Berkeley Cops Pose as Pizza Deliverers to Make an Arrest

Cops pose as all kinds of garden-variety citizens to make an arrest, from wearing everyday clothes for surveillance to attempting to bust street-level drug customers. But in Berkeley, they've found a much more pleasurable means of catching criminals: pretending to deliver a pizza. As Berkeleyside reports, two undercover officers posing as pie-slingers busted a trio of suspects in an armed robbery on Monday morning, taking all of them into custody after they opened the doors.

The trio was believed to have been involved in a robbery that took place at Acton and Delaware Streets around 1 am Monday, in which a pedestrian was held at gunpoint and relieved of his backpack. Shortly after the robbery, the boneheaded crooks decided to order a pizza using a credit card stolen from the victim to an address at the same intersection, giving the wrong one in a lousy attempt at subterfuge. The cops got in touch with Seniore's Pizza, on Durant Avenue, and snagged the orderers' cell phone number, then set out themselves to make the "delivery." They called the trio saying they couldn't find the provided address, and were promptly led to the correct one.

The suspects fled the scene as soon as they opened the door and realized what was happening, but cops formed a perimeter around the home, eventually catching and arresting the trio (two unnamed juveniles and 18-year-old Berkeley resident Marcell Stargetti). Stargetti is being held in Berkeley Jail on suspicion of second-degree robbery, with an arraignment scheduled for tomorrow, while the minors are being held on suspicion of robbery, violating a court order, possession of stolen property, and being armed with a firearm during the commission of a felony. And we can probably all look forward to Fox's new Pizza Cops, debuting in 2016.