BRIEFLY IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Rapist indicted in 1988 Costa Mesa killing

A convicted rapist extradited from his prison cell in Michigan was indicted by the Orange County Grand Jury on Friday in the 1988 killing of a 22-year-old pregnant Costa Mesa woman, according to a news release issued by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

If convicted, Jason Michael Balcom, 36, could face the death penalty in the stabbing death of Malinda Gibbons, who was reportedly bound, gagged, beaten and sodomized in her apartment in the Mediterranean Village Apartments on Harbor Boulevard, according to prosecutors.

Balcom is charged with murder with four special circumstances for allegedly sodomizing and attempting to rape, rob and burglarize Gibbons.

As new DNA technology develops, the Orange County district attorney’s office reruns cold cases. In 2004, while Balcom was serving a prison sentence in Michigan on a rape conviction, he was determined to be a suspect in the Costa Mesa killing. He was extradited in October 2005 to Orange County, according to prosecutors.

Around 11 a.m. on July 18, 1988, after Gibbons’ husband had left for work, Balcom allegedly broke into the newlyweds’ apartment. Balcom is accused of stabbing her in the chest. Gibbons was pregnant with her first child at the time. Gibbons was found that evening by her husband, tied up on the floor of the couple’s bedroom, according to the district attorney’s office.

Balcom is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. May 25 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. He is being held without bail at Orange County Jail. Assistant Dist. Atty. Marc Rozenberg and Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Gurwitz are scheduled to prosecute the case.

Man takes cab to rob Newport grocery store

A man who took a cab to the Albertsons store at 3100 W. Balboa Blvd. Thursday night robbed the grocery, fled on foot and is still at large, Newport Beach police said Friday.

The man entered the store at 7:55 p.m. and confronted the manager near the back of the store, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor said.

The robber had a brown paper bag over his hand and “he’s basically simulating that he has a hand gun,” Sailor said. He told the manager, according to Sailor, “I’m sorry about this, but this is a robbery. Give me the money out of the registers.”

After the manager gave him $450 from one register, the man fled the store with the manager chasing him, Sailor said. The robber later dropped $100. Police interviewing the cab driver learned that the man had told him to wait when they arrived at the store.

The man is described as white, 6-feet tall, 170 pounds, with brown hair. He was wearing a gray jacket with black stripes on the sleeves, dark jeans, white shoes and a white shirt with an unknown print. Anyone with information is asked to call (800) 550-NBPD.

Couple arrested on suspicion of thefts

Irvine police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department arrested a couple on suspicion of multiple counts of burglary, criminal conspiracy and credit card fraud in connection with a string of thefts at commercial buildings in Orange County, including in Newport Beach, police said.

Robin Marc Smith, 49, and Dorothy Ann Smith, 57, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of thefts occurring as early as 1994, according to Irvine police. They have no known last city of residence and moved from hotel to hotel during their alleged string of thefts, Irvine Police Lt. Henry Boggs said.

It is unknown what buildings in Newport were affected; police and Sheriff’s Department officials are investigating.

The couple would reportedly go into the buildings to steal wallets or, in many cases, just credit cards and driver’s licenses, and make purchases shortly after the thefts.

Since 1994, police estimate the losses between $1 million and $2 million, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Robin Marc Smith is being held without bail because he is a Canadian national with a warrant out for his arrest from Canada, Boggs said. Dorothy Ann Smith is being held on $20,000 bail.