High & Low
Some news matters, some news doesn't. This time, we'll report and let the residents of Tazerville decide.
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Police see pattern in jewelry robberies
RICHMOND: Four charged Wednesday in Hilltop Mall heist; detectives say method similar to recent thefts
By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Last weekend's jewelry store heist at Hilltop Mall appears similar in method to several other recent robberies in the Bay Area, Richmond police said after prosecutors charged four in connection with the case Wednesday.
The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office filed robbery and burglary charges against 28-year-old Demarco Hill, 25-year-old Antonio Boyd and his brother, 22-year-old Shawndale Boyd.
Laviette Smith, 26, faces an accessory charge. Police arrested her the day of the robbery, but she was released for lack of evidence. Prosecutors now have issued a $100,000 warrant for her arrest, Richmond police Detective Nicole Abetkov said.
Richmond police arrested the three men Sunday after searching the 900 block of Humboldt Street, soon after Exotic Custom Jewelry at 2136 Hilltop Mall Road reported that a precise team of four robbers smashed a glass case with a sledgehammer and emptied it of 20 to 30 expensive watches.
A security guard saw the silver 2002 Buick in which the robbers left. A Richmond police officer taking an unrelated police report on Humboldt saw the car leave Interstate 80 at the McBryde Avenue exit and drive past.
The suspects, apparently unnerved by the sight of the officer, stopped the car and ran into backyards in the neighborhood. Officers found three of the four suspects and are trying to identify the missing man, Abetkov said.
Police found a sledgehammer, stolen watches and other evidence at the crime scene.
The Buick was originally reported stolen in a carjacking to Pittsburg police by Smith, who rented the car. Evidence indicates she made the report to avoid suspicion, Abetkov said.
Abetkov said several other law enforcement agencies, including San Francisco police and the FBI, spoke to Richmond detectives this week because certain details of the case mirror those in other robberies along the Interstate 80 corridor, including several in Sacramento.
"We are trying to determine whether there is a connection," Abetkov said. "We would ask any departments with similar cases to contact us."
The Hilltop robbers on the store's surveillance videotape appeared well-practiced, Abetkov said. Four masked men entered the store, one pointing a gun, one with a sledgehammer and two with pillow cases. They were in and out of the business in 21 seconds, she said.
All three men are being held at County Jail in Martinez. Police said all are from San Francisco or Oakland.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.
Police ask anyone with information about Laviette Smith, or any other law enforcement agencies investigating similar robberies, to call Detective Nicole Abetkov at 510-412-2081.
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Mayoral candidates warned about posting illegal signs
By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Clean up or pay up.
That's the word from Richmond City Hall, which has warned all three mayoral candidates to stop festooning the town with illegally posted political placards or prepare to pay cleanup bills.
"You were informed that you must obtain a permit from the City of Richmond before you post campaign signs," City Clerk Diane Holmes wrote in the Aug. 25 letters to the candidates. "As of today ... you have not obtained a sign permit from the City of Richmond. Therefore, your signs are illegally posted."
The warning was the first for Mayor Irma Anderson and challenger Gary Bell, who were miffed that Holmes cited them when signs for City Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin -- who received her third warning --outnumbered theirs.
"She's got a lot of signs, and it's costing the city a lot of money," Anderson said this week. "It takes a lot of time and money for our Police Department to go and take them down. I would rather spend that money on police services."
Said Bell: "We are taking them down, because if we are the ones who are making and writing the laws, we're going to have to follow the law.
"I hope that Ms. McLaughlin does the same."
McLaughlin says she is a victim of her own success.
"We pass out the signs at different campaign events and ask people to put them up" legally, McLaughlin said. "But we have so many volunteers ... I don't know if all of them know the rules about where they can post."
All candidates said this week they took down the illegal signs cited in the warning and either paid for or were preparing to pay for proper permits.
City ordinance prohibits political signs in the public right-of-way, which includes utility poles, fences bordering public sidewalks or trees in public space. The state similarly prohibits political signs on freeway easements, and it bills candidates for any sign it removes. Political signs are permitted on front lawns and in windows of private property with permission of the owner.
Richmond Police Sgt. Darren Monahan, who supervises the city's code enforcement workers, said the department has removed dozens of illegally posted placards since the period to declare candidacy ended Aug. 11 -- not enough to fill a Dumpster, but noticeably more than in past election seasons.
Nearly all of those signs supported McLaughlin, he said, and new signs have replaced those taken down by city crews. Signs appear frequently on fences near the Interstate 80 exit ramp on Cutting Boulevard and lining other heavily traveled arterials such as Richmond Parkway and Harbour Way.
