Attempt to rob 2 stores nets no cash and 1 arrest, police say

A man has been arrested on suspicion of robbing two stores and assaulting an officer in Laguna Beach, according to police.

At 11:43 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to the Art of Dr. Seuss at Chase Art, 417 South Coast Hwy., after receiving calls about a robbery that had just occurred, said Sgt. Tim Kleiser of the Laguna Beach Police Department.

“He came into the store and yelled, ‘Give me all your money right now. This is a robbery. I mean it’ multiple times,” Kleiser said.

The man demanded money from an employee, who told him she did not have any.

“The employee remained in the store and the suspect kept asking for money,” Kleiser said. “Customers fled the store and went into Hotel Laguna and called the police.”

The man ran out of the business and across the street before he was detained, struggling, by officers near Glenneyre Street and Forest Avenue, police said.

Witnesses told police that a man also had just attempted to rob the Tuvalu home store at 295 Forest Ave., police said.

At Tuvalu, a man had demanded money but the store clerk ran out of the store to a neighboring business, where she called police, according to Kleiser.

Kleiser said the man did not take anything from either store and no weapon was seen.

After being arrested, while in the police department’s booking room, the man kicked an officer, who received minor injuries. Additional officers were able to subdue him, according to police.

Joshua Poeska, 27, of Laguna Niguel was arrested on suspicion of felony robbery, misdemeanor battery on a peace officer and misdemeanor resisting arrest. He is being held on $50,000 bail at Orange County Jail.