Two people took laptops from customers at Berkeley’s Caffè Strada on Monday night, authorities report.
One of the laptops was later recovered, according to the University of California Police Department, which released a brief statement Tuesday about the crime.
According to UCPD, two male suspects — no description provided — “forcibly stole two laptop computers from two separate victims” inside Strada at about 10:40 p.m. The café, which is located right across from the UC Berkeley campus and is popular with students, is at 2300 College Ave. at Bancroft Way.
The victims were not injured, UCPD said.
According to the Berkeley Police Department, one of the incidents was classified as grand theft and the other was listed as attempted robbery. Unlike theft, a robbery must involve force or fear.
It’s not the first time this year Strada has been the focus of robbers or thieves.
On Jan. 21 at 9:05 p.m., a woman was in Strada’s outside seating area with her laptop when a stranger walked up to her table, grabbed her laptop and ran westbound on Bancroft. Witnesses described him as unknown race male, about 5’10” tall, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and pants.
On Feb. 5, a thief grabbed an unattended laptop from an outside table at Strada. A man had been working at his computer “when he had to step away briefly,” police said. A stranger ran up and snatched the computer, then ran west on Bancroft. He got into a nearby parked car. Witnesses said the thief was 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. They did not know his race.
The café also was targeted repeatedly in 2018.
