CHULA VISTA Romeo Montillano wanted to be a Chula Vista police officer.

The Police Department wanted Montillano in handcuffs.

Police spokesman Bernard Gonzales said investigators identified Montillano as the suspect in a robbery at the Kmart on East H Street last Dec. 8. Then they learned he was signed up to take the police department's entrance examination two months hence, Gonzales said.

Then, even knowing he was wanted, Montillano showed up to take the test. Eventually.

In the robbery, a man stole a television set, DVD player and telephone from the store, then beat up store employees who confronted him in the parking lot.

Detective Ruth Hinzman telephoned Montillano. He told her he was in Las Vegas, but would be back in about three weeks to take the police exam, Gonzales said.

A skeptical but thorough Hinzman checked with her colleagues to confirm Montillano was signed up for the exam.

He was.

In a second call to Montillano, police Agent Henry Martin asked if he was planning on attending an orientation for police applicants on Feb. 18. Montillano said he would, Gonzales said, but he was a no-show.

End of the story? Not even close.

Montillano called police to apologize for missing the orientation, Gonzales said. He said his vehicle had been impounded in Las Vegas and he was trying to raise the cash to get it back.

At that point, detectives were convinced Montillano would realize he'd be arrested if he showed his face anywhere near police headquarters, and that they were now looking for a fugitive, Gonzales said.

Wrong again.

Five days after the missed orientation, police say the city got an e-mail from Montillano, saying he planned to catch a bus from Las Vegas to San Diego so as not to miss the entrance exam, Gonzales said.

Detectives doubted Montillano would show up, but they made plans to arrest him just in case.

So Hinzman and Martin were waiting at the registration table when one of the police hopefuls walked up and signed in: Romeo Ogilve Montillano.

The officers, momentarily stunned, called Montillano out of the exam room and into a nearby office, where they arrested him, Gonzales said. While he was being busted, Montillano asked two questions.

The first: Would he still be able to take to take the test?

No, he was told, his name was being removed from the list of applicants.

The second: Could he re-apply and maybe take the test later?

Montillano was booked into jail on suspicion of robbery, making criminal threats and grand theft in connection with the Kmart episode, Gonzales said. They later found that Montillano had been arrested in November on suspicion of a misdemeanor theft from another Chula Vista business