2 Men Stopped at Sobriety Check Are Arrested in Robbery Spree

Two men, stopped at a routine sobriety checkpoint early Saturday morning, ended up being arrested as suspects in a robbery spree, according to police.

Jesus Estrado Ruiz, 19, and Ramon Munoz Napoles, 21, both of Santa Ana, were arrested on suspicion of two counts of robbery and are being held at Orange County Jail. Bail has been set at $25,000 each.

Police said that shortly after 1 a.m., two men jumped out of a car in the 200 block of West Maple Street in Orange and accosted a 65-year-old man who was walking down the street. One of the men waved what appeared to be a revolver, then took the man’s wallet and watch. The two then sped off in a burgundy and gray Thunderbird.

About 10 minutes later at the corner of Chapman Avenue and Anita Street in Orange, two men robbed a 35-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman at gunpoint, stealing the man’s leather jacket and $400 in cash, police said.

Thirty minutes later in Fullerton, two men made an attempt at a third robbery, but their would-be victim did not believe they had a real gun. He hit one of the suspects over the head with a beer bottle and the two fled, police said.

Then shortly before 3 a.m., police stopped Ruiz and Napoles on Harbor Boulevard at Chapman Avenue in Anaheim, one of several sobriety checkpoints set up as part of a stepped-up effort to curtail drinking and driving during the holidays.

The officers noticed an open container of alcohol, a large amount of cash on the driver’s floorboard and a pellet gun on the passenger’s floorboard. Recognizing the vehicle from an earlier police radio alert, they took the two men into custody and turned them over to Orange police.