Oakland man gets 12 years for home invasion robbery

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- An Oakland man has been sentenced to 12 years in state prison for his role in a home invasion robbery last year at the Pleasanton residence of a man who had won money while gambling at a casino, police said Tuesday.

Jakari Amani Bolden pleaded no contest earlier this year to robbery and using a firearm during the commission of a felony for the robbery on Roselma Place at about 12:35 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2013, Pleasanton police said. He was sentenced in Alameda County Superior Court on Dec. 3.

Three other suspects also have pleaded no contest to robbery and will be sentenced at a later date, police said.

Authorities identified the other men as Terrell Bailey, 26, of Oakland, Thomas Stokes, 31, of Hercules and 22-year-old Myrick Rucker, of Antioch.

Pleasanton police said a man who lives at the home on Roselma Place had spent the previous night gambling at Casino 580 in Livermore and won a large amount of money.

The man took a cab home and fell asleep in a downstairs bedroom, leaving the cash beside him in a bag, according to police.

An investigation revealed that Bailey and Stokes were at Casino 580 when the man was gambling and watched the victim throughout the night as he won the money and followed him home at about 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2013. Bailey and Stokes then called Bolden, who picked up Rucker and met up with Bailey and Stokes, according to police.

The robbery occurred about six hours after the man returned home. His wife came home and was about to close the garage door when three men armed with guns approached her, police said.

The suspects allegedly forced the woman into the house and confronted her and her husband. The men demanded "the money" and the husband complied out of fear for his and his wife's safety, according to police.

The men fled and police weren't able to locate them immediately after the robbery.

However, police found a cellphone that Bolden had dropped inside the victims' home, police said.

Working with the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Gambling Control, police were able to identify and locate Bolden, Bailey and Stokes and obtained search and arrest warrants for them. On Oct. 24, 2013, SWAT teams assisted in the arrests of the three men at their homes in Oakland and Hercules.

Authorities were able to find Rucker and arrest him at his home in Antioch on Nov. 6, 2013, police said.