Features

Robbery Spree Ends in Arrests

By Richard Brenneman
Friday December 07, 2007

Berkeley police have arrested three men they believe are responsible for a string of armed robberies at Bay Area Radio Shack stores, reports Lt. Wesley Hester, the department’s Public Information Officer. 

In a statement released Thursday, Lt. Hester said the arrests followed a 5:11 p.m. Sunday call that a robbery was underway at the 2500 Shattuck Ave. store, where a single gunman entered the store, robbed the clerk and leapt into a waiting car. 

Berkeley officers Scott O’Donnell and David Bartiani spotted a vehicle matching the description broadcast after the robbery as it was leaving the city limits southbound into Oakland. 

The officers gave chase and managed to stop the car at 59th St. and Shattuck. 

The officers arrested three suspects, Frederic Tillman, 21, and Jason Brooks, 24, both of Oakland, and Richmond resident Tiffany Raab, 26. Police also recovered the cash they believed was taken during the hold-up, as well as a pistol and a mask, Hester said. 

The three were charged with armed robbery, use of a firearm while committing a felony and probation violations.  

The three suspects have admitted their participation in three more Radio Shack robberies in Berkeley, including another one at the 2500 Shattuck store on Sept. 10, as well as two separate robberies at the 1652 University Ave. store on Sept. 30th and Nov. 23rd. 

The three are the principal suspects in a string of Radio Shack robberies in San Leandro, Hercules, Vallejo, El Cerrito, Albany, Oakland, Union City, Hayward and in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County. 

The county District Attorney’s office has charged the suspects in a total of 18 robberies in Alameda County—including those in Berkeley—though not all three are charged in all of the cases county-wide, Hester reported. 

“These guys have been very, very, very active,” said Lt. Hester.  

They are also suspected in a number of other commercial and gas station robberies in addition to the Radio Shack stick-ups, he said.