Piedmont Police Arrest 5 Suspects Minutes After Grand Lake Area Robbery

Piedmont police get the credit for stopping and taking five people into custody within minutes of a strong-arm street robbery in the Grand Lake area yesterday afternoon, police said.

The robbery near Lake Merritt was reported at 12:51 p.m. Thursday, said Officer Johnna Watson, the public information officer for the Oakland Police Department.

By that time, a Piedmont police officer had already stopped a silver Chrysler for erratic driving and expired registration, Piedmont police Capt. Scott Wyatt said. 

When a description of the robbery suspects and their vehicle was broadcast on OPD's radio system minute later, Piedmont officers realized the description matched the stopped vehicle and its occupants, Wyatt said.

According to a neighborhood group email, the robbery victims were two women who were thrown to the ground on Warfield Avenue between Mandana Boulevard and Wickson Avenue (between Grand and Lakeshore avenues, near the Grand Lake Theatre). A purse and computer were stolen by a group of four or five people, including one woman, the email said. Those details were not confirmed by police.

Wyatt said PPD Officer Kristina Foster was driving behind a Chrysler on Lake Park Avenue at 12:47 p.m. when she noticed the vehicle repeatedly switching lanes without using the turn indicator lights.

A query to the state Department of Motor Vehicles showed that the car's registration had expired, and Foster pulled the car over Santa Clara Avenue near Vernon Street, Wyatt said.

Officer Foster found five people in the car — a male driver, a female in the front passenger seat and three males in the back seat, Wyatt said. She also smelled marijuana in the vehicle, he said.

PPD Police Sgt. Mike Munoz, on his way to serve as back-up for Officer Foster, head the OPD radio broadcast and realized the description and license plate number matched the vehicle in Foster's traffic stop, Wyatt said. 

Along with Foster and Munoz, PPD Officer Tom Kinkaid and new PPD trainee Officer George Tucker assited with taking the five people into ustody and holding them for Oakland police, Wyatt said.

OPD spokesperson Watson said the five people in the Chrysler were arrested on suspicion of robbery.

Piedmont police identified those arrested as 20-year old Raheem Hill, 20-year old Marnee Causey and three juvenile males, ages 14, 15, and 17.

Items from the robbery and from an earlier burglary were recovered, Watson said.

Investigators believe the group may have been involved in additional crimes, she said.

"We want to thank the Piedmont Police Department for their assistance in helping us reduce crime," she said in a press release.

Anyone with additional information about the robbery is asked to contact Oakland police investigators at (510) 238-3326 (robbery) or (510) 238-3951 (burglary), or Crime Stoppers of Oakland (510) 777-8572. 

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