Bay City News [BCN]. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
A crime spree that began with a purse snatching Saturday night in San Mateo ended some 14 hours later with the arrest of two men who police say committed multiple burglaries and a theft, stole a car and used stolen credit cards to make multiple fraudulent purchases.
San Mateo police are searching for a third man involved in the crimes; Richard Farries, 20, and Okusitino Tau, 18, were arrested shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday. Both men are San Mateo residents and were arrested on suspicion of multiple offenses, including burglary, criminal conspiracy, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools.
Farries was also arrested on suspicion of being on parole and Tau was also arrested on suspicion of multiple offenses, including possession of a firearm, possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine, possession of a firearm with altered serial number, possession of a short-barreled rifle and committing a felony while out on bail.
Police said Tau was out on bail for two street robberies he committed in October 2019.
The crime spree began around 7:45 p.m. Saturday when the suspects were in a vehicle on Laurel Avenue and pulled up next to an elderly female pedestrian and snatched her purse, police said.
The vehicle then fled eastbound on Seventh Avenue. The woman was unharmed.
Later that evening, the woman contacted police to report that her credit cards had been used in Belmont, San Carlos and Hayward.
Officers obtained security video footage from the businesses where the credit cards were used and were able to obtain descriptions of three individuals and the suspect vehicle, a gold minivan.
The next morning at 7:20 a.m., police issued an alert for a car burglary and theft in a vehicle matching the description of the thieves.
At 8:27 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a report in Ridgecrest Terrace of the theft of a vehicle belonging to the daughter of the woman whose purse was snatched the night before. Police later learned that a spare key to the daughter's Honda was in the stolen purse.
Images from a private surveillance camera recorded the same gold minivan involved in the car theft.
At 9:13 a.m. a report came in of a carjacking in San Mateo with the same gold minivan involved, and 23 minutes later another carjacking was reported in Millbrae with the same car.
The gold minivan was spotted by police shortly before 10 a.m. and, along with officers, initiated a traffic stop, but the vehicle continued into the 300 block of North Idaho Street.
Police arrested the two men in the car, in possession of several bags and burglary tools in plain view. The purse belonging to the first victim of the crime spree was located inside one of the two houses occupied by the suspects.
During the search, agents also found property likely belonging to more victims, a pistol with an altered serial number and a short-barreled AR-15 pistol with an extended magazine.
