5 Men Charged in Theft From UPS Truck in Irvine

Police on Thursday chased and arrested five men who they said had cased a United Parcel Service truck and stolen two computers while the driver was making a delivery.

The UPS driver had noticed a blue van following him as he made pickups and deliveries in the Irvine Spectrum area about 4:30 p.m., police said.

When the driver went inside a business, the lock on his truck was broken and two boxes containing computers that the driver had just picked up from Advanced Logic Research were taken.

A passerby interrupted the theft, scuffled with the thieves and alerted the driver, police said.

A caller to police reported seeing the blue van leave the area of Morgan and Hughes streets at 4:38 p.m. Eight minutes later, an Irvine police unit saw the van going north on the Santa Ana Freeway near Jamboree Road.

Irvine police chased the van into Tustin, where about seven men jumped from the vehicle and ran. With the help of nine Tustin police units, five of the men were rounded up, said Irvine Sgt. Phil Povey.

Arrested were Rafael Sepata, 23, who arrived in the United States from Puerto Rico three days ago; Andres Ernesto Torres Delgado, 24, of Santa Monica; John Kevin Correa, 27, of Los Angeles; Ramon Carloto Jaromillo, 35, of Long Beach, and a fifth man who has not been identified.