3 Women Arrested In Hercules Home Burglary After Search Prompts School Lockdown
HERCULES (CBS SF) -- Three women were arrested Wednesday in connection with a morning burglary that prompted the lockdown of a nearby elementary school and day care center, police said.
Officers arrested 21-year-old Vallejo resident Vonisha Grisby, 28-year-old Novato resident Nastassjja Ellison and 22-year-old Oakland resident Akoshiana Steward on suspicion of burglary and attempted burglary.
Police said they are being held on $100,000 bail.
Officers responded at 8:28 a.m. to a report of a burglary in progress at a home in the 1200 block of Hercules Avenue, police said.
A man told police he was inside his house when he heard someone knock at the door and then heard someone inside the home. The man locked himself in a bedroom while officers arrived and surrounded the house, police said.
Police found the front door ajar but no suspects inside. The man was found unharmed but the home had been ransacked and the screens had been removed from the outside windows on the back of the house, police said.
The man discovered that some jewelry was missing, police said.
Officers began to canvass the neighborhood and while doing so, they were dispatched to the 300 block of Grissom Street on a report of a suspicious circumstance, police said.
A witness told police that a woman was sitting in a black Chrysler 300, which had been backed into a driveway, police said. The caller was able to provide a license plate number and give a description of the woman in the car.
As soon as an alarm in the house sounded, the woman in the car drove off, according to police.
An officer found the Chrysler unoccupied in the 100 block of Montego Drive. An officer then spotted a woman matching the suspect's description walking in the 100 block of Catalina Drive, just a couple blocks away. But when the officer turned around to catch up to her, the woman was nowhere to be seen, police said.
Police put Hanna Ranch Elementary School and a nearby day care center on lockdown at 10:14 a.m. while officers searched for the suspects.
Over the next hour, officers located Grisby in the 100 block of
Montego Drive, Ellison at the corner of Montego Drive and Bonaire Avenue, and Steward near the intersection of Miramar Avenue and Refugio Valley Road, police said.
Officers located property from the home on Hercules Avenue in Grisby's possession and determined Ellison had been with her. Steward allegedly was carrying a tool connecting her to the Hercules Avenue burglary and officers found her wallet in Grisby's car, according to police.
Police said investigators also suspect the trio was involved in a second attempted burglary at a home in the 100 block of Carson Street.
All three were booked into county jail and the school lockdown was lifted at 11:14 a.m.
Anyone with information about the incidents is encouraged to contact Hercules police Detective Sgt. Joe Vasquez at (510) 799-8272.
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