Robbers Took Bottle of Formula : Infant Unhurt in Chase and Crash

Two robbers with a 5-day-old infant waiting in their getaway car held up a Fountain Valley convenience store for $50 cash and a bottle of formula early Friday, police said. The couple were apprehended minutes later after a police pursuit that ended with a crash.

The infant was lifted unhurt from the car wreckage by her mother, who surrendered to police saying: “I give up, I give up,” Fountain Valley Police Lt. Mike Hanrahan said.

“The child came through unscathed,” he added. “We’re all very happy about that.”

Terry Donald Dixon, 31, and Sherrie Leann Horne, 21, both of Santa Ana, were booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery and felony child endangerment, Hanrahan said. Dixon, who Hanrahan said is not the father of the infant, was also arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run.

In Hospital for Observation

The infant, Lakesha Horne, was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital for observation and was to be turned over to the Orange County Child Protective Services’ Orangewood home for children, Hanrahan said.

The chase started just after midnight. Police were called to a 7-Eleven convenience store in the 16400 block of Harbor Boulevard after a couple pretending to have a gun robbed the store of the cash and a bottle of Similac baby formula, Hanrahan said.

The two fled in a light-colored, 1975 Oldsmobile, in which they had left the baby, he said.

Fountain Valley police officer Al Dollar spotted the car several blocks away southbound on Harbor Boulevard and tried to pull it over, Hanrahan said. Dixon quickly made a U-turn and raced into Santa Ana eastbound along MacArthur Boulevard before hitting a car broadside at Fairview Street.

Mary Susan Neill, 27, the driver of the broadsided car, was treated for moderate injuries at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and released, Hanrahan said.

Dixon jumped from the wrecked car and tried to run away before a police officer captured him in a nearby residential area, Hanrahan said.

Dixon and Horne suffered minor scapes, cuts and bruises in the crash, police said.