Ah, Moraga – rolling hills, pastoral fields and neighbors tipping their hats to one another as they pass. And then there’s the Moraga I know…
There are a thousand tales to tell about life here in MoSurbia, I’m here to drag some of them into the light. Our thanks to the men and women of the Moraga police department, who patrol our gritty streets and do it with humor and great patience.
Here now, True Crime Cases that’ll make your hair stand up and drive you back to the safety of The City:
Gassed And Out of It…
Out of gas, that is. That’s what officers determined when they found a 2009 Honda Odyssey still warm to the touch and blocking the intersection at Corliss and Wakefield drives in down Dec. 7. It was a little early in the morning but officers were able to reach the car’s owner, who lived several blocks away and who told them that her 17-year-old daughter took the car for a little Odyssey of her own. The car’s mom met with officers and everyone determined that it was out of gas – a point driven home a few seconds later when the aforementioned daughter arrived, a gallon can of fuel in hand and booze on her breath. Officers performed a blood alcohol test, determined that the much out-of-favor daughter had a blood alcohol content of .15 percent. She was entered into the Juvenile Diversion Program with mum’s consent and AAA arrived with additional fuel to bring the Odyssey’s Odyssey to an end. The teen was released to her mother.
Moraga Squat
Moraga police were contacted by colleagues in Walnut Creek on Dec. 9 and asked to see if an individual being sought in The Creek had taken up residence in a foreclosed or temporarily unoccupied (it wasn’t clear which) residence at Donald Drive and Moraga Road. Officers did not find the male they’d been asked to locate but they did find his girlfriend and her belongings in the residence. The officers asked Moraga’s latest resident to move along, shuttered the residence and are attempting to contact the legal owner.
“I’m Picking Up Good Vibrations…”
Beach Boys fans will bear with us as we relate the case of mysterious vibrations in and around a home in the 3800 block of Campolindo Drive. It appears the owner of the residence called police about a persistent vibration he felt may have been caused by a fleet-footed stranger stealing water from an outside spigot. Officers found no evidence of theft or of the fleet-footed caller and determined that the homeowner was otherwise in good order.
Another Successful Phone Con. Really, People?
Moraga police were contacted Dec. 12 by a sheepish residence who informed officers they may have fallen victim to the nefarious “your grandson has been hurt here in the Philippines… Pakistan… Mexico… Canada (fill in the blank), please send money.” And that, of course, is what caring grandparents do. After wiring the money (we don’t know how much this time or where it was sent) the kind-hearted relative contacted police who confirmed that no family member was abroad or in distress and that they money grandma/pa had sent was long gone.
Stolen Packages On La Rado
On Dec. 12 a Corte La Rado resident called police to report that someone had taken three packages from her porch sometime between 10:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. the day prior. The empty packages were later found in a trash bin in front of a residence on Campolindo Drive.
Speed Bumpin’ To Boston
A Moraga officer stopped a white 2013 Chevy Tahoe on Augusta Drive the evening of Dec. 13 and contacted the driver after observing the car speeding and blowing a stop sign in the Moraga County Club. The 46-year-old Moraga resident allegedly emitted the odor of alcohol but denied ingesting any, refusing initial tests but eventually submitting to a breath test and blowing a respectable .15 percent. Officers said the driver eventually admitted drinking a little wine at a Christmas party in San Francisco and volunteered that he was listening to Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” very loudly (that one gets us every time) and “having fun” flying over the speed bumps on August Drive. The fact that he was driving a rental may explain the cavalier attitude toward the vehicle and if the next renter notices the suspension is a little “splashy” we’ll know why, won’t we?
Jack Won’t Save You
Moraga police attempted to stop a 22-year-old local who has had prior contacts with the law at 8:22 p.m. on Dec. 16, knowing him to be under searchable probation, but the lad ran from officers and took shelter in the Jack In The Box restaurant on Moraga Way. Undeterred, officers closed in on the man and took him into custody after a brief struggle. A small baggie of drug paraphernalia and syringes were later found in the restaurant. The local was eventually taken to the Main Detention Facility in Martinez.