Anderson and Bell offered explanations similar to McLaughlin's for the placards bearing their names, saying any illegally posted signs were not placed by their campaign staffs but by supporters unfamiliar with the rules.
Holmes said everyone who runs for local office receives the same information about posting signs when taking out paperwork to formally declare candidacy. McLaughlin said her campaign would stamp the backs of signs it distributes with information about where not to post.
Holmes' warning letter to McLaughlin also rebuked the candidate for faxing a request to use "city staff or media to distribute (her) campaign literature or solicit contributions." Using public resources for campaigning would be illegal, Holmes noted.
McLaughlin said she did not send the two-page fax bearing her name to Holmes on Aug. 23 for inclusion on the city's "master calendar." The fax included a flier from McLaughlin's campaign with information about endorsements, a future fund-raiser and requests for donations.
"Her allegation that I faxed something is totally false," McLaughlin said. "I'm very offended that she sent that (letter). It did not come from my fax number. She just assumed that I sent it, though that is absolutely not the case."
McLaughlin said she does not know who sent the fax but guessed it was a supporter taking initiative without her authorization.
On Wednesday afternoon, fences and buildings along Cutting Boulevard had a light sprinkling of signs for mayoral and City Council candidates. Richmond Parkway had no political signs, but plenty of illegal signs for commercial interests.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.
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Police see pattern in jewelry robberies
RICHMOND: Four charged Wednesday in Hilltop Mall heist; detectives say method similar to recent thefts
By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Last weekend's jewelry store heist at Hilltop Mall appears similar in method to several other recent robberies in the Bay Area, Richmond police said after prosecutors charged four in connection with the case Wednesday.
The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office filed robbery and burglary charges against 28-year-old Demarco Hill, 25-year-old Antonio Boyd and his brother, 22-year-old Shawndale Boyd.
Laviette Smith, 26, faces an accessory charge. Police arrested her the day of the robbery, but she was released for lack of evidence. Prosecutors now have issued a $100,000 warrant for her arrest, Richmond police Detective Nicole Abetkov said.
Richmond police arrested the three men Sunday after searching the 900 block of Humboldt Street, soon after Exotic Custom Jewelry at 2136 Hilltop Mall Road reported that a precise team of four robbers smashed a glass case with a sledgehammer and emptied it of 20 to 30 expensive watches.
A security guard saw the silver 2002 Buick in which the robbers left. A Richmond police officer taking an unrelated police report on Humboldt saw the car leave Interstate 80 at the McBryde Avenue exit and drive past.
The suspects, apparently unnerved by the sight of the officer, stopped the car and ran into backyards in the neighborhood. Officers found three of the four suspects and are trying to identify the missing man, Abetkov said.
Police found a sledgehammer, stolen watches and other evidence at the crime scene.
The Buick was originally reported stolen in a carjacking to Pittsburg police by Smith, who rented the car. Evidence indicates she made the report to avoid suspicion, Abetkov said.
Abetkov said several other law enforcement agencies, including San Francisco police and the FBI, spoke to Richmond detectives this week because certain details of the case mirror those in other robberies along the Interstate 80 corridor, including several in Sacramento.
"We are trying to determine whether there is a connection," Abetkov said. "We would ask any departments with similar cases to contact us."
The Hilltop robbers on the store's surveillance videotape appeared well-practiced, Abetkov said. Four masked men entered the store, one pointing a gun, one with a sledgehammer and two with pillow cases. They were in and out of the business in 21 seconds, she said.
All three men are being held at County Jail in Martinez. Police said all are from San Francisco or Oakland.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.
Police ask anyone with information about Laviette Smith, or any other law enforcement agencies investigating similar robberies, to call Detective Nicole Abetkov at 510-412-2081.
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Mayoral candidates warned about posting illegal signs
By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Clean up or pay up.
That's the word from Richmond City Hall, which has warned all three mayoral candidates to stop festooning the town with illegally posted political placards or prepare to pay cleanup bills.
"You were informed that you must obtain a permit from the City of Richmond before you post campaign signs," City Clerk Diane Holmes wrote in the Aug. 25 letters to the candidates. "As of today ... you have not obtained a sign permit from the City of Richmond. Therefore, your signs are illegally posted."
The warning was the first for Mayor Irma Anderson and challenger Gary Bell, who were miffed that Holmes cited them when signs for City Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin -- who received her third warning --outnumbered theirs.
"She's got a lot of signs, and it's costing the city a lot of money," Anderson said this week. "It takes a lot of time and money for our Police Department to go and take them down. I would rather spend that money on police services."
