Roommates Arrested for Staging a PG&E Robbery

Two roommates, Jacob Barrett, 29, and Ian Hargreaves, 21, had a deal. With Barrett working at PG&E’s customer service office, the two apparently decided to get some money the “easy” way.

The roommates staged a robbery at this PG&E office

The plan was simple, Barrett would come to work as a cashier just as he usually did, and  Hargreaves would enter the building in a ski mask and a hooded sweatshirt, pretend to have a gun, and demand money from his friend the cashier. Barrett, pretending not to know what’s going on, would hand over the cash, and Hargreaves would run off with the money, which the roommates would share later.

The two put their plan to work yesterday, May 14, in the afternoon. As planned, Hargreaves “robbed” the office and Barrett promptly reported the robbery to the Redding Police Department. However, the situation spiraled out of the roommates’ control when the police arrived. One of the witnesses reported that they saw the suspect get into a pick-up truck, which looked very similar to Barrett’s. In fact, when the police went to check Barrett’s residence, they found the truck parked in the front. Moreover, about an hour later the police observed the vehicle leaving and stopped it, they indeed found Ian Hargreaves to be the driver and apprehended him with no incident.

Hartgreaves was apprehended in Barrett's truck leaving the roommates' Stingy Lane home.

Because the case seemed a bit “blurry,” the police took Barrett along with Hargreaves for an interview at the RPD Investigation Division, where the two admitted that the robbery was staged. Barrett was charged with filing a false police report and both roommates were booked into the Shasta County Jail for burglary and conspiracy.

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