OAKLAND — The restaurant robbery spree that terrified residents and highlighted the city’s growing crime problem during the spring and summer of 2008 officially ended Friday as the last suspect in the unrelated robberies was sent to prison for 14 years.
Laron Williams, 19, of Oakland, pleaded guilty to robbing both Red Boy Pizza, on Leimert Boulevard, and the Happy Garden Restaurant, on MacArthur Boulevard, during the spring of 2008 when a half-dozen other restaurants also were robed.
Williams, who was caught by police after he carjacked someone, pleaded no contest earlier this year to armed robbery, grand theft and auto robbery. He was sentenced on that plea deal to 14 years in prison by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson.
Police found Williams driving a stolen car which was reported carjacked and followed him on a chase before he was arrested.
A previous additional charge of robbing the Milano Restaurant, on Grand Avenue, was dropped because prosecutors did not have enough evidence linking Williams to that case.
Earlier this year, Williams pleaded no contest to several felonies including armed robbery with use of a gun, auto theft and grand theft.
Williams remained silent as his sentence was issued Friday. Some family members cried and yelled at Jacobson after the punishment was ordered.
Williams was the last of five defendants, all from Oakland, found guilty and sentenced to serve prison
time for their roles in about nine restaurant robberies during the spring and summer of 2008 that made headlines as Oaklanders began to become wary of visiting eateries.
Those who were sent to prison included Tanom Domingue, 18, who was eventually charged in the Milano robbery and pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this year. Domingue was sentenced to just over five years in state prison for the crime.
Also sent to prison this year were Leon Luster, the ringleader of a group of three defendants found guilty of robbing the Full Moon Seafood House, Kerry House, Nomad Café and K & T Nails and Spa, all in Oakland; and Bangkok 580 Thai Cuisine restaurant, in Castro Valley.
Rashaan Lamonthe, 31, also was sent to prison for seven years for those robberies and a third suspect in those crimes, Shante Bostic, 20, was sent to county jail for a year.
