Jan 1-15: El Cerrito Police Calls

The following is a sampling of the El Cerrito Police Calls reported between January 1-15 which focuses on the higher priority call responses in the City of El Cerrito.

The following is a summary of criminal activity for the El Cerrito Police Department. It does not include all crimes. It also does not include non-criminal events such as missing persons, traffic collisions, non-criminal deaths, non-criminal disputes, nor many other police activities that do not result in arrest.

Auto Burglary

1/3 – 2500 block of Carquinez Ave: Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect shattered the window of the victim’s vehicle and stole property.
1/10 – 11344 San Pablo Ave (Denny’s): An unknown suspect shattered the rear passenger window to the victims white Lexus sedan. The suspect stole the victim’s purse and lunchbox. The incident occurred between 1:30pm to 3:20pm.
1/13 – 800 block of Norvell St: At 2:28 PM, an unidentified suspect smashed the front window of the victim’s vehicle and stole her purse from the front seat.
1/15 – 2300 block of Tamalpais Ave (tampering): At 8:20 AM, the victim heard his car alarm sound. Upon checking his video, he discovered footage of a person apparently attempting to break in to his vehicle. No apparent entry or theft. A screwdriver was left behind and collected as evidence.

Battery

1/12 – 2000 El Cerrito Plaza (Ross): At approximately 4:37pm officers were dispatched to the store for an unwanted female subject. Officers contacted the female, who stated a loss prevention employee pushed her. The female did not have any visible injuries and declined medical treatment. The loss prevention employees denied any physical altercation, and stated the female refused to leave after attempting to bring numerous items of clothing into a dressing room without checking them in per store policy

1/13 – 11565 San Pablo Ave. (Walgreens): At 6:18 PM, officer reports employees advised the uniform security guard of a chronic shoplifter. The guard contacted the suspect and asked him to leave the store. While walking towards the front of the store, the suspect challenged the guard to a fight and started punching him. The guard defended himself by deploying mace and his Taser. The suspect fled the business after leaving clothing and his wallet containing identifying information.

Brandishing Weapon

1/2 – Lexington Ave. / Eureka Ave: At 4:00 PM, an unknown suspect ran towards the victim while making a slashing motion. The victim was able to flee on his bicycle and call police.

Burglary

1/3 – 10636 San Pablo Ave (24 Hour Fitness): At 7:00 PM hours, an officer reports two lockers in the women’s locker room were broken in to during the previous two hours and purses, wallets, house keys and car keys were stolen. One victim reported her cards had already been used at a store in in another city.

Burglary – Commercial

1/10 – 11511 San Pablo Ave (IHOP): At 2327 hours, officers were dispatched to a glass break alarm at the business. Upon arrival, a window on the east side of the building had been shattered by a large rock. The front counter had been ransacked and there was blood on the lobby floor. Officers checked the rear of the business and observed a male subject walking in the area. The male had blood on his clothing and facial lacerations. The male subject was detained in handcuffs and medical was requested. Officers conducted an interior search of the business which met with negative results. Video surveillance was reviewed and showed the male subject breaking into the business. The male subject also had a no bail warrant out of San Francisco for burglary. The subject was later transported to county jail.
1/13 – 6420 Fairmount Ave (Ifshin Violins): At 12:14 PM, two unidentified suspects entered Ifshin while masked and hooded to conceal their identities. The men walked straight to the vault, and each selected two violins, then walked out of the store with the violins. Total value of the stolen violins was estimated at $16,000.

Burglary – Residential

1/1 – 400 block Lexington Ave: At approximately 9:13am an unknown suspect opened the unlocked front door to a residence and stole the victim’s purse that was lying on the couch. Through video surveillance, the suspect was described as a white female adult, 5’3”, 200lbs., 40-50 years old, wearing a black jacket and carrying a black backpack. The suspect was last seen walking westbound on Fairmount Ave.
1/3 – 800 block of Shevlin Dr: Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect climbed into the victim’s residence through a window and stole belongings.

DUI

1/1 – 1400 block of Elm St.: At approximately 1:47pm a 38 year old male from Richmond sideswiped another vehicle while driving northbound on Elm St. The male was found to be under the influence of alcohol and had an open bottle of Tequila in his cup holder. The male was arrested, booked at the El Cerrito Police Department, given a citation for his crimes and released to his girlfriend.

Grand Theft

1/13 – 7800 block of Potrero Ave: The catalytic converter was stolen from a 2015 Prius between 1/12/2023 – 4:00 PM and 1/13/2023 at 10:00 AM.
1/14 – 6800 block of Eureka Ave: The victim was unable to locate his black Taurus 9mm handgun after he moved to El Cerrito from San Antonio. The victim believed one of the movers stole the gun but had no evidence to support his thesis. Entered in Automated Firearms System.

Identity Theft

1/10 – 2600 block of Tulare Ave: On January 5^TH, the victim called an “800” number she found on the internet to help fix issues with her IPhone. The suspect convinced the victim into opening a Zelle account and gained remote access to her cellphone. On January 6^th, $989.90 was fraudulently transferred from the victims Zelle account to two unknown accounts.
1/12 – 1500 block of Richmond St.
At 9:38pm the victim received a Kohl’s credit card in the mail, with her name embossed on it. The victim never applied for the card, learned no transactions were made and cancelled it.

