Two of the suspects in the organized robbery at the Walnut Creek Nordstrom, who were set to make court appearances tomorrow, have already been freed, the Sheriff’s Office and the Contra Costa County District Attorney said. One of the suspects appeared in court on Monday.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the release of one of the suspects is under investigation.
Over 90 people attacked the Walnut Creek Nordstrom Department Store last November 20. They accessed the establishment through three different entrances, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said.
A criminal complaint said several people have used cars without or with temporary license plates to go to the location. Some 25 of these vehicles were systematically parked in front of the establishment in a bid to stop any crews from going into the area. Many of the people also had weapons with them.
Three of the suspects were identified as Dana Dawson, Joshua Underwood, and Rodney Robinson by a criminal complaint filed last week.
Robinson is still in custody and pleaded guilty Monday, the District Attorney said. Two of the other suspects, however, were said to be released from custody and were set to appear in court tomorrow.
ABC7 reached out to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and confirmed that Dawson and Underwood had indeed been released.
The DA said Dawson is a sentenced criminal who faced charges for using a weapon in connection to the retail theft incident.
“What do you say to people in the community who are concerned for their safety and don’t understand why a suspect like this is no longer being held in custody?,” ABC7 News Reporter Melanie Woodrow asked the DA, to which it responded through District Attorney Diana Becton: “Once those charges were filed what happened in terms of the status of her custody is not within the jurisdiction of the District Attorney’s Office, it is solely in the discretion of the sheriff’s department as to whether she was held in custody.”
Dawson was qualified for a $190, 000 bail, a spokesperson revealed to ABC7 News. The suspect was released last Nov. 25 after she posted the bail.
A day before her release, Underwood was also freed.
