Irvine Man Held in String of Robberies

A 31-year-old Irvine man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion that he is the “Dr Pepper bandit,” responsible for a string of robberies at convenience stores in the last two months, police said.

A team of undercover officers from the Costa Mesa and Irvine police departments arrested Marc Allen Lewis at 9 a.m. as he was leaving the Orangetree condominium complex, where he lives with a cousin, Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick said.

Lewis, who grew up in Newport Beach and attended Newport Harbor High School, was booked in connection with robberies from Tustin to Mission Viejo. He is being held at Costa Mesa City Jail on $50,000 bail.

Lewis’ lawyer, longtime family friend Si Chebithes, said of his client: “There’s nothing in his history that would in any way associate him with the charges pending. In many ways, he’s been quite an exemplary young man.”

Police dubbed the robber the Dr Pepper bandit because he usually walked to the counter with a bottle of the soft drink before holding up the cashier.

Investigators believed the robber lived in Irvine because all the incidents took place near there but never within that city.

“He didn’t hit in Irvine, so one of the detectives had a hunch he lived in Irvine,” FitzPatrick said.

On Tuesday, police released a surveillance videotape that showed the bandit using a handgun to hold up a cashier. Two subsequent phone calls led detectives to suspect Lewis.