Crime Blotter: Porta-Potty Arsonists Strike Again, Restaurant Robbed at Gunpoint

Too Good To Be True. On July 5, a San Leandro man answered the telephone and received what he thought was very good news. The man on the other end of the line informed him that he had just won $1.5 million, according to a report. 

The man on the line said the prize money was in a Western Union account, and all the winner had to do was wire a $275 processing and handling fee via Western Union to the man in Jamaica. 

The San Leandro man went to Western Union and wired the money, he told police.

The following morning, the man called the supposed winner again and said he had the money at the Oakland airport, but needed another $1,500 to get it out of customs. This time, the San Leandro man became suspicious, hung up the phone and called his daughter-in-law to tell her what happened, according to the police report. 

The man then checked to see if the money he had sent through Western Union had been picked up, which it had. Then he filed a fraud report with Western Union. The company also verified that there was nothing in the account that supposedly held the $1.5 million prize money, according to the police report. 

Porta-Potty Arsonists Strike Again. On July 5 at about 10:30 p.m., an officer was dispatched to to investigate a possible arson, according to a police report. The fire department was already on scene, inspecting a portable restroom that had caught on fire. 

The fire appeared to have been started near the front door of the restroom, which was damaged, according to the reporting officer. Material at the rear of the restroom had melted. 

This is the second time in two months that a portable restroom at the middle school has caught fire. In the first incident, on June 17, a witness saw two adolescent boys going in and out of a portable restroom just before it caught fire. 

Fourth of July Gift. On July 2, a woman had her green 1996 Buick Le Sabre stolen in Oakland, according to a San Leandro Police report. 

Two days later, a member of the woman's family, who was headed to a picnic at Manor Park, spotted the Buick parked on Tulane Avenue, according to the report. An officer verified the woman’s story and then released the car to her. 

Violent Restaurant Robbers. On July 7 around 11 a.m., police responded to a robbery at on Davis Street, according to a police report. The owners of the restaurant told police that they had arrived around 10:40 a.m. to get the restaurant ready to open. They told police they had left the door open after coming inside. 

About 11 a.m., two men entered the restaurant armed with handguns. They pointed the guns at the owners and said, “Money, money,” according to the police report. 

One man demanded the cash register keys from one of the victims, opened the register and took money out. The other man demanded cash from the other victim. When the victim squatted down, the robber hit him on the back of the head with the handgun. 

The other robber then struck the other victim on the head with his handgun, according to the police report. Both suspects ran out the door and up Dabner Street. 

Both victims were transported to with lacerations. 

Air Conditioning Parts Stolen. bakery was recently fixing its air conditioning units. An employee left two fan evaporators, which were taken off the units, outside of the building on July 9, according to a police report. 

That evening, the employee went outside and noticed the evaporators were gone. Surveillance cameras showed that a vehicle pulled into the parking lot around 10:30 p.m. with its tailgate down. Two suspects got out of the truck and loaded the fan evaporators into the truck, according to the police report.