Deputy Arrests 2 Women in Back-to-Back South County Holdups

Two San Clemente women suspected of back-to-back holdups were arrested early Wednesday after a sheriff’s deputy spotted their truck turning onto Coast Highway in Dana Point just minutes after an attempted robbery.

Lynn Anne Murine, 24, and Patricia Lynn Demenno, 32, surrendered without incident after they pulled off the road near Doheny State Park.

They were booked on suspicion of robbery and attempted robbery and are being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each.

The first incident took place at a Circle K convenience store on Del Obispo Street in Dana Point, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson.

Night clerk Michael Flores, 19, told police that two women entered the store, wandered to the back, then approached the counter after all other customers had left.

The older woman put her purse on the counter and told Flores she wanted him to put all the money from the cash register into her purse. When he hesitated, she began fishing in her purse. Flores told police he assumed she was looking for a gun, so he put the money on the counter. She then shoved the money into her purse, and the two women left.

In the second incident, about 1:20 a.m., two women in a light-colored truck drove into an Exxon gasoline station on Junipero Serra Road in San Juan Capistrano. They walked into the office, where the older of the two asked the attendant, Keith Brazinski, for change.

He told her he would have to go out to the pumps to open a cash box. When he did, the older woman went with him and the other returned to the truck.

Brazinski told police that when he open the cash box, the older woman said, “I’ll just take it all now.”

Brazinski said he thought the woman was kidding until she brandished what looked like a kitchen knife and raised it in the air. Brazinski said he grabbed her arm and knocked the knife away. The women fled in the truck.

Brazinski called police with a description of the truck and its license plate number.

Less than five minutes later, Olson said, a sheriff’s deputy spotted a truck matching the description and license plate, with two women inside, turning south onto Coast Highway from Dana Point Harbor Drive.

Police reports say Demenno is an unemployed hostess. Murine, who has a San Juan Capistrano address as well as a San Clemente address, is a market checker.