Countywide : Robberies, Assault Tied to Same Group

Police are looking for a group of men who might have robbed or assaulted people in at least four incidents Wednesday in Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa.

The case began in Fountain Valley about 12:20 p.m., when two adults were robbed at gunpoint while they sat in their car at Edinger Avenue near Mile Square Park, Police Sgt. Dann Bean said.

At 8:35 p.m., a man returning to his car after shopping in the 9000 block of Warner Avenue in Fountain Valley was robbed by two men, one with a shotgun and one with a handgun.

The bandits forced the man to lie face down in his car while they stole his wallet, checkbook and cigars, Bean said. They were seen leaving the area in a dark-colored, possibly blue, mini-van.

Two hours later in Huntington Beach, two men tried to rob a man at Slater Avenue and Beach Boulevard, police there said. The men displayed a weapon that looked like a sawed-off shotgun, then demanded money, said Sgt. Les Robinson.

But they fled when the man said he had only small change.

A similar robbery occurred in Costa Mesa about 9:30 p.m. at Harbor Boulevard and Gisler Avenue. Two men took a man’s wallet and fled in a nearby minivan, where a driver waited.

In all four incidents, the robbers were described as Latinos in their teens or early 20s.

In the Huntington Beach robbery, one gunman was about 5-foot-8 and wore a black trench coat. The other was described as being 5-foot-5 and 170 pounds, wearing a brown jacket.