2 Suspected in Restaurant Holdups Arrested at Motel

Two men suspected of robbing seven San Diego restaurants--including the same pancake house twice--have been arrested, authorities said Friday.

James Alva O’Donnal, 25, and Mark Steven Coleman, 29, were arrested at 11 a.m. Thursday as they were leaving a motel in the 2600 block of University Avenue.

Police believe the same men are responsible for several robberies, the latest Tuesday at the International House of Pancakes at 6135 Balboa Ave.

Police say the men stole a pickup truck Sunday from a Pizza Hut deliveryman as he was taking an order to a room at a downtown hotel.

The suspects used the delivery truck about half an hour later to rob an International House of Pancakes restaurant at 412 Washington St. in Hillcrest, police said. The men are believed to have robbed that same restaurant Sept. 9.

The pair are also suspects in the Sept. 17 robbery of a University Avenue Pizza Hut, a Dairy Queen on El Cajon Boulevard, and the Sept. 21 robbery of O’Kelly’s Original Ice Cream on Midway Drive.

O’Donnal and Coleman were booked Thursday only in connection with the robbery of the delivery truck. Police will present their evidence to the district attorney’s office and ask that they be charged with the robberies.

Both men were held at County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery. Bail for O’Donnal has been set at $50,000; bail for Coleman is $100,000. Arraignments for both are set for Monday.

Coleman is also wanted in Arizona for escaping from prison while serving a 14-year term for robbery, police said.