Convenience Store Robbery Suspects Arrested, Stolen Cigarettes Recovered
Photo: Image of confiscated cigarettes | Fremont PD
FREMONT — Three suspects were arrested for a convenience store robbery on Central Avenue. The trunk of a stolen vehicle used by the suspects was full of cigarettes evidently stolen from multiple convenience stores.
Police responded on January 22 to the store on Central Avenue, where two masked men stole cartons of cigarettes. In a prepared statement Fremont police said. “The suspects made threats to the clerks and made gestures that caused the clerks to believe that they were armed.”
Both suspects fled with a third man in the getaway vehicle, spotted by Fremont police. A brief chase ensued. It ended when the vehicle crashed near the intersection of Central Avenue and Cedar Boulevard in Newark.
Two of the suspects fled on foot. Meanwhile, a passenger in the back seat, Keotis K. Patterson, 22, of San Lorenzo, stayed put. Fremont PD arrested Patterson first.
A Newark police officer arrested the second suspect Warren C. Rodgers, Jr., 21, of Newman. A perimeter was set up, and Fremont PD arrested the third suspect Zocari R. Hicks, 18, of Oakland.
Cartons of cigarettes were recovered from the stolen vehicle. Patterson, Rodgers, and Hicks were booked at Alameda County Santa Rita Jail.
Patterson and Rodgers each face charges of second-degree robbery and obstructing/resisting an officer. Patterson was wanted by Antioch police for an outstanding warrant on suspicion of murder. In addition, Patterson has a prior conviction for carrying a loaded firearm.
Hicks is charged with second-degree robbery, vehicle theft, evading an officer, and giving false information to an officer.
