MORAGA: Rare Street Robbery Rattles Little Moraga

In a criminal act rare for Moraga, two of three men who had apparently been riding through town in a search for a victim confronted and robbed a woman walking on Camino Ricardo at Danefield Place Monday evening – taking her purse and escaping in a black Mercedes with tinted windows.

The incident was the first of its type in Lamorinda since a woman was relieved of her purse in the parking lot of the Four Seasons Animal Hospital in Lafayette in June of last year. As in Monday’s incident, that suspect managed to elude a police cordon.

Moraga police said their suspects, described only as three black males in their 20s all dressed in hoodies, accosted their victim as she was walking with her purse over her shoulder on Camino Ricardo at 4:17 p.m. Two of the men emerged from a black Mercedes with tinted windows and confronted the woman, forcibly taking her purse and dragging her approximately 15 feet as she fought to hold on to her bag. Officers said the woman suffered minor cuts and bruises but was otherwise uninjured.

No weapons were displayed during the assault, police said, and the victim’s loss was described as $200 cash, her passport, and a work visa. A cordon thrown up by Lamorinda police shortly after they received word of the incident failed to net the suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Sgt. Brian South at 925-888-7052 or police dispatch at 925-284-5010.