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A bogus labor inspector shook down numerous Contra Costa County convenience stores before his eventual arrest in Oakland, police said this week, and one agency now asks any more businesses victimized in its city to step forward.

Alameda County prosecutors last month charged 34-year-old Hayward resident Michael Bolanos with numerous felonies and misdemeanors, including extortion and impersonating a public official. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $25,000 bail.

But now El Cerrito police say they can prove Bolanos squeezed the owner of a San Pablo Avenue gas station Oct. 21, both with surveillance video footage and witness accounts. They plan to arrest him soon.

“We would really like to know if he approached any other businesses in town,” Detective Susan Garman said.

Police say Bolanos, dressed in tie and jacket, walked into a gas station at San Pablo and Knott avenues about 5 p.m., quickly flashed a badge and said he worked for the Department of Labor, or something to that effect. He pointed out numerous “violations” to the clerk and said they would result in major fines — unless, that is, they paid to settle up immediately.

“He started up in El Sobrante. It looks like he slowly worked his way down (the Interstate 80 corridor) before he got here,” said Oakland police Officer Dave Wong, who has developed evidence to prosecute in nine Oakland cases so far.

Bolanos claimed to be a state or federal Labor Department

inspector. He generally left each business with $300 to $800, either in cash or check.

Wong and his department identified 19 victims in Oakland dating to March, and he estimates 25 to 35 total across five counties in the Bay Area, including four last summer in El Sobrante, along Appian Way, and another in Richmond.

A representative for the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office said his office would look into the reports.

The businesses affected include motels, mom-and-pop stores, gas stations, tire shops and small restaurants and taverns. The majority are owned by Latinos or Middle Easterners.

Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this story. Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728. Follow him at Twitter.com/kfischer510.