Crime

This week in Alamo, a multi-agency team of law enforcement officers arrested four adults on charges of identity theft, possession of a controlled substance and outstanding warrants.

According to Martinez Police (MPD) Detective Sergeant Jon Sylvia, after a two-month investigation into county-wide identity theft cases, agents from the MPD Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and the Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team (CCCNET) narrowed their focus on Robert Brosamer, 44, and secured a search warrant for his Alamo single-family residence on Miranda Avenue. more...

If the City Council grants final approval, soon a police dispatcher may watch you waiting at the cross walk at Alhambra and F Street, perhaps impatiently punching the button on your way to shopping at Safeway.  Waiting for the train at the train station, a video camera will record your pacing and beam it to the police. If someone suddenly tries to mug you, the idea is the dispatcher will see it and send a patrol car to the rescue.more...

Eighteen-year-old Eric Bean of Martinez was found dead Monday on McEwan Road, approximately one mile north of Highway 4. A Martinez resident notified the Sheriff’s Office at 10:14 a.m. Bean was pronounced dead on the scene, and the Crime Lab and Homicide Detectives were dispatched to the location.

According to Jimmy Lee, the Director of Public Affairs for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, the case is being considered a homicide. Lee estimates that the body may have been brought to the location post-mortem.more...

When he created the vile and fiendish eponymous character for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,” published in 1957, Dr. Suess doubtlessly intended the children’s book to remain classified as fiction.

Unfortunately for the 24-year-old non-profit group Christmas for Everyone, over the past month Suess’ story line was appropriated by real-life villains who burglarized a sizable storage unit in unincorporated Martinez, stealing about half of the inventory collected by the charity, all of which was intended to be distributed to those in need on Christmas Day. more...

On Monday, the man police say killed bicyclist Mark Pendleton in Nov. 2008 will be arraigned in a Walnut Creek courthouse.

Pendleton, 49, an ardent bicyclist and member of the Wells Fargo Racing Team, was returning to his Alhambra Way home from a routine training ride to Port Costa when a motorist drifted across the center line and struck Pendleton, killing him almost instantly before driving away. The hit-and-run accident occurred on the west shoulder of McEwen Road, about half a mile north of Route 4.more...

Benicia police detectives said thieves had illegally obtained debit card information and have used it to steal up to $8,000 from local residents’ bank accounts. At least 15 cases have been reported, Lt. Mike Daley said Friday.

“Someone has fraudulently obtained debit card information and PIN numbers for withdrawals in Martinez, Benicia and the American Canyon area,” Daley said.

Victims of this fraud are apparently not missing their cards, raising the possibility that the perpetrators are somehow using duplicate cards.more...

Michael Gressett, 52, the former veteran prosecutor in the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office Sex Crimes Unit arrested in Oct. 2008 for allegedly raping a colleague five months earlier, now faces an additional felony charge after a criminal grand jury indicted him on 13 counts of rape, sodomy and sexual assault this week.

The indictment replaces the 12 counts leveled against Gressett by the California Attorney General’s Office, which had assumed prosecution of the case due to Gressett’s employment by the County D.A.more...

Sept. 24 — On Tuesday, the Pleasant Hill Police Department released artist sketches of a man suspected of plotting to kidnap young students on three separate occasions early in the month.

Although the incidents occurred at Pleasant Hill Middle School and in Concord, Martinez Unified School District Rami Muth sent out an email to all District administrators yesterday, in which she included the sketches and warned principals to stay on their guard.more...

Martinez Police received a call from the Pleasant Hill Police Department (PHPD) just after 11 a.m. on Sunday, requesting backup assistance after receiving reports of shots fired in a home adjacent to Sun Valley Mall. After a five-hour standoff, during which a 32-year-old male suspect repeatedly exchanged gun fire with police, a Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team member shot and killed the man.
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