San Diego

An “almost million-to-one� coincidence led to the arrest of a San Diego man on robbery charges early Sunday after he crossed paths with two Tijuana men he had allegedly beaten and robbed two hours earlier.

Jose Luna Sanchez, 20, and Ramon Acosta, 21, told police they had been beaten with sticks and robbed of $100 by three men in San Ysidro late Saturday, shortly after the two had crossed the border illegally, said San Diego Police Department spokesman Bill Robinson.

Two hours later and 21 miles north, the two men recognized one of the assailants in a car at Broadway and 4th Avenue. Sanchez leaped onto the hood of the car. The car’s driver began driving in a circle, trying to throw the man off the hood, Robinson said.

Alerted by this unusual behavior, San Diego Police Officer Howard LaBore stopped the vehicle and questioned Sanchez and the car’s driver, Danny Moya Navarro, 20. Navarro was subsequently arrested and booked into San Diego County Jail on suspicion of two counts of robbery, Robinson said.

“It was an almost million-to-one shot,� Robinson said of the chance meeting.

The other two suspects in the robbery are still at large. San Diego police turned Sanchez and Acosta over to the U.S. Border Patrol.