Costa Mesa man’s standoff with police A...

Costa Mesa man’s standoff with police

A Costa Mesa man held Newport Beach police at bay outside his

ex-girlfriend’s home for nearly six hours late Saturday and early

Sunday.

Police arrested Robert T. Ayres, 39, of Costa Mesa, at about 5

a.m. Sunday, Sgt. Bill Hartford said.

Ayres was charged with burglary, auto theft and for parole

violations, police said.

The incident started after Newport Beach police received a call

from a “distraught female,” at about 11 p.m. Saturday, Hartford said.

The woman reported that someone was trying to break into her home

in the 2000 block of Orchard Drive.

When police arrived, they found a man lying on the ground outside

the home, Hartford said.

Officers identified themselves and the man got up and dove in a

window of the house.

Two women who were inside the house were able to get out, and the

department’s SWAT team was called out to handle the situation.

“He had a history of suicidal conduct,” Hartford said.

Police evacuated surrounding homes as officers attempted to

negotiate with Ayres, who eventually turned off his cell phone,

police said.

SWAT officers entered the residence at about 5 a.m. and found

Ayres hiding in an attic, Hartford said.

He was taken into custody without further incident.

Ayres is being held at the Newport Beach city jail without bail.

Trial to begin for

Dover Shores attacker

A man accused of attacking two women in a Dover Shores home and

leaving them bound inside after setting fire to it is now scheduled

to go to trial Aug. 29.

The trial for Kevin Duane Carpenter, 43, was originally set to

start Monday. It was continued until August, according to a court

clerk.

Carpenter is charged with the attempted murders of a Newport Beach

doctor and her assistant in 2003.

He had worked as a handyman in the doctor’s Galaxy Drive home.

Carpenter is also charged with arson, residential burglary,

aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal threats.

He faces special circumstance allegations that he caused more than

$1 million damage to the property.

Police believe Carpenter assaulted the women, gagged and bound

them, then set fire to the home.

He was gone by the time SWAT officers were able to enter.

Police later arrested Carpenter at a Newport Boulevard motel where

he was living.

‘Quatro Bandit’ pleads not guilty

A man dubbed the “Quatro Bandit” after he allegedly robbed four

banks in four hours pled not guilty in federal court Monday.

James McKibbin, 34, entered his plea during a Monday arraignment

in a Santa Ana federal court, U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman

Cindy Lozano said. McKibbin is being held without bail.

Police nicknamed him the “Quatro Bandit” after he allegedly robbed

Washington Mutual Banks in Westminster, Huntington Beach and Costa

Mesa and a Union Bank in Tustin, all on June 8.

Police also suspect McKibbin was responsible for the June 2

robbery of a Placentia Avenue Union Bank and a Via Lido Bank of

America on May 25.