Crime & Safety
El Cerrito Woman and Her Mother Arrested After 22-Gun Theft From Albany Home
Albany police Thursday night said they arrested a 35-year-old El Cerrito woman, her 64-year-old mother and a 38-year-old Vallejo man on suspicion of stealing more than 20 rifles and shotguns from a home in Albany.
A neighbor's report of a suspicious vehicle led to three arrests in connection with a Hillside Avenue home burglary in Albany and the recovery of 22 stolen firearms.
On July 26, the received a report of a residential burglary in the 800 block of Hillside, according to information released Thursday night by Albany police Detective Don Maiden.
Items stolen from the home included "precious heirlooms," including more than 20 shotguns and rifles that had been kept in the home, he said.
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"Based on information provided by a neighbor who had witnessed a suspicious vehicle in the driveway of the home, detectives identified 64-year-old Deanna Wilkinson of Richmond as a suspect. Wilkinson was later linked to a Richmond motel where, on July 27, 2011, she was seen driving a vehicle in the company of her daughter, 35-year-old Denise Wilkinson of El Cerrito, and 38-year-old Gustavo Ramos of Vallejo," according to the police statement.
The three were arrested on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy, among other crimes, but the firearms were not found at the time. The three are scheduled for arraignment this afternoon, Friday, at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Department 112.
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The Wilkinsons are being held on $830,000 bail; Ramos is being held with a bail of $2,050,000. Ramos was arrested also on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.
The police investigation led officers to homes in Vallejo and Concord where the firearms "were rumored to be awaiting sale to local gang members."
Albany police detectives served search warrants in Vallejo and Concord, in cooperation with officers from those cities, early Thursday morning.
Police found 22 stolen firearms at the Concord home, in the 2800 block of Loma Vista Avenue; two people in the home were arrested by Concord police in connection with unrelated offenses.
No weapons were found at the Vallejo address.
Albany police said that, without the neighbor who reported the suspicious activity on Hillside, "these twenty-two stolen weapons might not have been recovered."
The Albany Police Department can be reached at 510-525-7300.
