Three arrested in connection to bicycle thefts

Three people were arrested in connection with bicycle thefts in Newport Beach, police said Monday.

Jonathan Robert McBeth, 19, of Huntington Beach, and two 17-year-old boys from Santa Ana were arrested for stealing bicycles Friday and Saturday, Newport Beach police said in a news release.

A citizen detained McBeth near Sixth Street and West Bay Avenue on Friday after being spotted by a man who saw McBeth trying to take off with his bicycle, police said.

Early Saturday, police were called out to 39th Street and Seashore Drive, where the two Santa Ana teens were seen trying to break the lock off a bicycle.

The two teenagers ran after they were spotted, and police found them a short distance away still in the possession of bolt cutters, according to police. They were detained for conspiracy to commit petty theft.

Bicycle thefts in Newport Beach have increased significantly in recent months, and police begun using target enforcement in response to the spike in thefts.

— Lauren Williams