Police Log: First DUI Arrest Made 39 Minutes Into 'Avoid the 21' Campaign

The following are significant crime and incidents reported in Newark between Dec. 7 and 16 as released by the Newark Police Department.

Monday, Dec. 16

• FBI Seeking 'Bad Beard Bandit' For Robberies.

• Stolen car with burglary tools inside. Two transient males, 35 and 19, were arrested at 9:09 p.m. after a high-risk vehicle stop at a car wash on Thornton Avenue. Their car was reported stolen out of Vallejo, and inside the pair were carrying a significant amount of burglary tools, including a portable oxyacetylene torch kit, heavy duty cordless grinders and multiple pry bars. The call began when a citizen on Ash Street flagged down officers to report a suspicious vehicle in the area.  

• Birds of a feather booked together. Two suspected shoplifters, two 24-year-olds from Fremont and Newark, were arrested at 6:30 p.m. for petty theft at NewPark Mall's Sears. The Newark suspect, however, had a criminal protective restraining order against the other suspect, so an additional charge of violation of a court order was added.

• Car burglar takes off in Mercedes. Two auto burglaries were reported at 10:47 a.m. at the Lido Faire Shopping Center. A 6-foot, light-skinned black male in his early 20s, wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and tan pants, smashed the windows of two separate vehicles and took the laptops that were inside. He then fled in a white Mercedes sedan.

• Drunk X3. A 1:42 a.m. traffic stop at E-Z 8 Motel ended in the arrest of a transient male, 60, for driving under the influence -- he was more than three times the legal limit.

• Cell phone thefts at high school. Police were called to investigate the theft of a cell phone at 10 a.m. from a Newark Memorial High School classroom. That phone was recovered, and the juvenile alleged thief was taken into custody. He was also in possession of another cell phone stolen two days earlier from the school. The boy was arrested for petty theft and possession of stolen property and released to his parents.

• "Avoid the 21" anti-DUI campaign kicked off with its first arrest at 12:39 a.m. of a Newark woman, 22, on the 35000 block of Blackburn Drive. 

• A red, 2009 Ducati 696 motorcycle was reported stolen at 7:10 a.m. from a residence on the 36900 block of Newark Boulevard. The license is #19M8924.

• Violent felon traced and arrested. Following up on a Dec. 5 domestic violence case involving a female victim who was visibly injured by her child's father, police set out to locate the suspect, a 34-year-old Newark man, currently wearing an ankle monitor, on probation for weapons violations and with possible access to firearms. At 2 p.m., with help from NPD Street Crimes detectives and ALCO Probation, officers tracked the subject to the Islander Hotel on Mission Boulevard in Hayward. Using the GPS on his ankle monitor, police determined that he was at a nearby shopping center, and after an hour of searching saw him getting onto an AC Transit bus. A coordinated traffic stop was placed on the bus and the man was arrested without incident. A follow-up search of his Hayward residence turned up a loaded shotgun, .22 caliber rifles, a crossbow, various types of ammunition and marijuana.

• Fender bender turns into robbery. At 6:13 p.m., police responded to a robbery call on the 37000 block of Cedar Boulevard. The incident began as a vehicle accident and turned into an argument during the exchange of information. The suspect pushed the victim and stole his cellphone, then fled on Cedar towards Thornton Avenue in a Chevy Avalanche with passenger-side damage. He is described as Samoan, in his 30s, about 6 feet tall with a heavy build. 
  

• A residential burglary was reported at 3:05 p.m. on the 4900 block of Oxford Place where suspects kicked in the front door and stole jewelry.

• Stopped for bad driving, jailed for pesky DUI warrant and meth. At 10:16 p.m., a female motorist was stopped for a traffic infraction. She was driving on a license suspended from a prior DUI with a warrant, and also was in possession of a glass smoking pipe and a small amount of methamphetamine. She went to jail. 

• A white, 1992 Chevy truck was stolen at 6:40 p.m. from the Burlington store lot at NewPark Mall. The truck's license is #7V91710.  

• A black, 1999 four-door Saturn was reported stolen at 9:29 a.m. from the E-Z 8 Motel, with license #5ANV476.

• A black, 1999 two-door Chevrolet Camaro was reported stolen at 2:57 p.m. from the 37000 block of Magnolia Street, with license #5MMW052.

• Safeway theft suspect is being tracked down in Oakland. At 8:55 p.m., police answered a theft call from Safeway. The suspect was identified through video surveillance, plus a witness copied down the license plate from the getaway vehicle. The individual resides in Oakland and a case will be forwarded to the district attorney's office for a complaint.