Necklace, phone taken from woman walking on a sidewalk

By the Daily Post staff

Two men were arrested yesterday (Aug. 7) after one of them stole a necklace and a phone from a woman who was walking on the sidewalk in Palo Alto, police said.

The men were found two hours later in a stolen car parked in Redwood City, police said.

A woman in her 50s called 911 around 11:30 a.m. to report that she had just been robbed on the 300 block of Manzanita Avenue, just south of Palo Alto High School.

She told police that she said hello to a man as he walked toward her on the sidewalk, and then he suddenly ripped a necklace off of her neck and shoved her to the ground, police said.

The woman took out her cellphone and told the man that she was going to take a picture of him. He walked back toward her, so she threw her phone onto a nearby yard, police said. 

The man — who police identified as Walter Randall Stokes, 28, of Oakland — then allegedly grabbed the phone and ran away on foot.

Two hours later, police were called to Redwood City, where a man who matched Stokes’ description was parked with a passenger in a 2017 Volkswagen Golf on Redwood Avenue.

When two Palo Alto officers approached them, Stokes ran away and the passenger — Melvin Caldwell King, 24, of Antioch — walked away, police said. 

The officers chased Stokes and arrested him a block away on Oak Avenue, just off of El Camino Real, police said.

King returned to the car, which police said was stolen earlier in the day from Berkeley. King had the woman’s stolen cell phone in his pocket, police said.

The necklace that was stolen was a “costume necklace” worth less than $50, and it wasn’t found, police said. The stolen car was returned to the owner, police said.

Stokes was arrested for robbery, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest. He was on parole for a priory robbery conviction and on probation for a prior grand theft conviction, police said. He is in jail with no bail allowed and a court date scheduled for tomorrow.

King was arrested for possessing stolen property, accessory to a felony and an outstanding infraction warrant for fare evasion from the San Bruno Police Department, police said. He is no longer in custody, according to jail records.