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Palo Alto police arrested on Feb. 29 an East Palo Alto resident who they said robbed a woman of her purse earlier this month while she was sitting in the driveway of her home, according to a news release from the Police Department.
The 36-year-old man was arrested at his home on the 1600 block of Bay Road at about 5:20 a.m., police said. The department’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team and Crisis Negotiation Team served the search and arrest warrant with the assistance of the East Palo Alto Police Department, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, police said.
The man was booked at the Santa Clara County Main Jail pursuant to the robbery warrant and a felony probation violation stemming from a prior conviction for possession of narcotics in jail, according to the news release.
The man is suspected of robbing a woman on the 700 block of De Soto Drive, in the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Feb. 7. The victim, who is in her 60s, reported that a man had approached her while she was sitting in her driveway and using her phone. He reportedly yelled at her to give him her phone and purse, police said.
The man also had one hand under his sweatshirt and appeared to be pointing something at her, she reported. The woman had assumed it was a gun, though she did not see one. She handed over her phone and purse and the man ran away, police said.
Police found the phone shortly after the robbery and processed it for fingerprints before returning it to the woman. The day after the robbery, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office matched the fingerprint that was lifted from the phone to the 36-year-old man, according to the news release.
Police said they brought the man into custody without incident and did not locate any weapons or evidence from the robbery.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413 or to email anonymous tips to paloalto@tipnow.org or 650-383-8984.
Editor’s note: Palo Alto Online’s policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the district attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. Read our guidelines.