Petty Theft

1/2 – 600 block of Lexington Ave: Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect stole 4 mailboxes from the complex.
1/6 – 10650 San Pablo Avenue (CVS): Officers were dispatched to a shoplift and the suspect was contacted an admitted to the theft. He had an outstanding warrant out of San Francisco and was booked into MDF.
1/6 – 11545 San Pablo Ave: At 7:39 PM, an officer was flagged down in the parking lot regarding a stolen license plate. The vehicle had been parked in the parking lot for about five hours and the victim believed the theft occurred there.
1/10 – 10900 San Pablo Ave: At approximately 1:07pm, the victim came to the police department to report that they never received their new license plates from DMV, for their 2022 Mercedes. According to their records, DMV advised that the license plates were delivered.
1/13 – 100 block of Carmel Ave: An unidentified suspect stole packages worth approximately $74 from a residential porch at 3:00 PM. The victim saw the theft on camera, then searched the neighborhood and located his property down the block. All items were recovered.

Robbery

1/3 – Potrero Ave / S.55^th St.: On 12/31/2022, approximately 3:30 PM, the victim was stopped by two unidentified suspects as he rode his bicycle toward Safeway. (S-1) produced a black handgun and demanded money. The victim gave up his $800 yellow bicycle (NFD) and the suspects fled in an unknown direction.

Shoplift

1/5 – 11545 San Pablo Ave (Ross): At 6:32 PM, while conducting a security check in the shopping center, an officer was flagged down by Ross employees regarding a theft in progress. A suspect detained in the parking lot, and was positively identified and placed under citizen’s arrest by Ross staff. A crack Cocaine pipe was located on him during the arrest.
The name and date of birth provided verbally by the arrested man at the scene returned with no match, he had no hard ID, and he claimed to be out of Connecticut, so he was transported to ECPD for booking. The man provided his true identity once he was in booking. He had a $100K traffic warrant out of Nevada County and a $50K theft warrant out of Pleasanton. The man was cited for the new charges, then taken to the Martinez Detention Facility for the warrants. (Possess Paraphernalia / False Identity to Peace Officer / Arrest Warrants)
1/9 – 11545 San Pablo Ave. At 8:43 PM, an officer reports two suspects entered the business and stole merchandise ($560).
1/10 – 5805 Cutting Blvd (Sketchers): At approximately 2:45pm, the suspect entered the store, stole a pair of shoes and fled on foot towards BART. The suspect was described as a black male adult, 50 years old, bald, wearing all black clothing, brown boots and carrying a black backpack.
1/11 – 1000 El Cerrito Plaza (Lucky’s) At approximately 10:29am a suspect entered the store and stole $111.00 worth of laundry detergent.
1/12 – 420 El Cerrito Plaza: At 1847 hours, Officers was dispatched to a robbery that just occurred. The suspect stole items and threatened to assault the employee. The suspect was last seen walking towards the creek. Officers circulated the area and located a subject matching the description as Masonic Ave / Portland Ave in Albany walking on the BART path. The suspect was positively identified during an in-field show-up and placed under citizen’s arrest. All stolen property was recovered and returned to the business. The suspect was later released on a citation

Vandalism

1/8 – 10200 Block of San Pablo Ave.: At 1:30 AM, an officer was dispatch to a possible shooting that occurred two hours before. The victim said he was confronted by an acquaintance in regards to a debt. When he did not pay, she began throwing rocks at his apartment window causing it to shatter. The victim did not have any injuries and there was no evidence that a shooting had occurred.

Vehicle Theft

1/2 – 6600 block of Waldo Ave: Sometime between 12/18/22 and 1/1/23, an unknown suspect gained entry into the victim’s vehicle by shattering a window. Once inside, the suspect destroyed the steering column in an attempt to steal the vehicle. (Attempted theft)
1/2 – 5900 block of San Diego St: On 12/29/22, an unknown suspect stole the victim’s 2007 Chevy 3500 pickup.
1/14 – 11740 San Pablo Ave: A 2014 burgundy Kia Optima was stolen from the resident parking lot overnight between 6:00 PM and 6:30 AM.
1/15 – 400 block of Richmond St: A white 2008 Honda CBR600 motorcycle was stolen from the driveway between 11:00 PM on 1/13/2023 and 8:00 AM on 1/14/2023.

Warrant

1/11 – 6500 block of Manila Ave: At approximately 11:36am, a person was contacted for loitering near a residence. Officers learned that the person had a Parole Violation warrant. The person initially provided his twin brother’s first and middle name, however, his true identity was revealed. The person was arrested, booked at the El Cerrito Police Department, and transported to the Martinez Detention Facility.
1/12 – 10900 San Pablo Ave: At approximately 10:08am, a 31 year old male came to the police department to retrieve his belongs from a prior El Cerrito PD arrest. Officer’s learned he had a warrant for his arrest. The male was booked at ECPD and released on a citation.