Pleasanton police officials are urging people to take necessary precautions when expecting holiday deliveries in the wake of two alleged package thieves being nabbed on the south side of the city over the weekend.
Police credited an attentive neighbor with providing key assistance during the investigation Sunday afternoon, which unfolded after the neighbor witnessed a woman take a package from the front porch of a residence on Junipero Street.
The woman then got into a black, four-door Mercedes Benz driven by a man, according to police.
Officers searched the area and found the vehicle parked on San Carlos Way. The two suspects were located nearby, and the Mercedes was found to be stolen from Hayward, according to police.
Officers arrested the 25-year-old woman and 26-year-old man, both from Hayward, on suspicion of vehicle theft, possession of stolen property and conspiracy to commit a crime, and both were booked into custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. The pair’s names are being withheld in accordance with Embarcadero Media’s policy on identifying arrestees before prosecutors file formal charges.
“This type of crime is common, especially during the holiday season. Make sure you are taking appropriate steps to keep your deliveries safe,” police said in posting about Sunday’s incident on the department’s social media accounts.
They offered the following tips for package safety:
* Track your package (many places allow you to sign up for alerts), note the anticipated delivery date and ask a trusted neighbor to pick it up.
* Consider using an Amazon Locker if you are an Amazon shopper. There are several locations in town.
* If possible, have packages delivered to work.
* Install security devices in your front porch area or wherever you accept deliveries. This can be theft deterrent boxes to place/lock deliveries in or cameras that capture activity.
* Finally, if you see something, say something. Sometimes being an attentive neighbor is the best gift you can give.
In other news
* A teenager who was fatally shot while he and another person were driving in Fremont earlier this month has been identified by the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau as 17-year-old Damani Chadly, who was a senior at California High School in San Ramon.
Officers who responded to a shooting in the 34000 block of Torrington Court at 11:18 p.m. on Dec. 4 found Chadly with multiple gunshot wounds in the passenger seat of the vehicle, which had crashed into a home at the corner of Chaucer Drive and Torrington Court, police said.
Chadly was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:35 p.m.
Police said witnesses reported a second male running away from the scene and officers located him nearby at about 11:50 p.m. suffering from gunshot wounds.
The second victim was transported to a hospital to be treated for his injuries but has since been released, according to Fremont police spokeswoman Geneva Bosques.
Police announced Wednesday that Fremont resident Christian Kelling, 21, was arrested Dec. 12 in Texas on charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the shooting. Authorities allege Kelling was selling the teens marijuana when a dispute occurred that prompted him to fire several rounds into the vehicle that Chadly and his friend were traveling in.
“This has been a tragic loss for California High School and greater San Ramon Valley Unified community. Our hearts and thoughts are with the student’s family and friends,” school district spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich said last week.
* One person was injured in a highway shooting last Friday evening in Pleasanton, California Highway Patrol officials said.
Around 5 p.m., some type of altercation may have occurred on Interstate 680 near Bernal Avenue when someone fired a gun from one vehicle to another.
The gunshot injured a passenger in the latter vehicle, CHP Officer Tyler Hahn said.
The victim stayed in the vehicle as it traveled from I-680 to Interstate 580 to Fallon Road where the CHP made contact with the victim.
The person was taken to a hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening, Hahn said.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the CHP office in Dublin at 828-0466.
* A suspicious object originally described as a potential pipe bomb near Stoneridge Shopping Center on Monday was determined not to be an explosive device, according to Pleasanton police.
The situation began unfolding just before noon Monday when a passerby reported seeing a possible pipe bomb in the parking lot near the Macy’s Men’s Store, according to police, who noted the call was not received as a bomb threat.
Officers arrived, found the object and immediately closed the area off to all traffic, police said.
The Alameda County Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Squad was called to the scene, and the EOD personnel determined the pipe was not a bomb and posed no threat to public safety, according to police.
* A truck driver who was killed in a collision between two big-rigs on westbound I-580 in Dublin last week has been identified by the Alameda County coroner as 32-year-old Henry Louis Rodriguez-Carrerasquillo of Sacramento.
The California Highway Patrol said a 2000 Peterbilt driven by Rodriguez-Carrerasquillo and a 2016 Freightliner driven by a 26-year-old man from Miami, Fla., were both traveling west on I-580 at about 12:36 p.m. Dec. 11 when, for unknown reasons, Rodriguez-Carrerasquillo allowed the front right of his big-rig to collide into the left rear of the other big-rig, according to Hahn.
Rodriguez-Carrerasquillo then lost control of the Peterbilt and it swerved to the right and overturned, according to Hahn.
He was crushed and emergency crews pronounced him dead at the scene, Hahn said.
The Freightliner driver continued westbound and exited the freeway at Tassajara Road and was later contacted by the CHP and cooperated with investigators, according to Hahn.
The Freightliner driver and a 24-year-old woman from Miami, Fla., who was a passenger in his big-rig weren’t injured in the collision, Hahn said.
— Pleasanton Weekly staff and Bay City News Service
