An 18-year-old teen from El Cerrito has been arrested in connection with a Craigslist robbery that occurred in El Cerrito on March 27, El Cerrito police said Monday.
It was one of two recent armed robberies in the city. The other occurred March 20 when two armed men entered a business in the 5900 block of Cutting Boulevard, pushed employees around and fled with cash, according to police Detective Corp. Gilbert Tang.
Wrong information on crimereports.com
The two are among four El Cerrito robberies in the 11-day period March 20-30 that were though Tang said Monday that two of the crimes were strong-arm robberies not involving a weapon. He said the information on crimereports.com, the official outlet for crime information from the El Cerrito police department, was incorrect. (A copy of the crimereports.com list showing four "armed robberies" is attached to this article.)
Craigslist armed robbery
In the March 27 Craigslist robbery, the victim had advertised a sander for sale on Craigslist, Tang said. As the seller sat with two purported buyers in his vehicle in the 11500 block of San Pablo Avenue about 5:35 p.m, one of the pretend buyers brandished a firearm and took the victim's sander and cash, Tang said.
A police investigation identified the alleged gunman as Sven Barrios, who was arrested a couple of days later and booked for investigation of armed robbery, Tang said. The other suspect, described as a Hispanic male about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and about 115 pounds, is still at large, Tang said.
Two Craigslist robberies were , both by robbers who posted ads for a used Honda for sale.
Business armed robbery
The March 20 armed robbery of a business on Cutting occurred about 7:05 p.m. when two men armed with firearms entered the establishment, pushed employees and demanded cash, Tang said. They fled with an undisclosed sum on foot northbound through the parking lot, Tang said. None of the employees was injured.
One suspect was described as black, about 6 feet, 4 inches tall, about 200 pounds and wearing a black jacket with black and red pants, Tang said. The other was black, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, about 170 pounds and wearing a black jacket.
Strong-arm robbery at El Cerrito High
A strong-arm robbery occurred about 4:20 p.m. on March 29 in front of El Cerrito High School, Tang said. The victim, a juvenile, reported that a 17-year-old girl attempted to pull a purse off the victim's shoulder and the victim pulled it back. The suspect then punched the victim in the face and fled with the purse, Tang said.
The suspect was described as black, about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, about 120 pounds and wearing a white sweatshirt with red letters on it, Tang said.
Strong-arm robbery on San Pablo Avenue
A woman reported that she was pushed into bushes by two men and robbed of her purse and shoulder bag containing a laptop computer about 12:05 a.m. on March 30 as she walked north on San Pablo Avenue at Jefferson Avenue, Tang said.
The victim did not report the incident until several hours later after noon, Tang said. The suspects were both described as black, about 6 feet tall, of medium build and wearing dark sweaters and blue jeans.
Patch also asked about two other crimes reported crimereports.com: a child injured in a "family offense" on April 3 and weapons offense in the 1600 block of Arlington Boulevard on April 2. The former case involved a child who complained a hand being scratched by a caretaker, and the latter involved a houseguest who was found by police with unlawful firearm after being reported by a resident of the home, Tang said.
Anyone with information about these or other crimes, or anyone who witnesses suspicious activity, is asked to contact El Cerrito police at 510-215-4400 during normal business hours and 510-237-3233 nights and weekends.
Correction: The original version of this article misspelled the last name of the suspect arrested in the March 27 Craigslist robbery. It has been corrected.
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