By Wendy Moya
ALAMEDA, CA — Two individuals involved with a string of robberies in and around the University of California, Berkeley campus, pleaded no contest before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Northridge Monday.
In 2018, there were a number of robberies around the UC Berkeley campus, in which armed individuals either on or around the UC Berkeley campus targeted individuals walking around the university and stole their property.
A police investigation turned up a group of four adult suspects and a minor. Among the five suspects were Carlos Alberto Ponce and Mario Adonias Lopez y Lopez, who were found in a vehicle, along with weapons, including a gun and a knife, as well as some of the stolen property, and alcohol.
As part of an agreed-upon plea deal, Ponce pleaded no contest to the robberies and attempted robberies in which he was a suspect. He was sentenced to three years of probation, nine months in custody and ordered to stay one mile away from the UC Berkeley campus.
A proposed plea agreement put forth by the prosecutor for Lopez y Lopez gives him a sentence of 12 years in a state prison.
Lopez y Lopez also pleaded no contest to the charges against him. Judge Northridge dismissed other charges.
Lopez y Lopez is set to be officially sentenced at another date.