On Aug. 22, around 3:15 p.m., Livermore Police responded to the theft of approximately 12,000 cigarettes from a business on Old First Street. Officers located the suspect vehicle traveling westbound on Interstate 580 and coordinated with CHP to stop it near 164th Avenue.

All three occupants (24-year-old Robin Cooper, 23-year-old Alonza Holmes and 20-year-old Robert Benjamin, all of Oakland) were arrested on suspicion of grand theft and conspiracy to commit a crime.

The following morning, around 1:35 a.m., an officer spotted two large fires burning in a vacant field near North Murrieta Boulevard and Portola Avenue. While checking the area, officers located 36-year-old Gabriel Betancourt of Livermore walking away from the fires while carrying a torch. He was arrested on several charges, including arson.

The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department extinguished both fires, which burned approximately 6,000 square feet of dry grass. No structures were damaged. Great work by our officers and partner agencies!