Said Bell: "We are taking them down, because if we are the ones who are making and writing the laws, we're going to have to follow the law.
"I hope that Ms. McLaughlin does the same."
McLaughlin says she is a victim of her own success.
"We pass out the signs at different campaign events and ask people to put them up" legally, McLaughlin said. "But we have so many volunteers ... I don't know if all of them know the rules about where they can post."
All candidates said this week they took down the illegal signs cited in the warning and either paid for or were preparing to pay for proper permits.
City ordinance prohibits political signs in the public right-of-way, which includes utility poles, fences bordering public sidewalks or trees in public space. The state similarly prohibits political signs on freeway easements, and it bills candidates for any sign it removes. Political signs are permitted on front lawns and in windows of private property with permission of the owner.
Richmond Police Sgt. Darren Monahan, who supervises the city's code enforcement workers, said the department has removed dozens of illegally posted placards since the period to declare candidacy ended Aug. 11 -- not enough to fill a Dumpster, but noticeably more than in past election seasons.
Nearly all of those signs supported McLaughlin, he said, and new signs have replaced those taken down by city crews. Signs appear frequently on fences near the Interstate 80 exit ramp on Cutting Boulevard and lining other heavily traveled arterials such as Richmond Parkway and Harbour Way.
Anderson and Bell offered explanations similar to McLaughlin's for the placards bearing their names, saying any illegally posted signs were not placed by their campaign staffs but by supporters unfamiliar with the rules.
Holmes said everyone who runs for local office receives the same information about posting signs when taking out paperwork to formally declare candidacy. McLaughlin said her campaign would stamp the backs of signs it distributes with information about where not to post.
Holmes' warning letter to McLaughlin also rebuked the candidate for faxing a request to use "city staff or media to distribute (her) campaign literature or solicit contributions." Using public resources for campaigning would be illegal, Holmes noted.
McLaughlin said she did not send the two-page fax bearing her name to Holmes on Aug. 23 for inclusion on the city's "master calendar." The fax included a flier from McLaughlin's campaign with information about endorsements, a future fund-raiser and requests for donations.
"Her allegation that I faxed something is totally false," McLaughlin said. "I'm very offended that she sent that (letter). It did not come from my fax number. She just assumed that I sent it, though that is absolutely not the case."
McLaughlin said she does not know who sent the fax but guessed it was a supporter taking initiative without her authorization.
On Wednesday afternoon, fences and buildings along Cutting Boulevard had a light sprinkling of signs for mayoral and City Council candidates. Richmond Parkway had no political signs, but plenty of illegal signs for commercial interests.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.
posted by Plunda Claus @ 10:30 AM
4 Comments:
At August 31, 2006 11:35 AM,
Anonymous said…
Lots of strangers wandering into Richmond to put up signs and knock on doors for their chosen one. That way plausible deniability is easier for the Green Lantern when they get too eager. Outsiders campaigning for an outsider only makes sense.
At August 31, 2006 12:07 PM,
Anonymous said…
The radical Gayle McLaughlin proves just how OUT OF CONTROL her 'campaign' is!! She cannot make her own campaign workers be accountable or responsible as to where her signs are placed. If she cannot account for the actions of a few people hanging her signs,
what in the hell makes her think she run a city government!
She, as stated in the past posting, is truly an OUTSIDER and most of the people working on her campaign are OUTSIDERS. Her campaign manager is not even from Richmond, he is from a South American country. McLaughlin has lived in Richmond less than 4 years. She never has or will she ever speak for US.
Hey Green Latern, why don't you go back to your hometown of Chicago and go over to Chi's Southside and tell the Brothers and Sisters out there about your rap about 'people of color'! Tell them the history of the ghetto there, an how oppressed they are and how you..MISS ANNE will lead them to the promised land!
Man you need to learn how to keep your racist remarks to yourself!Because this our town, NOT yours!
At August 31, 2006 12:45 PM,
Anonymous said…
Re: Part 1: It's too bad of course that there have been so many robberies, and at least one imported into Richmond, but I hope that there's enough evidence among them to put these crooks UNDER the jail!
Re: Part 2: C'mon, candidates! Play nice!
Gayle most of all, I think. Just because you have a bunch of signs doesn't mean you can put them wherever you like. I mean, she's supposed to be the GREEN candidate -- you know, the one that's supposed to be environmentally concscious? -- but her campaign is basically LITTERING!
At August 31, 2006 3:31 PM,
Anonymous said…
'It's Summer Time, Pass the litterbag, pass the litterbag!'
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