Man tied to Berkeley drug sales charged with 5 felonies

An Oakland man with 12 prior felony convictions has been charged with five more, related to drug sales and gun possession, after his arrest by the Berkeley Police Department in late March.

Arage Hayes, 51, has been charged with possession for sale of cocaine base and powder cocaine; possession of a controlled substance with a firearm — a Bryco Arms 9mm; possession of a firearm by a felon; and the obliteration of the identification number on the firearm.

According to court papers, Berkeley Police officer Christopher Bonaventure served a search warrant for Hayes at his home in the 1100 block of 24th Street in West Oakland in October.

Hayes was not home during the search, but police said they found cocaine base and powder cocaine packaged for sale, a fraudulent credit card and an unloaded pistol that had been hidden inside a jacket. The serial number of the gun had been filed off, according to court papers.

Police also recovered three cellphones, one of which had text messages on it related to drug sales, authorities said.

Hayes’ mother was home at the time of the search, and she told police her son had been there 20-30 minutes prior, and that a jacket where police had found the cocaine belonged to him.

Hayes was arrested March 26 at noon in Berkeley. He is being held at Santa Rita Jail with a bail of $315,000.

According to the Alameda County district attorney’s office, Hayes has 12 prior felony convictions dating back to at least 1982 relating to burglary, drug manufacturing and drug sales. He was sentenced to prison in some of the cases, and probation in others.

Most recently, he was convicted for the sale of a controlled substance in September 2012 in Alameda County.

Along with Arage Hayes, the district attorney’s office charged Ali Martine Hayes with 15 felony counts related to forgery, grand theft and identity theft. She does not appear to be in custody.

Arage Hayes was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing April 2 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland.

Though Berkeley Police have declined to comment on drug investigations in the past, they have noted that “it is not uncommon for narcotics investigations to take us into other jurisdictions in the region, as drug dealing operations don’t necessarily follow jurisdictional lines.”

Read past Berkeleyside coverage related to drugs in and around Berkeley.

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Emilie Raguso