Local News in Brief : Huntington Beach : Trio Is Arrested in Video Store Holdup
Three men were arrested early Thursday on suspicion of holding up a videocassette rental store the previous evening, authorities said.
Police spokeswoman Jo Ann Bonkowski said two men entered the Reel Video store on Bushard Street about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and asked the clerk for a certain videocassette.
The two men followed her to a back room, where the cassette was kept. There, they overpowered her and tied her up with a shoelace, Bonkowski said. The unidentified clerk was left in a bathroom while the two men made off with the store’s cash register, she said.
They escaped in a waiting car, a 1976 Chevrolet sedan driven by a third man, Bonkowski said.
A customer in an adjoining store who saw the holdup notified police and gave them the getaway car’s license plate number, Bonkowski said.
The car was spotted by a Fountain Valley police officer at 12:20 a.m. Thursday traveling south on Bushard Street. The car was pulled over, and the three occupants were arrested, Bonkowski said.
The three, all Huntington Beach residents, are being held on suspicion of robbery. Bonkowski identified them as Chris Decker, 33, an unemployed mason; Kevin Nichols, 29, an unemployed welder, and Eric Sebastian, 34, a salesman.
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