This is the Lenox Av Abduction Matter
Teen charged as an adult in kidnap, rape
Second suspect sought in 'vicious' Oakland hills assault of 35-year-old
By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUE
OAKLAND — A 17-year-old high school dropout will be prosecuted as an adult in the kidnap-robbery-rape last week of a 35-year-old woman that one investigator called the most brutal assault he has ever seen.
A second suspect is being sought.
West Oakland resident Clifton Haynes was charged Tuesday with forcible rape, kidnapping to commit robbery, carjacking and three other sex crime counts. Haynes has acknowledged his involvement, authorities said.
Authorities could only confirm one prior arrest for Haynes. But Assistant District Attorney Norbert Chu, who filed the charges and made the decision to prosecute Haynes as an adult, said that made no difference.
Citing the severity of the crime, Chu said he would have made the same decision had Haynes' record been clean.
"This was a sophisticated, vicious and brutal crime," Chu said.
Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, who investigated the case with Sgt. Steve Lovell, called what happened to the woman "the most brutal sexual assault" he has seen in his 16-year career.
The woman had just gotten out of her car on Lenox Avenue in Adams Point about 7:45 p.m. Thursday to visit friends when Haynes and the still-unidentified accomplice confronted her with guns, Arotzarena said.
The woman was robbed and then forced into her black Volkswagen Jetta by the suspects and driven away, police said. They took her to an ATM in Castro Valley, where she was forced to withdraw money, police said. She was then driven to the Leona Heights area in the Oakland hills, where the sexual assault took place, police said.
Arotzarena said it is still not clear if the second suspect joined in the sexual assault on the woman, who needed medical treatment for injuries. The woman was left in the hills about 8:45 p.m. Thursday and sought help from nearby residents.
The break in the case came Friday afternoon. Arotzarena said Haynes had driven the Volkswagen to the 400 block of 28th Street to steal some paper plates from an auto dealership to try to deter police from looking for the car.
But he locked the keys in the car and was spotted breaking into it and driving off by a dealership employee, who called police, Arotzarena said.
Officers responding to that call found items on the street dropped from the car linking it to the rape victim.
Sgt. Paul Bernard spotted the Volkswagen a short time later at 12th and Center streets, stopped it and arrested Haynes.
Arotzarena said police are investigating whether Haynes could be responsible for other street robberies in the Adams Point area.
Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are still offering up to $5,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the second suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 238-3326 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.
Teen charged as an adult in kidnap, rape
Second suspect sought in 'vicious' Oakland hills assault of 35-year-old
By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUE
OAKLAND — A 17-year-old high school dropout will be prosecuted as an adult in the kidnap-robbery-rape last week of a 35-year-old woman that one investigator called the most brutal assault he has ever seen.
A second suspect is being sought.
West Oakland resident Clifton Haynes was charged Tuesday with forcible rape, kidnapping to commit robbery, carjacking and three other sex crime counts. Haynes has acknowledged his involvement, authorities said.
Authorities could only confirm one prior arrest for Haynes. But Assistant District Attorney Norbert Chu, who filed the charges and made the decision to prosecute Haynes as an adult, said that made no difference.
Citing the severity of the crime, Chu said he would have made the same decision had Haynes' record been clean.
"This was a sophisticated, vicious and brutal crime," Chu said.
Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, who investigated the case with Sgt. Steve Lovell, called what happened to the woman "the most brutal sexual assault" he has seen in his 16-year career.
The woman had just gotten out of her car on Lenox Avenue in Adams Point about 7:45 p.m. Thursday to visit friends when Haynes and the still-unidentified accomplice confronted her with guns, Arotzarena said.
The woman was robbed and then forced into her black Volkswagen Jetta by the suspects and driven away, police said. They took her to an ATM in Castro Valley, where she was forced to withdraw money, police said. She was then driven to the Leona Heights area in the Oakland hills, where the sexual assault took place, police said.
Arotzarena said it is still not clear if the second suspect joined in the sexual assault on the woman, who needed medical treatment for injuries. The woman was left in the hills about 8:45 p.m. Thursday and sought help from nearby residents.
The break in the case came Friday afternoon. Arotzarena said Haynes had driven the Volkswagen to the 400 block of 28th Street to steal some paper plates from an auto dealership to try to deter police from looking for the car.
But he locked the keys in the car and was spotted breaking into it and driving off by a dealership employee, who called police, Arotzarena said.
Officers responding to that call found items on the street dropped from the car linking it to the rape victim.
Sgt. Paul Bernard spotted the Volkswagen a short time later at 12th and Center streets, stopped it and arrested Haynes.
Arotzarena said police are investigating whether Haynes could be responsible for other street robberies in the Adams Point area.
Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are still offering up to $5,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the second suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 238-3326 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.
Comments