A Berkeley man charged recently with three gun-related felonies also had $10,000 in cash taken from him during his arrest outside his apartment complex in July, according to court papers.
When Berkeleyside previously reported the arrest, police had said only that the man claimed ownership of a backpack and items inside that had been confiscated during some police activity. The man had told police a stolen, loaded gun inside the bag was not his, but said other items were.
According to court papers, those other items included about $10,000 in cash.
One officer wrote he had found two abandoned bags during a security check at the Rosewood Manor Apartments, 1615 Russell St., on July 22 at about 10:40 p.m. One of the bags was a backpack that contained about $10,000 in cash and a handgun.
“A group of people were seen shooting dice next to the bags, but scattered as police arrived,” the officer wrote. The man who later was arrested, a 34-year-old cook named Reginald Sinegal, “claimed one bag, and all property in the backpack, except the gun.”
The officer wrote that Sinegal “was able to describe each item in the backpack in detail, without me showing it to him.”
Police checked Sinegal’s record and learned he was on probation for illegal firearm possession and vehicle theft, which meant police were able to search him. They found dice in his pockets, according to BPD.
Police also got a search warrant to look inside Sinegal’s apartment at the Rosewood where they said they found “identical magazines to the magazine in the recovered firearm, an empty ammunition box of the same brand/caliber/casing type of ammunition” in the gun, “an illegal extended magazine, and other ammunition and firearm magazines.”
In late July, the Alameda County district attorney’s office charged Sinegal with three felonies: unlawful firearm activity for possession of the gun while on probation; carrying a loaded firearm; and carrying a concealed firearm. There’s also a special allegation that identifies the gun as unregistered.
According to the paperwork, Sinegal could be sent to prison if convicted.
Thursday, Sinegal had been set for a hearing to seek the return of property police seized during his arrest. Authorities were not available Friday to provide an update as to what occurred during the hearing, or what property Sinegal wanted back.
The Berkeley resident is out of custody, on $50,000 bail, and is set for a pretrial hearing Sept. 19, according to court records online.
The block the Rosewood is on has seen significant police activity this year, including two gang-related shootings. A long-running dice game at the Rosewood also was the site of the murder of a 24-year-old father of two in 2015 by a childhood friend.
[Note: This story was updated after publication for clarity.]
