Ankle

LIVERMORE — A 21-year-old ex-convict from Fremont has been charged in the robbery and attempted robbery of two women at gunpoint last month at a shopping center here — crimes allegedly done while he was wearing an ankle monitor as a condition of his parole, according to authorities and court records.

The suspect, who was paroled from prison in January after serving a brief term for shooting into an inhabited dwelling, was charged June 1 with second-degree robbery, attempted second-degree robbery, assault with a semi-automatic firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing June 13. He also faces a parole revocation hearing that day. He is being held at Santa Rita Jail in lieu of $340,000 bail.

According to authorities and the documents, about 5 p.m. May 21 Livermore police responded to numerous reports of an altercation in the parking lot of the Arroyo Park Shopping Center, in the 4300 block of First Street.

Officers learned a man had assaulted a woman with a weapon and attempted to grab her purse. The woman, a Livermore resident in her 20s, fought back as the man violently attacked her for more than 30 seconds.

The man then attacked a Discovery Bay woman in her 20s and stole her purse at gunpoint before fleeing in a vehicle, authorities said.

After viewing video surveillance and talking to witnesses, police were able to identify the alleged robber. It was determined he was on parole and that he was required to wear an ankle monitor, which showed him at the scene of the robberies, police said.

He was arrested May 31 at his parole agent's office in Oakland. Livermore police served a search warrant at his home and found a semi-automatic handgun believed to have been used in the robberies.

According to court documents, in a plea agreement in March 2022, he pleaded no contest and was convicted of felony shooting at an occupied vehicle stemming from a September 2020 incident in San Leandro. As part of the plea agreement, several charges, including shooting at an inhabited dwelling in Oakland in October 2020, were dismissed.

Livermore police chief Jeramy Young said it was "disturbing" that the suspect had already been released from prison for his prior conviction. He added: "I hope the criminal justice system will hold him accountable for his continued violence."

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