Newport Beach area Craigslist seller robbed, Suspect Caught in Anaheim

Newport Beach, CA--For Craigslist sellers, meeting at a neutral location is usually a good idea. However, the sale of a iPhone went horribly wrong for a Huntington Beach man on Wednesday.

During the sale of his gold Apple iPhone, in the 3200 block of Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa, the buyer reportedly grabbed the phone and sprayed the seller with pepper spray and ran.

A 45-year-0ld Huntington Beach man reportedly who put the iPhone on sale via Craigslist met his customer at approximately 6:15 p.m. in Costa Mesa.

The customer inspected the phone, returned it. Suddenly, without being provoked, the buyer assaulted the seller with the pepper spray, pocketed the phone, and ran.

"He fled on foot east on Gisler Avenue, then south on College Avenue," Costa Mesa police Lt. Greg Scott stated.

A witness to the event spotted Steven Anthony Patino, a 20-year-old Anaheim resident, driving a red Mazda 3 and took a picture of his license plate. The vehicle was spotted Thursday morning by detectives in the area of South Bella Vista Street and West Del Monte Drive in Anaheim.

"The detectives arrested Patino, and he was booked Thursday, June 30, into the Costa Mesa City Jail on suspicion of robbery," Scott said.