The Rene C. Davidson courthouse and the Alcopark parking garage are seen in this view from the Tribune Tower in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. To the left is Lake Merritt. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
On the morning of June 1, Alameda County Superior Judge Kevin Murphy was knocked down and robbed of a Rolex watch, cellphone and cash by armed robbers who noticed his sports car pulling into a parking garage in Oakland.
Authorities have not arrested any of the robbery suspects, nor have they found and returned the judge’s watch. But over the three-and-a-half months since the robbery, police have arrested more than a dozen people suspected of other crimes, as they continue to investigate members and associates of a Vallejo-based gang believed to be behind the June 1 holdup.
In a coordinated series of late August raids, Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies and police in Solano County hit six locations around Vallejo, including an apartment containing 10 firearms, authorities said. One man was arrested on an attempted murder warrant out of Contra Costa, and four others were charged in Solano County with possessing controlled substances for sale, court records show.
All of those arrested are either suspected members or associates of a Vallejo gang that is based on the 1800 block of Ohio Street in Vallejo. The gang has been linked to a homicide in Antioch, a shootout that wounded a 6-year-old boy in 2019, a freeway shooting in Lafayette and a high-end car theft ring in Solano County, authorities said. Its members include at least two of the three people who’ve been identified as suspects in the robbery of Murphy, authorities said.
Murphy was headed to work at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse on June 1 when three males, at least one holding a pistol, ran up and demanded his belongings. The robbers got away with a bag full of valuables, as well as Murphy’s Rolex watch. Murphy was knocked to the ground during the robbery but uninjured, police said.
In the immediate aftermath of the robbery, police tracked the robbers’ sedan — which was equipped with stolen license plates — to a Vallejo neighborhood. Using a series of leads based mostly on digital evidence, police identified suspects but say they’re still working to build a case against all three robbers.
In the meantime, more than a dozen others have been arrested for other crimes, police said. Those arrested include 24-year-old Damari Calvin, of Vallejo and Vacaville, who was charged with attempting to murder a former girlfriend over a money debt, in a July shooting on Highway 24 in Lafayette. The woman avoided gunfire, but her car was struck by bullets, police said.
Calvin was arrested Aug. 22 in an early morning raid of a Vallejo apartment, police said. Five others were also detained and several guns were recovered from the home, including unregistered firearms, authorities said.
In 2019, Calvin was shot in the leg during a shootout involving 10 people on the 1800 block of Ohio Street in Vallejo, police said. Calvin was also believed to be present during an incident in 2020 when another suspected member of the same gang, 24-year-old Alfonzo Blake, fired at a passing vehicle near the Little Caesars on Redwood Parkway.
In July 2020, Blake was charged in Contra Costa County with murdering 37-year-old Vallejo resident Kenneth McClain Jr. during an argument over a dice game at an Antioch house party. Court records indicate a plea deal has been struck in that case; Blake is scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing on Sept. 28, but details of the deal have not yet been made public.
Four other suspected gang affiliates also face felony charges of possessing controlled substances for sale in Solano County, and another man faces a charge of being a felon in possession of a short-barreled rifle, court records show. Five others were arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing firearms, but have not been charged, authorities said.
Despite all the arrests and seizures, Murphy’s watch — worth an estimated $12,000 — has yet to turn up, police said.
Credit: Source link