SAN LEANDRO — A man on probation for three 2017 Contra Costa County robberies has been charged in four Alameda County bank heists and is being looked at as a suspect in several others, according to authorities and court records.
Avaun Price, 31, of Oakland, was charged Monday in connection with a robbery and attempted robberies of Chase Bank branches in San Leandro, Hayward, Berkeley and Emeryville from March 13 to June 14. He is being prosecuted under “three strikes” statutes.
He was arrested in Oakland by San Leandro police on June 14.
According to court documents and authorities, Price is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree robbery and one count of second-degree robbery.
The two most recent attempts June 14 were of Chase branches in San Leandro and Hayward. Another attempted robbery was March 19 in Berkeley.
The actual robbery he is charged in happened March 13 in Emeryville.
In each of the cases tellers were given notes demanding money, and in some of them the robber claimed to have a gun. The robber only got money in the Emeryville holdup.
San Leandro police said that after the two June 14 robberies, police got a detailed description of the car the suspect left in and began looking for it.
About 5:45 p.m. that day, a San Leandro police sergeant spotted the car in the area of 90th and Bancroft avenues in East Oakland. The car was eventually stopped and Price was arrested. Police said he was still wearing the same clothing worn by the suspect in the San Leandro robbery and was identified by witnesses as the robber.
San Leandro police Lt. Isaac Benabou said in an earlier news release the arrest was an “example of excellent teamwork by all involved. A very observant police sergeant found the ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ by locating the suspect and his vehicle.”
According to court documents and authorities, Price has three convictions from earlier this year in Contra Costa County for robbery and attempted robbery. Details were not immediately available but based on previous media accounts, it is believed they were for robberies and an attempted robbery in June 2017 at banks and a loan and check cashing business, all in San Pablo.
Although details have not been confirmed, officials indicated Price was given credit for time served, a suspended prison sentence and placed on probation. It is not clear when exactly he was released from custody in Contra Costa County.
Price is being held at Santa Rita Jail in lieu of $700,000 bail. He is scheduled to enter a plea June 26.