Robbery

A Newport Beach man didn’t intentionally kill a liquor store owner during a robbery because he returned a stolen magazine before pushing him to the ground and accidentally killing him, a defense attorney argued Tuesday. Whether Weston Scott Kruger, 31, brought a pornographic magazine back to Sportsman Liquor Store owner Hao “Tony” Huynh before fatally shoving him to the ground is the focus of the defense. Kruger, a former Newport Harbor High School student, is charged with murder with an enhancement for killing in the commission of a robbery.

Police are looking for a gunman who forced his way into a Newport Beach home Monday afternoon. About 1:08 p.m., a man knocked on the door of a home in the 2000 block of Cliff Drive. When a woman answered, he pulled out a gun and entered the home, police said. Authorities said the gunman was wearing a blue cap and a dark sweat shirt. When he got inside, he stole jewelry and escaped. Police set up a perimeter but didn’t find him, said Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Burdette.

Friday’s take-over robbery of a Newport Beach bank may be the work of the “20 Questions Bandits,” a group of armed men who’ve robbed half a dozen other banks in Southern California since last year, FBI officials said Monday. About 5:48 p.m. Friday, two armed men in dark clothes and ski masks entered the Bank of America branch at 1016 Irvine Ave. They ordered everyone inside to get on the ground, hopped the teller counter and demanded money from some of the bank tellers, said Newport Beach Police Lt. Craig Fox. After getting a hold of the cash the men left the bank and fled in a black Chevrolet Tahoe parked on the building’s east side, Fox said.

A Costa Mesa man was arrested Thursday afternoon on suspicion of trying to rob a local bank earlier in the week. About 3 p.m. police spotted Kenneth Lee Masoner, 40, near Newport Boulevard and 21st Street in Costa Mesa. Authorities had identified him through past booking photos as their suspect in an attempted robbery Tuesday morning at Chase Bank on 17th Street. Police said Masoner demanded cash from a bank teller and threatened her with a gun, though it’s not clear whether he was armed.

The man accused of being Orange County?s most prolific bank robber in years pleaded not guilty Monday to more than a dozen felonies. David Andrew Camp, 50, of Laguna Niguel, was charged with 14 counts of second-degree burglary after police arrested him last week thanks to a tip from family members. Police said Camp robbed 14 banks in Orange County, including two in Costa Mesa, between Nov. 30 and Feb. 9. He was dubbed the ?Blue Note Bandit? because during one of his first robberies, he handed the bank teller a note on blue paper demanding cash, authorities said.

“Blue moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own.” I didn’t say that. Rodgers and Hart did, in 1934. But there’s a good chance that David Andrew Camp is singing it these days. Camp was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of being the “Blue Note Bandit” — a workaholic bank robber who pulled off an amazing 15 bank heists in Orange County since November, including two in Costa Mesa — a Chase Bank on Dec. 1 and a U.S. Bank on Feb. 1. Camp got the “blue note” tag because he handed tellers a note, usually on blue paper, which is a nice touch.

SANTA ANA – The Blue Note Bandit’s remarkable run is over, authorities said Friday. After a string of 15 bank robberies in Orange County during a two-and-a-half-month period, including in Costa Mesa, authorities on Wednesday arrested and booked David Andrew Camp, a 50-year-old unemployed salesman from Laguna Niguel, for allegedly committing the crimes. A team of FBI and Orange County Sheriff’s Department personnel arrested Camp on an unrelated warrant from Los Angeles.

Two people were robbed at gunpoint in Costa Mesa over the weekend in separate incidents, police said Monday. About 12:40 p.m., police said a man was on his bike near Victoria Street and Canyon Drive when two men waved the bicyclist down as if they needed something. When the bicyclist went over, one man pulled out a gun and the other a knife, Lt. Bryan Glass said. They led the man to a nearby footpath where they stole his backpack. They then got into a waiting vehicle and left, Glass said.

The Blue Note Bandit has struck again. Orange County’s most prolific bank robber in recent memory hit his 13th bank in two months Monday when he robbed a U.S. Bank in Costa Mesa at about 2:30 p.m., police said. It’s the second bank he’s robbed in Costa Mesa. According to the FBI, the Blue Note Bandit robbed a local Chase Bank on Dec. 1. He’s been dubbed the Blue Note Bandit because during one of his first robberies, he passed a note to the teller on blue paper.

Violent crime in Costa Mesa rose by more than 15% in the first six months of 2009 when compared with the same period last year, according to statistics released by the FBI. Between January and June of this year, there have been more robberies, assaults, burglaries and thefts than in the same months in 2008, the semiannual crime report showed. Police Sgt. Bryan Glass said that with more recent statistics factored in, including data from the July to November period of both years, violent crimes actually decreased.