BREA : Computer Heist Nets $40,000 in Equipment

Several men robbed a computer store of about $40,000 in equipment Thursday night after they forced the store’s two employees to lock themselves in the bathroom, police said.

Rebecca Cheng, one of the employees at Alston Entertainment, 2913 Saturn St. in Brea, told investigators she was in her office at about 8:30 p.m. when a man came from behind and ordered her not to look at him and to lock herself and the other employee in the bathroom, police said.

Cheng told police she and her co-worker, whose name was not released, complied with the order. She then heard several men remove the computer equipment. She said she and her co-worker remained in the bathroom long after the robbers had left--1 1/2 hours--because they feared for their lives, police said.

Thursday night’s incident was the latest in a string of computer-store robberies in the county over the past two years. Most of the cases have involved the robbery of valuable computer chips, some of them valued up to $1,000 each.

In early March, three to five armed men took thousands of dollars in computer memory chips and other electronic components from Shecom Computers in Yorba Linda, a wholesaler of computer components.

Three similar robberies occurred in Brea between Feb. 1, 1993 and Feb. 16 this year. In December, armed men stole thousands of dollars worth of computer chips from an Irvine computer store.

However, Thursday’s robbery does not seem to fit the pattern of the others, Brea Detective Clyde A. Wason said. For one thing, he said, Alston Entertainment specializes in family and children’s computer games. And although it also sells computers, he said, “it doesn’t have chips (for sale) to the degree the other businesses carry.”

The Brea Police Department is asking anyone with information on the robbery to call (714) 990-7625.