OAKLAND — A woman has been arrested and charged with robbing another woman for her cellphone in a part of town where trafficked women and girls are known to gather.
The 26-year-old Hayward woman was charged with one count of second degree robbery, a felony, after police identified her from a description provided by the victim. On the afternoon of June 6, she allegedly punched the victim twice and pulled her hair before making off with her phone.
While the victim’s description of a bikini clad woman in an area miles away from the nearest beach may sound unique, authorities say there were others in bikinis nearby when the robbery occurred. But police identified the suspect based on unique features to her outfit, like a “fish net style thong,” and “diamond-like rhinestones,” authorities said in court filings.
Investigators were able to identify sex ads online that featured the suspect, and set up an undercover sting, whereby a detective arranged to purchase sexual services from the woman at a hotel. When she showed up, she was arrested on a robbery charge, court records show. She has since been released from jail but ordered to stay away from the alleged victim and the 1600 block of International Boulevard, where the incident occurred.
It is an area known as a “blade,” or open air sex market, where police frequently arrest suspected pimps and have found girls as young as 13 being trafficked in recent months, according to court records. The suspect in this robbery told police she was a sex worker and that she started at age 16. She has a prior conviction for aggravated assault in Nevada, court records show.
At the hotel room, police found indicia belonging to a man they believe was the woman’s pimp. He is currently on probation for a federal conviction involving pandering. In 2021, authorities say he “entered an indoor mall in the
Slauson area with two provocatively dressed young women,” who were later identified as sex workers, while possessing a pistol, $1,300 in cash, and fake IDs for both women. He has not been charged in connection to this case.