SAN LEANDRO —A domestic violence suspect has been charged with six crimes after his arrest last week at a sheriff’s station — where he came to ask about a seized backpack, but deputies found a loaded assault rifle, a metal baton and ammunition in his car.
The suspect, Rico Thomas, 32, allegedly threw his pregnant wife to the floor and choked her while at least one of their young children was in the room, according to court records. He has been charged with felony counts of corporal injury to a relationship partner, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of an assault rifle, possession of ammunition by a prohibited person and misdemeanor counts of resisting a peace officer and possession of a leaded cane or billy club.
Thomas, who listed his occupation as security guard on jail records, is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. He claimed to be a a transient, but had listed addresses in Vallejo and Oakland up to 2017, the sheriff’s office said.
Thomas was arrested at the Alameda County Sheriff’s Eden Township Substation after driving there to inquire about a backpack that had been seized by deputies as part of a domestic violence investigation at a home in unincorporated Hayward.
According to court documents, deputies were called to the home on May 10 by Thomas’ wife, who has two children with him and is pregnant. The two had argued and Thomas had left but came back about 9 p.m. and entered through an open window.
The court documents allege that Thomas picked his wife up by her neck and slammed her on the floor, causing her to briefly lose consciousness. Their 3-year-old child was near where the woman landed on the floor, the documents say.
Thomas choked the woman while she was still on the floor, according to the documents, and Thomas prevented her from using her phone to call for help. He eventually helped the woman into a bedroom, then fled the home. Deputies responding to the scene called paramedics to take the woman to a hospital, and seized the backpack.
About 8 a.m. on May 13, Thomas showed up at the substation to inquire about the backpack.
When deputies attempted to detain him in the parking lot in front of the station, he was uncooperative and got into a physical struggle with deputies, causing them to use force to overcome his combative behavior, authorities said.
Deputies said Thomas has a prior 2017 felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon and is on searchable probation.
Sheriff’s officials searched Thomas’ Mercedes, which is registered to him. Inside the vehicle, deputies found a loaded AK-47 assault rifle, an expandable metal baton, loaded high-capacity magazines and additional ammunition.
Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tya Modeste said the department is actively directing residents to online resources in the wake of signs that the pandemic may have increased vulnerability to violence or other crimes.
“We’re trying to get (the word) out, to collaborate with our partners on messaging that victims come in various forms, and may be women, children or men,” said Modeste. She added that the department was starting to see increases in domestic-violence incidents under the shelter-in-place order.
“People can text 9-1-1 if they are unable to call, they can still obtain (protective) orders. If they call 9-1-1, they can leave a line open and active, and that helps us with location. We don’t want people to feel helpless because of the pandemic.”
Modeste said law enforcement leaders were continuing a conversation on the zero-bail policy instituted by the state judicial council and intended to limit COVID-19 exposure for low-level offenders.
“Sheriffs and chiefs of police are talking to judicial partners, and trying to encourage them in situations where people have histories of violence that may make them bad candidates for bail,” Modeste said. “We encourage judges to do that so we aren’t seeing individuals get out whose charges may be for brandishing a weapon but who may have previous jail time for assault with a deadly weapon.”
Convicted felon Rico Thomas – arrested at our ETS patrol station on 5/13/20 on multiple weapons charges, felony domestic violence, child endangerment & resisting arrest. A loaded AK 47, high capacity mags & extra ammo were located in a vehicle registered to & driven there by him. pic.twitter.com/PoG2V4PNtQ
— Alameda County Sheriff (@ACSOSheriffs) May 14, 2020
