Running Out on Nail Treatments, Found War Bonds and More

Here are a few highlights from the week in crime and other police activities. All details come directly from police reports from the .

Mani, Pedi and Run: On Saturday, Feb. 19, a woman walked into for a full, fancy treatment. She had her eyebrows waxed and got a facial. She got a mani and pedi, and had a 3-D flower design painted on one nail of each hand and each foot. Total cost: $90.

When it came time to pay, she said she couldn't find her Visa card, and that she'd have to go out to her car to look for it. Then she made a break for it, running out the door to a black two-door Honda parked by the Nation's hamburger joint. 

Several employees ran after the suspect and stood behind the car to block her from pulling out. Eventually the suspect got out of the car and agreed to accompany the employees back to La Spa. 

They started walking, but about halfway back to the nail shop, the suspect turned and ran back to her car. This time she was quicker, backing the Honda out of the parking space and driving off. The car hit an employee's right leg on the way out, but she wasn't seriously injured. 

The police officer called to the scene looked up the suspect's name and located a photo. He brought his laptop into the store to show the photo to victims and witnesses. Two people said the photo matched the suspect. 

Officers searched the area but didn't find the suspect. Alameda County Sheriff's officers went to the address listed on the suspect's driver's license and registration, but the car wasn't there. 

He Wasn't After the Chicken: On Saturday, Feb. 19 at about 8:45 p.m., a man walked into . He scanned the restaurant, paced around, and kept looking at the menu board.

He asked to use the restroom, and when he came back, he finally seemed ready to order.  

The suspect finally placed his order, and when the employee rang up the man's purchase and opened the register drawer, the suspect pulled a black semi-automatic handgun out of the front pocket of his grey hoodie, and pointed it at the employee.

The suspect told the employee to turn around, and proceeded to empty the register drawer. He then took off. Officers searched the area but were unable to locate the suspect. 

We're Watching You: On Sunday, Feb. 20 a woman went shopping at department store. She picked out 16 items, which were later found to be worth over $400, put them into a shopping bag and went into the dressing room.

When she came out, the shopping bag was empty, but her purse was full. She proceeded to walk past the cash registers and out of the store. Just outside, she was placed under citizen's arrest by a Kohl's security guard. 

The suspect apparently didn't count on the store's security and surveillance system. A guard monitoring the surveillance cameras noticed the suspicious changing room act and sent another guard to check the room after the suspect left. That guard found no items in the room.

The suspect was booked into Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of grand theft. 

A Great Great Niece's Windfall?: For an unknown number of years, the police department has had in its property room vault a pouch containing 16 U.S. War Savings Bonds worth $25 each and an Oregon driver's license of a man born in 1904. The current staff have no information about how the department obtained the items.

Last week, an officer decided to try and locate the family of the man identified by the driver's license. Over two days, the officer called numerous agencies and newspapers in Oregon, trying to get information about the man. No luck.

Then the officer got on a website called Ancestry.com, which claims to be "The world's largest online resource for family history documents and family trees." The officer found a man with the same name and birthdate on the registry, then traced his family tree to a daughter who died in 2008 in Oregon.

The officer called The Oregonian newspaper and got the daughter's obituary and the number for the funeral home that handled the death. Through the funeral home, the officer got in touch with a daughter of the deceased, who said she was the great niece of the War Bond holder. 

After verifying that it was, in fact, the right family, the officer arranged to have the bonds picked up at department headquarters by, presumably, the original bond holder's great great niece, who lives near the Bay Area.