convenience store at

the corner of Lampson Avenue and Harbor Boulevard.

Garden Grove Police Lt. Mike Hanfield said Jimenez was not the

shooter, though his alleged involvement in the crime was enough to

warrant the charge. Hanfield said there were as many as four others

involved.

“We think there’s been a conspiracy between two people, maybe up

to four, setting up the victim to go there,” Hanfield said.

The two men assaulted Robertson from both sides of the car, police

said.

One man walked up to the passenger’s side of the car and started

talking to Robertson before punching him in the face, police said.

The gunman, who attacked from the driver’s side, reached into the car

across Robertson’s girlfriend and fired once. Both men ran away, and

Robertson’s girlfriend went into the store and asked employees to

call for help.

“The lady came inside and said, ‘Somebody shot my boyfriend, call

911,’ and we called 911,” clerk Hamit Sing said. No store employees

saw the shooting.

Robertson got out of the car and collapsed outside the market’s

door. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

Police are still investigating.

“We want to keep it open,” Hanfield said. “We don’t want to lock

in on something and find out we were off-base.”

Canine helps thwart burglary attempt

Police arrested three people on Monday who allegedly teamed up in

an attempted burglary of a local gas station, though one of the men

ended up with a dog bite instead of any loot.

At about 1:28 a.m. on Monday, a police officer heard glass break

at an Arco station on Goldenwest Street as he drove by in his patrol

car. He stopped and saw the window to the station’s office was broken

and that people were moving around inside the office, police said.

He called for backup, and eight officers, including a K-9 unit,

set up a perimeter around the gas station while officers in a Costa

Mesa Police Department helicopter watched the area from above. Police

announced they had the gas station surrounded and ordered the people

inside the office to come out with their hands up, Huntington Beach

Sgt. Dave Bunetta said.

When no one came out, police warned the men inside the gas station

they would send in a police dog. The dog entered the office and

cornered the men until police could arrest them.

Officers found David Islas Pineda, 20, and Edgar Jubentino Pena,

19, hiding inside the office, and Pena had been bitten on the right

arm. He was taken to Huntington Beach Hospital, though police said he

was not seriously hurt.

“[He was] just treated for what appeared to be a minor wound for

his right arm, and then he was released and booked at the jail,”

Bunetta said.

Costa Mesa police found the getaway car a few blocks away. A girl

in the car, identified as Pineda’s girlfriend, was arrested. Her name

was not released because she is a minor.

Pineda and Pena were booked on suspicion of burglary and

conspiracy. The girl was booked on suspicion of conspiracy.

Belmont Shore rapist could get 500 years

The trial of a man accused of being the Belmont Shore rapist, who

also reportedly committed two rapes in Huntington Beach, began on

Monday at Superior Court in Long Beach.

Mark Wayne Rathbun, 34, is accused of more than a dozen rapes in

Long Beach, Los Alamitos and Seattle. He was arrested by Long Beach

police in November 2002 after DNA evidence was used to link him to 13

rapes.

The trial opened with victims’ testimony, said Jane Robison, a

spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

She declined further comment because the trial is ongoing.

Rathbun could be sentenced to 500 years in prison if convicted on

all charges.

Hearings set for suspects in stabbings

Preliminary hearings have been set for two men accused of fatal

stabbings in Huntington Beach.

A hearing for John Angel Salcida, accused of stabbing his

estranged wife’s boyfriend Sergio Ojeda to death on Nov. 6 in a

Huntington Beach apartment, is scheduled today at Superior Court in

Westminster.

The preliminary hearing for Jamie Allen Balint, accused of

stabbing his mother to death in their Huntington Beach apartment on

Dec. 22, was delayed on Friday. The proceeding was postponed to Aug.

6 at Superior Court in Westminster.

Police found Balint’s mother, Pamela Balint, with multiple stab

wounds in their 5th Street apartment after they were flagged down by

his brother, who went for help when he could not get into the

apartment. Jamie Allen Balint was arrested near the apartment shortly

after the homicide was discovered.

Man arrested, woman injured in crash

A 33-year-old Costa Mesa woman riding a tandem bike in Huntington

Beach with her 9-year-old son was injured Sunday after being struck

by a hit-and-run driver who was later arrested, Huntington Beach

police said.

Liza Noela Garneau and her son, Michael Pellicano, were riding

eastbound on Hamilton Street at about 9:48 p.m. when David Gene

Wright, 34, of Huntington Beach, hit their bicycle as he made a left

from Hamilton to Brookhurst Street, police said.

The crash knocked Garneau onto the hood of Wright’s Chevy pickup

and into the windshield, police said. Wright fled and eventually

abandoned his truck in the 2300 block of England Street, officials

said.

Police caught up with Wright and arrested him on suspicion of

felony hit-and-run after a witness who followed Wright from the

accident scene directed officers to his truck, officials said.

Garneau suffered a head injury, while Michael was treated for

several cuts on his body, police said. Both were taken to UC Irvine

Medical Center in Orange.