Berkeley Police Department arrested three suspects in connection with a recent grand theft involving a laptop, but police are still searching for a second team responsible for Friday laptop thefts, according to a Tuesday morning BPD Nixle alert detailing the latest cases of community interest.
On the afternoon of Jan. 29, a man was standing at a bus stop on the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Woolsey Street with his backpack on the ground at his side when a suspect grabbed the backpack — containing a laptop — and fled to a waiting vehicle, the alert said. Based on witness descriptions of the car, the Albany Police Department spotted the vehicle near Marin and Santa Fe avenues. BPD subsequently arrested three suspects — Ronald Steven Swanson III of Richmond, Imara Jobali Hutton Jr. from El Sobrante and a 17-year-old Richmond male, whose identity is concealed under privacy laws for minors — on suspicion of grand theft, among other charges.
About noon Feb. 1, two women sitting at Philz Coffee on Ninth Street had their laptops snatched by two male suspects. The suspects fled the coffee shop and got into a double-parked vehicle. BPD is searching for the two suspects, described as Hispanic men in their 20s who are up to 5 feet 10 inches tall. The first suspect wore black pants along with a black and white jacket, the second a dark-colored sweatshirt and sweatpants, according to witness descriptions.
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