Police arrest pair suspected in computer theft

-- Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Costa Mesa police officers arrested two people early

Tuesday on suspicion of breaking in to the Gateway Country store on the

200 block of East 17th Street and stealing computer equipment worth

$4,000.

Officers arrested Eric Fernandez, 29, and Yvonne Becerra, 25, both of

Pico Rivera, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. John FitzPatrick.

The two alleged burglars, driving a white Chevy Blazer, were stopped

at 2 a.m. Tuesday when officers responding to the store’s alarm saw the

vehicle speeding away from the scene, FitzPatrick said.

Officers found the heisted computers in the trunk of the car when they

conducted a search, he said. The store’s glass window had been smashed.

FitzPatrick said the two are also suspected of committing similar

burglaries in several Gateway Country store locations in Los Angeles and

Orange counties.

The company will beef up security at all of its locations, said Greg

Lund, spokesman for Gateway Country. At least 10 Gateway stores were

burglarized during the last three weeks, he said.