OAKLAND – An East Bay man and woman have been charged in reference to a police chase in March that resulted in an Alameda police officer's vehicle being rammed, court records show.

But each suspects are well-known to police because their names keep cropping up in murder investigations. The couple, identified in court documents as 35-year-old Jorge “Yogi” Rodriguez and 32-year-old Marie Rayann Krum, have been named by eyewitnesses as witnesses to a 2023 murder and a fatal shooting just three weeks ago, police said.

Rodriguez was arrested on Aug. 18 after being named as a suspect within the Aug. 8 killing of 41-year-old Ivan Ortegon. The man was shot by a still-unidentified person wearing a scary clown mask and white overalls, authorities said. The shooting occurred on the train tracks near the 5900 block of Coliseum Way in East Oakland.

Rodriguez was not charged with Ortegon's killing, but after his arrest he was charged with assault on a police officer and fleeing from police in reference to the March incident.

Krum, meanwhile, is charged with possession and receiving stolen goods within the vehicle that Rodriguez allegedly drove into Alameda police officer Brock DeWitt's occupied patrol automobile on March 11. When she was arrested in July, she reportedly identified herself on surveillance video and confessed to her role within the chase. She didn’t come forward because she and her boyfriend Rodriguez led a “lifestyle like felons,” police said in court documents.

Last yr, Krum and Rodriguez were listed as possible witnesses within the May 30, 2023, killing of 49-year-old James Rodriguez. He was shot near a hundredth Avenue and Pearmain Street in East Oakland, allegedly by his girlfriend, 42-year-old Yaeko Payne, who’s charged with murder. James Rodriguez, who is seemingly not related to Jorge Rodriguez, had been arguing with Payne all day when Jorge Rodriguez and Krum showed as much as borrow money from him and witnessed the deadly violence that unfolded, based on police.

Oakland police Sergeant Michael Romans-Rowe testified at Payne's preliminary hearing last March that Krum described parts of the incident to police. He claimed James Rodriguez jostled Payne, leaving him with a bloody lip. Payne allegedly left the argument, returned with a firearm and shot Rodriguez twice, hitting him slightly below the armpit. He died inside minutes, police said.

When Rodriguez was shot, he yelled “Do it, do it, do it” at Payne as she pointed a gun at him, based on Romans-Rowe's testimony. At the top of the hearing, Payne was found guilty of murder, assault and possession of a weapon, although her attorney tried to argue that it was lawful self-defense and that Payne was a victim of ongoing domestic violence.

“I take my hat off to you. You've put together a very good theory about what happened, with the details of who touched whom and when, but none of it is supported by evidence,” Alameda County Judge Delia Trevino told Payne's attorney at the top of the hearing. She later added, “It's unfortunate that we don't always get all the evidence at the preliminary hearing, but I believe the evidence I have supports this charge.”

The case was bolstered by two jailhouse witnesses, considered one of whom claimed Payne confessed to killing James Rodriguez and leaving the gun with Krum and Jorge Rodriguez, but authorities never found it. Both jailhouse informants said Payne killed James Rodriguez because she was “tired of him beating her,” based on the police statement.

Police were in a position to discover and track down Krum in that case because she had been named as an individual of interest in a nonfatal shooting just three weeks earlier. In that case, Krum and a lady allegedly argued outside a 24 Hour Gym in Oakland – over a shared romantic relationship – and a person living in an RV in the world shot the opposite woman within the leg. According to police testimony in court documents, Krum later denied in a police interview that she had ordered the “leg search.”

Recently, Jorge Rodriguez and Krum were named by an eyewitness as individuals who were in the world where Ortegon was killed. Police have already identified several possible suspects and individuals of interest within the case, with several witnesses claiming there have been completely different scenarios, motives and shooters behind it. Investigators have arrested at the least three people believed to have been in the world, but say they’re still working to find out who actually killed Ortegon and why.

Originally published: August 27, 2024 at 3:28 pm

FREMONT – Among the 4 men police arrested earlier this week for his or her role in circulating counterfeit money, three were from San Jose.

The three San Jose residents — ages 25, 27 and 41 — and a 33-year-old Fremont man were arrested last Sunday on charges of creating or meting out counterfeit money or conspiring to accomplish that, based on Fremont police.

The arrests all got here consequently of a grievance from a store manager who reported two incidents through which people passed counterfeit money at the shop within the 46800 block of Warm Springs Boulevard, police said.

The store manager contacted police around 11 a.m. on May 14 and told them that somebody had used counterfeit money on May 11 and 13. The manager ran the counterfeit bills through a counting machine, police said.

Surveillance camera footage showed images of a suspect and a vehicle, however the vehicle's license plate number could only be determined with the assistance of surveillance cameras.

Police conducted an area check for the automobile and located it outside a business within the 46400 block of Mission Boulevard on May 19. Two people within the automobile were arrested, police said. Two others were arrested as they left the business.

Police said the latter two suspects had just circulated counterfeit money and it was found on them. There can also be an arrest warrant against considered one of them for making counterfeit money, police said.

PLEASANT HILL — Two people suspected of playing a task within the shooting death of a delivery driver last month were arrested Thursday, police said.

According to a Pleasant Hill Police statement released Friday, investigators caught up with Joe Washington Jr., 18, and Money Green, 20, each of Richmond, with the assistance of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office at an undisclosed location in Sacramento. Police said they’d issued an arrest warrant for each of them.

Both are murder suspects within the March 19 deaths of Peter Popovich, 63, of Pleasant Hill, and Trevon Davis, 21, of San Pablo, police said. Authorities didn’t specify what charges they’re in search of from the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office.

The two were in custody on the Martinez Detention Center Friday afternoon and were being held without bail, in response to jail records.

Popovich was shot just before noon on Twinbridge Circle during a robbery that police say was geared toward him. Police said Popovich works for a corporation that sells packaging materials for the legal sale of cannabis and had delivered those materials to dealers earlier within the day.

According to police, Davis and at the very least one other person approached Popovich as he stood near his van. Popovich also was armed and had a permit to hold a concealed weapon, police said. The confrontation led to gunfire.

When officers arrived, Popovich and Davis had been wounded by gunfire. The other suspect who approached Popovich fled in a speeding automobile with one other person, police said.

Both were treated on the scene and brought to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, where they died. Davis died hours after Popovich.

Police said they’re continuing to check with witnesses in regards to the shooting and are continuing to gather evidence.