Two women planning a birthday celebration for a 1-year-old supplemented their party budget by robbing a San Pablo bank, police said.
"They said they were on their way to Hilltop Mall when we pulled them over," said San Pablo police Detective Mike Gancasz. "We subsequently located a large amount of cash in the mother's underwear."
Contra Costa prosecutors charged Niesha Fears and Jamilah Doss, both 30, with bank robbery Wednesday.
Workers at the CitiBank branch in the San Pablo Town Center shopping mall called 911 about 1 p.m. Monday after a woman wearing dark sunglasses and a baseball cap passed a note demanding cash. A teller complied, and the robber got into a blue PT Cruiser driven by another woman and left.
The unusual getaway car -- and the license plate number supplied by witnesses -- quickly gave police an investigative lead. About 1:45 p.m., a Contra Costa sheriff's deputy found the vehicle parked in its owner's driveway on Fourth Street in North Richmond.
As San Pablo police pulled up to the house, five women walked out and piled into a gold minivan parked nearby and drove away. Authorities stopped them after about a half-block.
Police interviews yielded a surprisingly straightforward story, Gancasz said.
Fears, who owns the PT Cruiser, has a nephew who turned 1 on Monday. Fears and her friend, Doss, told the mother not to worry about presents because they would pick something up, Gancasz said.
Witnesses identified Doss as the robber, police said. After the robbery, police say Fears drove to her own home, in her own car, and called the baby's 14-year-old mother, who came over with two friends, Gancasz said.
The suspects likely gave about $500 of the stolen money to others before police arrived, Gancasz said. As police pulled the group over, the suspects handed about $600 to the mother, who hid the cash in her underwear.
Serial numbers on that cash matched the bundle of money stolen from the bank, police said.
Fears' purse also launched a secondary investigation, as it contained numerous checks that belong to other people, Gancasz said. Inside her car and house, investigators also found the note used to rob the bank and several "practice" notes, police said.
Doss and Fears were booked into County Jail on suspicion of robbery. Police also booked the baby's mother into Juvenile Hall, Gancasz said, because she had an arrest warrant on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Police placed the 1-year-old with relatives.
okay, so it's not that funny, but it's really odd.
my obsession with gogol bordello has gotten the best of me. i spent my 30 minute drive back from hayward last night chain smoking with the shit pumped up. i went through half a pack before i realized what was going on. i don't even feel like i can fully enjoy them unless i'm flying down the road with at least two cigarettes hanging from my lips.
and don't even ask why i was in hayward last night. i think we all know the answer.
still not sleeping as much as i should be, what with johnny drama insisting on hogging the bed. he was better last night, though.
my rush to enjoy gears of war and call of duty 3 was quickly halted by the realization that my xbox360 will be away for repairs for at least another week. lame.
other songs that i've been listening to on repeat the past couple of days:
you have to love it when your friends call you just to tell you how much fun they're having getting drunk without you.
i have off tomorrow. how will i spend it? judging by my attitude today, i'll probably spend it throwing a lof of my stuf away or donating it to good will. i'm in the mood to be constructively destructive.
i have always known that davd lynch was fucking insane.
