Crime Blotter: Porta-Potty Arson, Parking Lot Scammers, Counterfeit Bills

Hawking iPads, er, make that tiles. On Monday, June 13, about 10:30 p.m., an officer was driving through the Greenhouse Marketplace parking lot when a woman hailed him. She told him she had recently left the nearby Chase bank when a man called her over to his car, according to the police report.

She approached the car and one of the men in the car asked her if she wanted to buy an iPad for $300, according to the police report. He showed the woman an iPad.

The woman said she didn’t have the money and walked away toward the laundromat, according to the police report.  The car caught up with her near the laundromat and one of the men offered her the iPad for half off, for $150.

It sounded like a good deal to the woman so she gave him the money, according to the police report. The man handed her a box, which she assumed contained an iPad. The car then drove away rapidly, according to the police report.

The woman opened the box and pulled out some packing material surrounding two floor tiles taped together, and no iPad.

The men's car was described as an older model, possibly 1990s, Mercury four-door, blue on green. The men in the car were described as black males in their 30s, one with a beard.

Editor’s Note: Two similar incidents were reported to the police in May. In those cases, people were approached in shopping centers by a man and asked if they wanted to buy a flat screen TV. In one case, the victim paid and was given a piece of wood wrapped up in a box. In the other case, the victim refused to purchase the TV, and the suspect then robbed him at gunpoint. Police arrested the suspect linked to those two cases, Myron Sandefur, from Richmond, on May 18. 

Arson on summer break. On Friday afternoon, June 17, fire units were called to Washington Manor Middle School to put out a fire in a portable bathroom located on school grounds. Police units also showed up, and one of the officers spoke to a witness who told him he had seen two juvenile boys leaving the scene just before the fire.

The witness said he had showed up at the school about 4:45 p.m. for soccer practice. While waiting in his car for teammates to arrive, the witness saw the two boys, one aged 13-14, the other aged 11-12, go in and out of the portable bathroom, giggling. The boys eventually fled on Trojan Avenue towards Farnsworth Boulevard, according to the police report.

Soon, the witness noticed the top of the portable bathroom melting, and then saw flames engulf the porta-potty. He called 911.

A metal garbage can beside the bathroom and a nearby wooden fence both caught fire quickly. The portable bathroom burned to the ground, according to the police report.

Check cashed for fake bills. On June 17 about 7 p.m., a woman went to the Walmart on Hesperian Boulevard to cash a $1,600 paycheck, according to the police report. A cashier at the customer service desk cashed the check, giving the woman a stack of $20 bills.

The woman then went to her bank to deposit the money via the ATM machine. The machine accepted all of the money except for three bills, according to the police report. The woman inspected the money, and thought it could be counterfeit, so she went back to Walmart to have it exchanged.

There, the store initially refused to exchange the bills. But the assistant manager looked into the incident and found that the same register from which the woman had her check cashed had 19 more counterfeit bills. Walmart later exchanged the fake bills given to the woman. The store’s loss prevention unit is investigating the origin of the counterfeit bills. 

Should’ve used a bike light. On June 17, around 9:15 p.m., a man was riding his bike without a rear light when an officer turned on his lights and siren and pulled the man over for the infraction, according to the police report.

The officer checked the man’s records and found he had a $5,000 warrant out for his arrest for shoplifting. The man was placed under arrest and transported to Hayward Jail.

Felon with a revolver & speed loader. On Saturday, June 18, about 8:40 p.m., an officer pulled over a silver four-door Jaguar for having an expired registration. While speaking to the driver, the officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car, according to the police report.

He asked the driver and a passenger if they were in possession of anything illegal or if they had marijuana. The driver told the officer that they had just smoked a blunt, and the passenger said he had a little weed on him, according to the report.

The officer waited for a fellow officer to arrive and then searched the car. During the search he found 2.38 grams of what appeared to be marijuana, and a small glass jar containing what appeared to be marijuana residue, police said.

Under the driver’s seat of the vehicle, the officer found a silver .357 revolver with a black hand grip and two speed loader ammunition cartridges holding a total of ten live rounds of .357 ammunition, according to the police report.

By checking the gun’s serial number, officers discovered that it had been reported stolen in Berkeley on April 19, police said The officers took the gun, ammunition and marijuana into possession as evidence, the report said.

A records check revealed that the driver was a convicted felon, according to the police report. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and carrying a loaded concealed firearm.