Hijacking Arrest Made; Truck Found

Police have arrested one man and recovered a new $28,000 truck that had been stolen at gunpoint about two days earlier during a test drive from a local auto dealership.

Samuel Negrete II, 24, of Fullerton, was taken into custody about 4 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of grand-theft auto and carrying someone away for the purpose of committing a robbery, Westminster Police Sgt. Mark Groh said Monday.

Westminster police, after receiving information about the location of the stolen GMC truck, made the arrest on the 600 block of Pomona Street in Fullerton. Police said the truck, which had been partially stripped, was found in a garage at the address where Negrete was arrested.

On Thursday evening, two men posing as customers walked into Mike McCarthy Buick-Subaru-GMC dealership in Westminster and asked salesman Tony Armstrong for a test drive. A third man was also with the group, but did not get in the truck. The three men had apparently come to the dealership Wednesday and asked to test drive the truck, but were asked to come back the next day because the business was about to close.

The test drive lasted about 35 minutes before one of the robbers pointed a gun at the salesman and ordered him from the truck. Armstrong was left stranded, but uninjured, near Orangethorpe Avenue and Lemon Street in Anaheim.

He said Friday he felt lucky to have come through the ordeal without getting shot, adding that the robbers were fairly polite and said, “Sorry, dude,” before driving off.