Mugger with laser arrested Mugger with laser arrested (January 28, 2005)

Plastic weapon resembled handgun

By Roseanne G. Pereira

A suspect involved in last week's muggings with a laser has been identified and arrested. Damien McDougland, a 20-year-old male from Berkeley, is accused of several counts of robbery and attempted robbery.

In the early hours of Jan. 17, Redwood City police officers stopped a blue Pontiac Grand Prix for a routine traffic stop, according to Mountain View police spokesperson Jim Bennett.

The driver of the vehicle was unlicensed, and a purse in the vehicle was identified as one belonging to a robbery victim in San Jose. The driver and passenger in the vehicle were taken to the San Jose Police Department to be interviewed, said Ronnie Lopez, a San Jose robbery detective.

The robbery of the purse was then linked to other San Jose robberies. McDougland was charged with one robbery, two attempted robberies, false imprisonment and threatening to cause bodily harm, said Lopez.

San Jose police contacted Mountain View police, who positively linked McDougland to all four of the robbery crimes in Mountain View last week. The district attorney charged McDougland with one robbery and three attempted robberies in Mountain View.

Several of the mugging victims in Mountain View reported that the suspect used a laser light during the crimes. San Jose police recovered a plastic toy gun from McDougland that resembled a small semi-automatic handgun and emitted a red light from the barrel, said Bennett.

E-mail Roseanne G. Pereira at rpereira@mv-voice.com

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