MURRIETA: Men arrested in connection with robbery series

By DAN SIMMONS - Staff writer | Tuesday, August 5, 2008 7:11 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Two Murrieta men were arrested this week in connection with a series of sandwich shop robberies in San Diego County.

The most recent robbery was reported just after 7 p.m. Monday at Quiznos on Centre City Parkway, when a man holding a handgun ordered a clerk to the back of the store. He escaped with about $100 and fled with another man in a car, Murrieta police Sgt. Mike Cable said.

An officer saw a red pickup truck with an extended cab that matched the description of the getaway vehicle and followed it until it stopped suddenly and the two men inside got out and ran off, authorities said.

One of the men, 36-year-old Steven Kuhn of Murrieta, was caught after a short foot chase, Lt. Neal Griffin said.

The other suspect, 35-year-old Danny Thompson of Murrieta, escaped into the neighborhood and wasn't found until about 9:45 p.m., when officers found him hiding in the attic of a house on North Fig Street, Griffin said. Thompson reportedly had a handgun with him that resembled the one used in the robbery, the lieutenant added.

The truck and the two men matched descriptions given by witnesses in at least two other recent sandwich shop robberies, Griffin said.

Officers found a Quiznos bag in the back seat of the men's truck along with an empty gun case, Griffin said.

On Tuesday, San Diego County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at the apartment on Calle del Lago where Thompson and Kuhn live in Murrieta, sheriff's Sgt. Art Wager said.

In the last two weeks, three Vista sandwich shops and two Escondido sandwich shops have been robbed by a thin white man who, armed with a gun, stole cash from the stores' registers.

"We're checking to see if there are any similar types of robberies in Riverside County," Wager said.

Rochelle Deines, the woman who lived at the Escondido home that Thompson was found hiding in said she knew something was amiss when she approached her front door before 9 p.m. Monday night. The deadbolt, which she never locks, appeared to be locked. When she opened the door, the door jamb was splintered and broken.

But nothing was missing from her living room, not her widescreen plasma television, not anything.

She said she called her friend and explained the circumstances.

"That means someone's in your house!" the friend told her. "Get out now!"

Deines said she grabbed her purse, went outside and called police about a possible burglary. She had no idea about the manhunt under way for Thompson.

She said she had been out to eat when the search began and didn't think much about it when she returned and saw a helicopter circling above.

Deines called police a second time, about 10 minutes later, after noticing some movement in her son's bedroom.

Officers arrived shortly after with a dog, she said. They went in, up to the second floor and a lot of commotion was heard: dogs barking, an officer shouting orders. They had their man, holed up in a second-floor attic.

The dog, Utah, bit Thompson and subdued him, officers said. The sight of Thompson being led out in handcuffs frightened her even more, Deines said.

"I'm having this panic attack and he's sitting there laughing at me as he was led away," she said.

But she praised the police for being "extremely sympathetic" and helpful after the arrest. And she planned to reward Utah, in only his second week with the police department, with a doggy-cake Tuesday night.

"I don't think (police) would have found (Thompson) if the dog hadn't gone nuts," she said.

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