Update Sept. 15: KTVU and The East Bay Times reported on Thursday that Yuri Brand, the suspect involved in the Sept. 18 Grand Avenue trespassing and burglary cases noted below, was killed by his cellmate on Wednesday at Santa Rita Jail.
On Sept. 1, a woman was robbed after three suspects followed her home on Crocker Avenue. The suspects were reported to be driving in a stolen white Infiniti Q50. When the victim arrived home, she pulled her vehicle into her garage and was sitting in her car with her purse on the ground. At 1:58 p.m., one of the suspects walked into the garage and took the purse, without saying anything to the victim, according to Captain Monahan. The three suspects fled in the Infiniti and the vehicle was later spotted by the city’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR)
system.
The suspects remain at large.
At 7:35 a.m. on Sept. 3, officers were on Harrison Street when they noticed a suspicious vehicle, according to Captain Monahan. The gray Hyundai Elantra had a towel over the rear window. A records check on the license plate showed a plate or vehicle stolen out of Oakland. Officers approached the vehicle and found a man and a woman sleeping in it.
The officers attempted to wake the individuals and the man in the driver’s seat then tried to start the vehicle using a USB plug. He was unsuccessful and removed from the vehicle, according to Captain Monahan. The passenger was also removed.
A records check confirmed the car had been stolen. The driver was found to be on parole for assault with a deadly weapon. He was arrested for violating his parole, possession of stolen license plates, possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest. He was taken to Santa Rita Jail.
At least two suspects, one with a handgun, robbed a group of construction workers on Estates Drive on Sept. 5. According to a post on the Piedmont Police Department Facebook page, a white Lexus IS 350 with tinted windows backed into the driveway at approximately 11:40 a.m. Two suspects got out of the vehicle, one of them with a gun. The suspects demanded the workers’ tools and once the workers surrendered them, fled in the car.
The two suspects are still at large.
On Sept. 8, a man walked into a house on Grand Avenue while the resident was home. The resident “calmed” the intruder, according to Piedmont Police Captain Chris Monahan, and then called the police. The individual was arrested for trespassing and violating parole. It was later determined he had been living in a nearby house for a couple of days, according to Captain Monahan. He allegedly consumed $1,000 worth of food and alcohol at the previous house. He was charged for burglary for that crime. (KTVU reported that the burglar, 39-year-old Yuri Brand, broke into that home on Grand Avenue and Arroyo Avenue through the back door while the homeowners were on vacation.)
At approximately 9 a.m. on Sept. 10, a carjacking took place on Grand Avenue. According to a post on the PPD Facebook page, two Black males in their 20s approached a woman who was putting her child into her black 2018 four-door BMW. The suspects demanded her purse, keys, and cell phone. They then allowed the victim to remove her child from the car and fled.
Police were able to track the vehicle with the help of BMW, which went to multiple spots in Oakland throughout the day. The California Highway Patrol brought in a helicopter to help track the vehicle. At approximately 4 p.m., the BMW was found on International Blvd. Oakland police responded and arrested a 19-year old male out of Rodeo. He was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and charged with carjacking and possession of a stolen vehicle. Other suspects at the scene of the arrest were identified and released. The second suspect from the carjacking has not been found.