Police arrest mother, daughter after Berkeley Hills burglary

Police arrested two women after a burglary on Forest Lane earlier this month. Image: CrimeMapping.com

Berkeley police arrested two El Sobrante women identified as mother and daughter after a burglary in the 200 block of Forest Lane in early October. One of the women is scheduled to appear in court today, Friday, Nov. 1.

The arrest was detailed in the latest Berkeley Police Department newsletter, which was released in late October.

On Oct. 7, officers responded to Forest Lane in the Berkeley Hills after a neighbor reported seeing a suspicious woman going into her neighbor’s home. She told police she thought it was suspicious, in part, because she knew her neighbor and did not recognize the woman.

“When the resident saw the woman carrying a bunch of items out of the house, she knew something was not right and called BPD,” wrote police in the newsletter.

Lt. Kevin Schofield was already in the area, and responded to the scene immediately. He spotted a woman in her 50s walking from Forest Lane onto Grizzly Peak Boulevard getting ready to get into a vehicle. Thinking she might be related to the burglary call, he detained her.

Officer Casimiro Pierantoni also responded to the call. He spoke with the woman, later identified as Mary Collett Kent, 52, of El Sobrante. Police said Kent had credit cards with her that did not belong to her.

As officers spoke with Kent, a neighbor approached police to say she had just seen another woman, wearing white overalls, who had just run through her yard. Police put this information out over the radio to other officers.

Someone driving through the area then stopped and told officers about having just seen a woman wearing white overalls who was trying to hide behind parked cars in the 900 block of Grizzly Peak.

Officers responded to that area to search for the woman, and found her hiding behind a garage. Witnesses identified her as the person responsible for the burglary on Forest Lane.

Police identified the second woman as Nicolle Marie Collett, 23, of El Sobrante. Both women were arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Kent was released on a bond after bail was set at $137,500; she has been charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor appropriation of lost property. She is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 3 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland for a pre-trial hearing.

Collett was released on bond for a $75,000 bail, and has been charged with burglary. She is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 1 at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse for an attorney and plea hearing.

Earlier this year, police reported an 11% increase in burglaries during the first six months of 2013, compared to the same period in 2012.

Read more about burglaries in Berkeley via past Berkeleyside coverage.

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Emilie Raguso