UC Berkeley police arrest woman tied to multiple crimes
UCPD arrested her at a construction site in April but two men with her got away, police said, after they brandished a gun at a runner on a fire trail.
A woman is facing criminal charges in connection with multiple cases after police caught her at a UC Berkeley construction site with burglary plans, authorities say.
The woman was also linked to the robbery of two men in Oakland in January in addition to other crimes, court papers show.
On April 5, the University of California Police Department responded to a possible theft in progress in the parking lot at the Witter Rugby Field construction site, at 210 Stadium Rim Way, shortly after 3:30 p.m., according to court papers.
No one was there, but UC police found a fence that had been pried open and tools "that were staged" nearby for later use, police wrote. Some of the boxes at the job site had been pried open and "rummaged through."
At 5:30 p.m., the suspects drove back to the construction site in a black Ford Taurus, police wrote, parking at Canyon Road and Stadium Rim Way.
Responding officers detained a woman driving the car, which turned out to have been stolen, police wrote — but two men with her got away, running east toward UC Berkeley's lower fire trails.
Later that evening, UCPD received a report that two men matching their description had "brandished a firearm at a runner," saying, "You know what time it is?"
Police are still working to identify them, according to court papers.
Meanwhile, they arrested the woman, identified as 27-year-old Rochelle Wimberly, who was later charged with vehicle theft and other crimes, according to court papers.
After her arrest in Berkeley, police also linked Wimberly to a robbery in Oakland in January, police wrote in charging papers.
In that incident, two men in a work van were robbed at gunpoint of their tools and a lunch box, containing a wallet, Jan. 27.
The robbers — two women and a man — were then seen on surveillance video buying three pairs of shoes, police wrote.
Wimberly "provided a partial confession" to police in April, saying she had helped take the tools and lunch box, but had not been armed, she said.
The Alameda County sheriff's office ultimately charged Wimberly with robbery and identity theft from Jan. 27 — in addition to a Jan. 23 burglary and Feb. 6 felony evasion case, according to charging papers.
No information was available about those incidents.
Wimberly has entered not guilty pleas in connection with all the crimes and is no longer in custody.
She is set to return to court May 29 for a pretrial hearing, according to jail records.
