Arrests Follow 4-Hour Robbery Spree in South County

A pair of suspected robbers who embarked on a South County spree Saturday night are in jail after they were arrested in a Lake Forest motel, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Lori Anne Lawrence, 39, of Arizona and Gary Allen Athan, 48, are being held at Orange County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery, said Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Paddock.

The first store targeted was Kings Way Lane, a novelty shop in Laguna Hills, he said. Paddock said Lawrence walked into the store, in the 24000 block of Avenida de la Carlota, shortly after 5:30 p.m. while Athan waited outside. The clerk was given a note demanding money and threatening harm if the money wasn’t handed over, Paddock said. The clerk turned over an undetermined amount of cash, he said.

The next robbery took place about 8 p.m. at a tanning salon in Lake Forest.

Paddock said the same demand for money was made and that again a clerk complied. In this case, though, the victim was able to give a partial description of the vehicle the pair allegedly used.

An hour later, Paddock said, Lawrence entered Robinsons-May in Mission Viejo. After trying on a watch in the jewelry department, Lawrence delivered a note threatening an employee if she did not hand over the money in her cash register, Paddock said.

“They got involved in a tussle with the clerk trying to get the watch back,” Paddock said, adding that the would-be robber dropped the watch and ran from the store--without any money.

“While one certainly has to admire the courage of the clerk who wrestled the suspect, we certainly would discourage that,” he said.

The next attempted robbery occurred at 9:30 p.m. at a Petco store in the 25000 block of El Paseo in Mission Viejo. This time, the note handed to the clerk merely said “Please.”

“Then she told them, ‘There is somebody out there with a gun pointed at us,’ ” Paddock said. “ ‘Give me all of your money.’ ”

The employee said she did not have the key to the safe and walked to the back of the store. As the suspect left the store, another employee got a more detailed description of the car and called police.

Sheriff’s deputies located a matching vehicle in the parking lot of the Travelodge Motel in Lake Forest.

Paddock said the two suspects were found in a room with the door open a few minutes after 10 p.m. and were arrested without incident.