Prolific cigarette robbers linked to incidents all over East Bay

OAKLAND — Police say four men who were recently charged in a cigarette store robbery are believed to be part of a crew linked to several brazen smash-and-grab incidents all over the East Bay, according to court records.

The suspects — two Vallejo men, a Pittsburg man and a San Leandro man — were charged with a Jan. 14 incident where plainclothes officers allegedly witnessed the foursome leave an Oakland smoke shop, rob someone of an Acura, then drive to a gas station and commit an armed robbery. At that point, uniformed officers showed up and arrested the men, according to court records.

Authorities had already been tracking the group for alleged involvement in similar robberies dating back to last November, including a robbery in Pittsburg where four men drove an Acura through the front-ent of a convenience store and made off with $60,000 to $100,000 in merchandise, according to court records. Other incidents were documented in Walnut Creek, Antioch and Oakland, police said.

At least three other suspects, including a local rapper who served time in federal prison, were identified as suspected members of the same robbery crew but haven’t yet been charged, according to court records.

In one of the incidents, on Nov. 20 in Oakland, the group made off with a cigarette carton that had secretly been equipped with a GPS device, according to police, a tactic employed by local store owners to combat thefts.