Man charged with robbery attempt in Berkeley parking lot
Police say Christian Jensen admitted to "asking people for money with his lighter, which was shaped like a firearm."
A man spent his birthday in jail, facing robbery charges, after demanding money from a woman outside a northwest Berkeley drugstore, court papers show.
Berkeley police said the woman got scared after seeing the man holding the handle of what looked like a silver firearm in his pocket when he asked her for money outside the Gilman Street Walgreens on a Saturday morning in June.
The woman, a Berkeley architect, was able to leave in her car, then reported the incident to police.
When officers responded, suspect Christian Jensen was gone, but they found him a short time later in the Whole Foods parking lot across the street, police said.
Read more about crime in Berkeley.
BPD said Jensen "admitted to walking around the parking lot at Walgreens asking people for money with his lighter, which was shaped like a firearm with a silver handle."
In charging papers, police noted that Jensen, who has no permanent address, had "no prior history of robbery" and no warrants.
In June, the district attorney's office charged him with attempted robbery, which is a felony.
He later entered a plea of not guilty
Christian Jensen. BPD
Judge Elena Condes released Jensen on his own recognizance, ordering him not to possess any firearms, including replica firearms or gun parts, according to court papers.
She also ordered him to stay away from Ninth Street up to San Pablo Avenue between Harrison and Camelia streets, which covers the area where the crime took place.
Last week, Berkeley police arrested Jensen again in connection with a felony warrant and suspected drug possession, according to BPD records.
He turned 46 over the weekend in jail.
Jensen is now being held on $50,000 bail with a court hearing set for next week, according to jail records.
The Scanner has requested his booking photograph from BPD and will add it to this story when it becomes available.
Overall, robberies in Berkeley are down steeply this year — to the lowest recorded levels in more than a decade, the department said this week.
Historically, Berkeley averaged about one robbery a day.
So far this year, there have been 90 robberies reported in Berkeley, a 28% drop from last year, according to department data.
