Full Notification

The following is a summary of criminal activity in El Cerrito. 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.
 
September 12^th
Commercial Burglary – West County Optometry, 11780 San Pablo Ave.
At 7:30 am, the owner of the business arrived and found the glass entry door shattered.  It was determined that an unknown suspect entered the business, shattered several glass display cases, and stole designer brand sunglasses. 

Battery – Atlas Liquors, 10382 San Pablo Ave. 
A victim was punched several times by an unknown suspect.  Officers were dispatched to the area but the victim declined to make a report or seek medical treatment. 

Auto burglary – 1400 block of S. 56^th St. 
Sometime between midnight and 11:30 am, an unknown suspect shattered a window on the victim’s vehicle and stole fishing gear. 

Illegal use of access card – 6500 block of Schmidt Ln.
Several unknown suspects have used the victim’s bank card information to withdraw thousands of dollars from dozens of ATM’s throughout California.  

Warrant Arrest / Possess Controlled Substance – Kearney St / Conlon Ave:
At 9:25PM, an officer reports the arrest of a 40 year old unsheltered man on a non-citable $5000 warrant during a suspicious vehicle investigation.  The officer also located 3.7g of suspected methamphetamine and 1.2g of suspected heroin on his person that was discovered during the search incident to arrest.  Cited for the controlled substances, to county jail for the warrant.
 
September 13^th

Residential burglary – 2700 block of Arlington Blvd. 
At 4:48 am, the victim received a motion activation alert from her residence.  At 6:40 am, the victim called police.  When officers responded, they found the house had been burglarized. 

Hate crime – Arlington Blvd. / Terrace Dr. 
Sometime overnight, an unknown suspect cut down and defaced a glass display case belonging to a local religious organization. 

Trespassing – 6700 block of Knott Ave. 
Sometime between 9/10/22 and 9/13/22 , an unknown suspect entered the victim’s unsecured residence, took a shower, and left a pair of shoes behind. 

Robbery / Vandalism – 6400 block of Portola Dr:
At 9:32 PM, an officer reports the victim’s ex-boyfriend, a 19 year old Berkeley man, was standing outside the victim’s vehicle in the side lot of CVS arguing with her over property he claimed she had.  The man reached in to the victim’s vehicle and stole her wallet, then tried to bargain with the victim to give his property back and he would give the wallet back.  After negotiations failed, the suspect left with the wallet, and shattered all of the windows in the victim’s vehicle on his way out.

Domestic Battery / Vandalism / Break Telecommunication Device to Prevent 9-1-1 Call – 900 block of Galvin Dr:
At 11:27 PM, officers were dispatched to a report of a battery at a residence.  The reporting party said the suspect was walking away westbound on Stockton and had a gun in his backpack.  A 43 year old Emeryville man was detained at Stockton and Ashbury.  A loaded pistol magazine was located during a consent search of the man’s backpack, but the pistol was not located.
The suspect and the victim argued about the victim taking the man home.  The suspect picked up a chair the victim was sitting on and dropped it (and her) causing the chair to break. The suspect then rifled through the victim’s pockets looking for her car keys so he could drive himself.  When the victim tried to call 9-1-1, the suspect took her cell phone and threw it on the floor twice, breaking the phone.  The victim did not see a pistol tonight, but insisted the suspect never leaves home without it.  To county jail.  Victim declined emergency protective order.
 
September 14^th

Brandishing a weapon – San Pablo Ave. / Moeser Ln.  
At 11:57 am, officers accepted the citizen’s arrest of a 62-year old transient man after he pulled a knife on a delivery driver.  The man was cited and transported to the hospital by AMR for a psychiatric evaluation. 

Residential burglary – 510 El Cerrito Plaza
Sometime between midnight and 2 pm, unknown suspect entered the secured parking garage climbed over the bicycle storage fence, and stole a bicycle. 

Vandalism – Chase Bank, 9950 San Pablo Ave. 
At 4 pm, an unknown suspect threw a glass bottle, which shattered the glass entry door. 

Grand Theft – 10512 San Pablo Ave (Ah Lan Dance Studio):
At 7:22 PM, an officer reports an unidentified suspect entered the dance studio and stole a purse and cell phone.  The suspect was later stopped by CHP officers and fled from his vehicle on foot, leaving the stolen property behind.  He was captured after a brief foot chase.  Some of the stolen property was recovered and returned to its owner.  The 23 year old San Jose man who was arrested by the CHP will be compared to the surveillance video from the dance studio to determine if he committed the theft.

September 15^th

Petty theft – 24 hour Fitness, 10636 San Pablo Ave. 
At 8:30 am, an unknown suspect forced open the victim’s locker and stole a cell phone, jeans, and a car key fob.

Theft of license plate – 1500 block of Lexington Ave.
Sometime between 9/13 and 9/14, an unknown suspect stole the rear license plate from the victim’s vehicle.

Illegal Burning – BART Path near Willow and Elm:
At 6:49 PM, an officer reports three juveniles set pine needles and other debris on fire in a discarded skillet along the side of the BART path.  Fortunately, the fire was extinguished by ECFD before it could cause any property damage.  The juveniles were released to parents.
 
Robbery (Shoplift) – 11545 San Pablo Ave (Ross):
At 8:36 PM, an officer reports an unidentified suspect stole $380 worth of merchandise and fled towards BART.  The suspect threatened to punch a Loss Prevention Agent in the face if he intervened.  The suspect was described as a black male, 30-40 years old, 5’ 11”, 300 lbs, bald with face tattoos, wearing a grey jacket and black shorts.  The suspect has purportedly stolen from this Ross store dozens of times.

Vandalism – 1700 block of Liberty St:
At 9:32 PM, an officer reports several cars in the block were keyed by an unidentified suspect sometime over the weekend.

Battery – 11888 San Pablo Ave (Nug):
At 10:06 PM, an officer reports a 31 year old Richmond man spit on an employee during an argument then fled prior to police arrival after being thrown out by security.