Two men in custody after Bay Area crime spree, one suspect still at large

A crime spree that started with a purse snatching Saturday evening in San Mateo ended about 14 hours later with the arrest of two men police said committed multiple robberies and a burglary, stole one car and used stolen credit cards to make multiple fraudulent purchases.

San Mateo police are searching for a third man involved in the crimes and arrested 20-year-old Richard Farries and 18-year-old Okusitino Tau shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday. Both men are San Mateo residents and were arrested on suspicion of multiple crimes, including robbery, conspiracy to commit a crime, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools.

Farries was also arrested on suspicion of being a parolee at large, and Tau was also arrested on suspicion of multiple crimes, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine, possession of a handgun with altered serial number, possession of a short-barreled rifle and committing a felony while out on bail.

Police said Tau was out on bail for two street robberies he committed in October 2019.

The crime spree began at about 7:45 p.m. Saturday, when the suspects were in a vehicle on Laurel Avenue and pulled up next to an elderly female pedestrian and grabber her purse, police said.

The vehicle then fled east on Seventh Avenue. The woman was uninjured.

Later that same evening, the woman contacted police to report her credit cards had been used in Belmont, San Carlos and in Hayward.

Officers obtained security video footage from the businesses where the credit cards were used and were able to obtain descriptions of three people and the suspect vehicle, a gold minivan.

The next morning at 7:20 a.m., police issued an alert for a robbery and car theft by suspects in a vehicle that matched the description of the one driven by the purse snatchers.

At 8:27 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a report on Ridgecrest Terrace for the theft of a vehicle belonging to the daughter of the woman whose purse was snatched the night before. Police learned later that a spare key to the daughter’s Honda was in the stolen purse.

Video footage from a private surveillance camera recorded the same gold minivan involved in the car theft.

A report of an auto burglary in San Mateo came in at 9:13 a.m. with the same gold minivan involved, and 23 minutes later another robbery was reported in Millbrae involving the same car.

The gold minivan was spotted by police shortly before 10 a.m. and officers initiated a traffic stop, but the vehicle continued until it pulled into a driveway in the 300 block of North Idaho Street.

Police took into custody the two men in the car, which had multiple purses and burglary tools in plain sight. The purse belonging to the first victim of the crime spree was located inside one of two houses occupied by the suspects.

During the search, officers also found property likely belonging to more victims, a handgun with shaved off serial number, and a short-barreled AR-15 gun with an extended magazine.