Man Arrested After Robbery, Police Chase

After pursuing two alleged supermarket robbers by car and by foot, police arrested one man and remain on the lookout for the other.

Two men, one of whom had a handgun, entered the Lucky supermarket in the 100 block of North Raymond Avenue about 9 p.m. Tuesday and demanded the money out of two cash registers, Fullerton Police Sgt. Mike Maynard said.

A witness to the holdup alerted other store employees, who called police, Maynard said.

The two robbers fled in a car before officers arrived, he said. Dan Bohling, one of the officers responding to the call, spotted a suspicious car with two people inside near the store. When he tried to stop the car, its driver sped away, Maynard said.

Police chased the vehicle eastbound on the Riverside Freeway and then southbound on the Costa Mesa Freeway. The chase ended when the alleged robbers encountered freeway construction and heavy traffic near Walnut Avenue in Orange, Maynard said.

Both men ran from their vehicle, Maynard said. Fullerton police, with the help of the Orange Police Department and other police agencies, searched the area. One of the men was soon found hiding in the yard of a house in the 300 block of Oak Street, Maynard said.

The other man could not be found. Maynard said police found a .380-caliber handgun in the vehicle used by the alleged robbers. No money was recovered.

In custody at Fullerton Jail is Larry Ledesma, 37, of Orange. He was arrested on suspicion of robbery, being under the influence of an opiate, and felony evasion of arrest, Maynard said. His bail was set at $50,000.

Police are looking for the other alleged robber, described as a male Latino in his early 30s, 5-foot-9, weighing 160 pounds, with short, black or dark-brown hair and mustache.

Fullerton police are asking anyone with information on the alleged robber or the money to call detective Steve Christoffersen at (714) 738-6753.