The Lafayette Police Department announces the arrests of suspects in two home invasion robberies that occurred in the city on October 31, 2019 and November 26, 2019.
This morning, the Fairfield Police Department SWAT team and Lafayette Police Department served Ramey arrest warrants and search warrants at a residence on the 500 block of Pacific Avenue in Fairfield in connection with the cases. Multiple people were detained. Two have been arrested at this time:
-22-year-old Joseph Wells of Fairfield
-20-year-old Adama Diop of Fairfield
Since the home invasion robbery on October 31, Lafayette Police Investigators, assisted by the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff Investigation Division, have worked continuously on this case. Separately, the Oakland Police Department was already investigating a home invasion robbery that happened on October 29. A similar incident happened in Benicia on November 10. A second home invasion robbery occurred in Lafayette on November 26. The agencies began coordinating their efforts once investigative leads were developed and similarities between the four cases were established.
During the serving of the search warrant at the residence today, Lafayette Police Investigators seized guns and numerous items and property believed to be stolen during the home invasion robberies.
“The arrest of these home invasion robbery suspects is the result of good police work,” said Contra Costa Sheriff David Livingston. “It was a combination of following up on leads, a critical tip from a citizen who reported something suspicious, and teamwork among the law enforcement agencies involved.”
Interviews with the suspects are currently taking place.
Wells and Diop will be booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on charges that include: residential burglary, kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, stolen vehicle and conspiracy.
The Lafayette Police Department would like to thank the following agencies for their assistance: Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, Oakland Police Department, Fairfield Police Department, and Benicia Police Department.
Anyone with any information on the Lafayette cases is asked to contact the Lafayette Police Department at (925) 283-3680 or (925) 299-3234. For any tips, email: 94549TIP@gmail.com or call (866) 846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.
“Jail booking records show that Adama Diop, 20, was booked Monday morning by Benicia police. He was no longer in custody as of early Tuesday, according to jail records.”
Maybe it’s time to do away with bail. If you’re arrested, stay in jail where you belong until your trial. Or at least set the bail higher., and make it impossible to bail out. Otherwise, you’ll be out committing more crimes of the same nature, including four home invasions. Two of them in Lafayette.
I hope the homeowners get all their property back. The trauma of home invasion is something that can’t be recovered.
Agree. Benicia crime: home invasion, assaulting homeowners, fleeing from police, possession of a stolen vehicle and goods. $50,000 bail. Out in 24 hours.
So that’s 5 grand to post and be free. Where are they coming up with the money to do so…and if it’s that easy, yes, bail should be a lot higher. The residents/victims are likely suffering from PTSD, etc. Who says the criminals are going to show up for their court dates? I highly doubt it.emily
So Benicia cops arrested him for a home invasion and running from police and he posts bail and does another home invasion two weeks later? What is the bail for the Lafayette arrest?
Hi – Where did you get this info and “which” Monday (date) did this happen?
I checked http://www.cocosheriff.org/ (under: Inmate Reports > Booking Report) and it shows that both suspects were booked at 12/05/2019 07:00 am with a bail amount of: $1,500,000.00
Ok… trying to paint the entire picture here.
It sounds like there was a string of home invasions that were all related. (I pulled the following dates/locations from various news reports..)
> Oct 29 – Oakland home invasion
> Oct 31 – Lafayette home invasion
> Nov 10 – Benica home invasion – Adama Diop was pursued, jailed, and then made bond (??) – I believe this is what Danielle posted above.
> Nov 26 – Lafayette home invasion
Based on the CoCo Sheriff link I posted above, both suspect were booked on Dec 5 and are still in custody. Bail is $1.5M
I got my info from Daily Republic – Solano County’s News Source (Fairfield, Suisun City, CA)
Dated November 13, 2019 Page A4 (print edition).
If you want to read “all the info” it’s easier to google his name, especially with an uncommon name. CoCo Sheriff will only say what happened in Contra Costa County. I wanted to know why he was not in custody after the Benicia home invasion, so I googled his name.
At least he’s now being held on a 1.5 million bail, which would have made more sense at the beginning. The other home invasions were preventable. Home invasion should never be 50K bail. 5K will bail you out, and anyone can come up with 5K.
WTF? How does one get arrested for a home invasion burglary with injuries and only get $50k bail? Where is the common sense in that? I hope that judge is aware they put other people in danger by letting him off so easy.
Shouldn’t Diop also be charged with committing a felony while out on bail for a previous felony an additional charge?
Get the firing squad out!
We’ve had enough of this!
Yes, well, getting lots of interesting punishment ideas, Greg, though we hope we don’t have to resort to wartime conditions to deal with this stuff. We’d wager the victims would like some “alone time” with these dudes…
Thank you police! That is great news
I take it these weren’t random occurrences. How did they pick their victims? Why did they come to Lafayette? And then come back again?
What judge set a $50k bail after a violent home invasion? A decision that ultimately led to three more violent crimes? I’d like a name.
Just a quick word: We get the passion aroused by the news surrounding crimes/issues of this type. We have seen the repercussions ourselves, firsthand. But we remind folks “looking for justice” that it is often an elusive thing and that judges set bail amounts based on pre-determined schedules so they are often bound in this way. Still, we get why folks are so fired up.
I googled “pre-determined schedules” the other day when I was fired up about the $50K. I found no bail in Santa Barbara (home invasion) and $500K (2017) in San Joaquin County. I don’t believe $50K is pre-determined anywhere in CA. I think it was a liberal judge.
“Guns and other items….” Sounds like they were getting what they wanted.