Teens arrested for string of Bay Area armed robberies, police say

Four teenage boys, all either 16 or 17, have been arrested and are suspected of committing a string of 19 armed robberies that took place in the Bay Area over the last month, San Leandro police said in a press release on Friday. less Four teenage boys, all either 16 or 17, have been arrested and are suspected of committing a string of 19 armed robberies that took place in the Bay Area over the last month, San Leandro police said in a press ... more Photo: Jacom Stephens / Getty Image Photo: Jacom Stephens / Getty Image Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Teens arrested for string of Bay Area armed robberies, police say 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Four teenage boys, all 16 or 17, have been arrested and are suspected of committing a string of 19 armed robberies throughout the Bay Area over the past month, San Leandro police said in a press release Friday.

Police said the robbery spree began in early January in downtown Oakland and included four incidents in San Leandro. Most of the robberies took place at ATM machines, according to the San Leandro Police Department.

One of the earlier incidents in the alleged spree happened at the Fruitvale BART station to Brian Krans of Oakland, a KCBS writer/editor/producer and an aggressive inline rollerblader.

"I just got robbed at gunpoint. Cops are here," Krans wrote after the robbery, which he later found out was connected to the spree, on Twitter just before 9 p.m. on Jan. 3. "I'm fine. Guys are going to be pissed when they find only a sweaty pair of rollerblades."

The robbery happened when Krans was starting his walk home from Fruitvale BART after commuting from work at KCBS in San Francisco. He crossed a dark parking lot when he heard someone yell, "Hey!"

"And I was like, 'Oh crap, that's not a friendly greeting,'" he recalled. Then, he said, he saw a young man with a gun pointed at him, so he handed over his backpack and wallet. "It was over really quickly, but having a gun pointed at you is never really a fun experience."

He posted a screenshot of the tweet announcing the robbery on Facebook, where friends and family sent their love, expressed their concern and commiserated with him.

A few offered to donate money to help buy new rollerblades for Krans, who is an award-winning rollerblading journalist and hosts a rollerblading podcast called the Rock Town Podcast. A day after he was robbed, a few of the rollerblading companies in his social network, Intuition Skate Shop, THEM and 50/50 Frames, chipped in to send him a new pair of rollerblades.

In the moments after the robbery – before the police showed up – Krans said he felt "vulnerable." But "then not having to wait for the criminal justice system to be made whole again, that felt really great."

He said the biggest disappointment was having his skates, which he had only been skating on for eight days after he customized them, stolen from him. "They're of no use to most people, but I had been skating [in them] eights day in a row, and then someone stole my skates, so it was just really comforting knowing that I'm part of this community that was like, 'Screw these guys, we got you.'"

Then, two weeks ago, he said he received phone calls from the Pleasanton and San Leandro police departments a day apart from each other. The Pleasanton police had his wallet, which Krans said was given as a wedding gift, and the San Leandro police found his KCBS wallet and rollerblades in a car they had pulled over.

The San Leandro police had been investigating the four armed robberies that took place in their jurisdiction. Earlier this week, they found a small piece of evidence that led to several leads. After investigating the leads, they found addresses, one of which led to the discovery of a vehicle that was used in several of the crimes, police said.

On Wednesday, San Leandro police detectives began a large scale surveillance operation on the vehicle, which included a team of detectives, patrol officers and an aerial unit. Police said that they followed the four suspects in the vehicle as they drove through communities in East Contra Costa County. The suspects, the police said, stole a license plate from a vehicle and affixed it to their vehicle.

After that, they began casing ATMs and banks in East Contra Costa, Livermore and Dublin, all while police tailed them. Then they returned to San Leandro and stopped at a gas station at the intersection of San Leandro Boulevard and Davis Street.

As police approached the vehicle, one of the passengers got out and began to run. Officers chased the suspect, who they said threw a handgun on the street as he ran away, and eventually caught him.

A second suspect attempted to fight with the police, the SLPD press release said, but was eventually detained. The driver of the vehicle was detained without incident, and the officers found a second handgun. The fourth teenager, who the police said was riding in the vehicle earlier, was arrested at his home in Hayward.

According to the SLPD, the suspects are cooperating with the investigation and have confessed to many of the robberies.

"Our team conducted a phenomenal investigation, looking at every piece of evidence for the smallest lead," said San Leandro police Lt. Isaac Benabou. "These are violent crimes with the potential of someone getting very seriously hurt or killed. We were shocked to find that these crimes were orchestrated by juveniles."

The four teenagers are in custody at Alameda County Juvenile Hall, and will be investigated by other law enforcement agencies that are investigating similar crimes.

Krans said what he wants most of the situation, now that he's gotten his belongings back, is to meet the teenagers who committed the crimes. "If anything I want to meet the kids to find out their situation. Like, 'How did you get into this situation where you felt like you needed to this?'

"One of the lieutenants said to me that they hope that these kids can get the resources that they need to kind of hopefully straighten their lives out."