Laptop Computer Robbed from Priest, 2 Suspects Arrested at Church

MORAGA – Police in East Bay suburbs of San Francisco are teaming up to confront a wave of laptop computer robberies. One recent robbery involving a priest triggered a manhunt involving five law enforcement agencies.

Snatch-and-run thefts in public places are nothing new, but now more victims are being assaulted or threatened with violence—and robberies are being committed by organized groups of individuals.

Cities affected by a surge of laptop computer robberies include Alameda, Alamo, Berkeley, Dublin, Hercules, Livermore, and Pleasanton, among others. Most of the robberies have occurred in coffeehouses.

Another such strong-armed robbery was reported at 10:45 a.m. on December 6, but this time a laptop computer was robbed from a priest inside a classroom at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.

Two young men entered the classroom where the victim was alone. One man robbed the priest, while a second man held open a door until they both ran away to a waiting Jeep—driven by a third suspect, according to the Moraga police.

Response to this robbery was massive with officers from Moraga, Lafayette and Orinda, a helicopter from the California Highway Patrol, a Concord police K-9 unit—and an aerial surveillance drone operated by Lafayette police.

Two suspects were quickly located and arrested after the Jeep they used to flee was abandoned 4 miles away near Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church, 433 Moraga Way in Orinda. Police caught both men hiding behind the church.

Two Antioch residents Deonta Lee, 25 and Javaries Johnson, 22, were arrested and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility, charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, grand theft, and possession of stolen property. A third suspect remains at large.
The stolen laptop was recovered and returned to its rightful owner.