Crime & Safety

Officers Quickly Nab Female Robbery Suspect

Antioch woman identified as suspect in Fourth Street incident.

An apparent goodwill gesture by a robbery suspect didn’t score any points with officers Saturday.

A woman who returned a wallet to the woman from whom she’d stolen it was tracked down and arrested minutes later by several officers, Sgt. Lisa Holton said.

Lawino Hartsough, 37, of Antioch was identified as the suspect who took another woman’s wallet while inside a business in the 1300 block of Fourth Street at about 12:15 p.m., Holton said.

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The 53-year-old woman whose wallet was stolen received help from a witness in confronting the suspect and engaged in a short scuffle with her, according to the police report. The suspect returned the wallet to its owner and took off in her car, heading east on Fourth Street., Holton said.

Officers spotted the car at Fourth and Hetherton streets and stopped it in the Citibank parking lot in the 600 block of Third Street, according to the report. Five squad cars pulled up and officers drew their firearms. Two occupants were detained, and the woman with the wallet eventually identified Hartsough as the assailant.

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Hartsough was found to have counterfeit traveler’s checks and had used some of them to obtain cash and gift cards, Holton said. Meanwhile, Hartsough was found to be out on bail for a pending case and was wanted in theft investigation in Alameda County.

She was booked at Marin County Jail at 4:28 p.m. and faces felony counts of robbery, burglary, petty theft with a prior jail term and committing an offense while out on bail. The warrants were for petty theft with a prior jail term and theft of property worth more than $400.


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