Suspects arrested in crash-and-grab burglaries in Long Beach, Westminster

Two men were arrested in Westminster on Friday in connection with crash-and-grab burglaries in which a pickup truck drove through the storefronts of a Long Beach jewelry store and video game retailer.

The suspects were arrested about 4:30 a.m. after Westminster officers responded to a report of a burglary in progress at a Sprint Store at Orange County’s Westminster Center, authorities said.

In the first burglary, which occurred about 2:20 a.m., suspects in a red pickup truck rammed the jewelry store in the 4600 block of Los Coyotes Diagonal in Long Beach, then grabbed a “significant amount of jewelry,” said Marlene Arrona, a spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department.

About an hour after the crash and grab at the jewelry store, suspects in the same truck slammed into the game store in the 400 block of West Anaheim Street, then drove away with an undetermined amount of electronic merchandise, authorities said.

A stolen pickup matching the description of the vehicle involved in both burglaries was recovered in the 1400 block of Chestnut Avenue, Arrona said.

At 4:30 a.m., Westminster police responded to a burglary in progress at the Sprint Store in the 6700 block of Westminster Boulevard.

The first officers arrived at the scene within 90 seconds and “observed multiple subjects loading a vehicle with stolen items from within the store,” Commander Cameron Knauerhaze said. “The officers converged on the suspects, who then fled in an awaiting vehicle.”

That vehicle could not exit the parking lot because additional police cars had arrived and blocked it, Knauerhaze said. “The suspects crashed their car into a pole and fled on foot. Two suspects were immediately captured after a brief foot chase.”

A third suspect remains at large, he said. Officers recovered stolen items valued at about $25,000 inside the suspects’ 2004 BMW X3.

“The suspects may also be connected to a similar burglary in Long Beach just prior to getting captured by Westminster police officers,” Knauerhaze said.

On Friday morning, crews were seen nailing plywood boards over the broken display windows of J&L Jewelry in Long Beach.