Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Police Flag Down Man in Restaurant Robbery

A 26-year-old Santa Ana man who took a cab to a Coco’s restaurant robbed the cashier of $930 and left in the same cab, police said.

The man entered the Coco’s at 3811 S. Bristol St. about 9:10 p.m. Monday, told the cashier he had a gun and demanded cash, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Collie Provence said.

A description of the man and the cab were broadcast over the police radio. Police Officer Jaime Lopez saw the car at Harbor Boulevard and Warner Avenue and arrested the passenger, Billy Joe Copeland, on suspicion of robbery. Police recovered $850.

Officers questioned the cab driver but “he thought he had just taken another customer to Coco’s and had not known that a robbery had taken place,” Provence said.

Police are investigating similar robberies of restaurants in which suspects used cabs in Tustin, Anaheim and Costa Mesa, police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.

Officers are also investigating any connection between the Monday holdup and an attempted robbery at a Coco’s in Costa Mesa about 20 minutes earlier.

About 8:50 p.m. Monday, a man asked for some pie at the Coco’s restaurant at 1507 South Coast Drive, and then simulated a weapon and demanded cash.

“But the cashier didn’t give him the money right away,” Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dennis Cost said. “She went into the back room and called us.”

While she was calling police, the man left. It was not known whether he fled in a cab, Cost said.