Alleged Fast-Food Robber Lived in Lake Forest

A transient whose last known address was in Lake Forest was arrested Wednesday night in Laguna Beach after allegedly attempting to rob a Jack in the Box and a gas station—the latest in a string of more than 30 robberies of fast-food restaurants and other businesses he is suspected to have taken part in, City News Service reports.

David Brian Mattson, 48, allegedly out pulled a gun in the drive-through lane of a Jack in the Box, but—as has happened before in attempted robberies Mattson allegedly took part in—the clerk shut the window, said Laguna Beach police Lt. Jason Kravetz.

Mattson allegedly then tried to stick-up Village Mart Gas Station while wearing a plastic bag over his head. But then he saw a police sergeant's patrol car, which was on scene for reasons not related to the robbery.

''The clerk ran out after him saying, 'He's got a gun,' and that's when he was arrested,'' Kravetz told City News Service.

Mattson was arrested on suspicion of two counts of robbery and one count of commercial burglary, and is being held on $100,000 bail. Agencies throughout Southern California have been calling the Laguna Beach Police Department, Kravetz said, asking questions in connection with more than 30 suspected robberies in Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties.