Attempted Robbery With “River” Rock Doesn’t End Well for Suspect, Says HCSO

This information was provided by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. The individual should be considered innocent proven guilty:

imageservlet (1)On 05-12-2015 at 2:20 p.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a report, regarding an attempted robbery that had just occurred at the 76 Gas Station on Reasor Road, McKinleyville. It was reported that a male suspect wearing a white fabric, possibly bandana , covering his face, wearing a green jacket with a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans had left the gas station riding a silver bicycle west on Reasor Road. The suspect was further described as a white, male adult, 5’-7” to 5’-8” in height, 150-160 pounds, with dark eyes. Deputies immediately started checking the area for the suspect.

A deputy contact the male clerk at the gas station who reported the following to the deputy. The clerk said a male suspect entered the gas station and walked up to cash register carrying a “river rock” about 6”-8” in size. The clerk described the rock as about the size of a melon. The clerk said the suspect said I need the money, give me the money.

The clerk at first said he thought the suspect was joking. The clerk said he accidently locked himself out of the cash register which caused the suspect to become agitated. The clerk said the suspect then struck the glass counter with the rock, which caused the glass to shatter. The clerk said at this point the suspect became distracted by a customer in the store and turned around. The clerk said he then grabbed a crowbar from the window behind the counter and he struck the suspect in the headwith the crowbar. The clerk said he does not think he hit the suspect very hard. The clerk said the suspect then took off running out of the store and took off riding a silver bicycle west on Reasor Road. The clerk said the suspect was unable to take anything from the store.

A few minutes later deputies located a male suspect matching the description the clerk had had provided sitting in a field at the intersection of Park Avenue and B Avenue, McKinleyville. The deputies saw a silver bicycle lying next to the suspect. The suspect appeared to be changing his clothes and the clothes the clerk had described were lying next to him. The deputies also noticed the suspect had an ACE, white bandage wrap on the ground next to him. The deputies could not see any injury to the suspects head. The suspect was identified as 35 year old, Jason Edward Balke from McKinleyville. Balke was then detained by the deputies. When the deputies detained Balke they located (1) gram of methamphetamine in his pocket.

The clerk from the gas station was transported by the Sheriff’s Office to the suspect’s location to see if he could identify the suspect. When the clerk saw the suspect he said the clothing was similar to what the suspect was wearing when he saw him at the gas station. The clerk said he was certain the bicycle was the same bicycle the suspect was riding when he left the gas station.

Balke was then placed under arrest for attempted armed robbery and for possession of methamphetamine. Balke was then transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and his bail was set at $50,000 dollars.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

11 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ernie Branscomb
Guest
8 years ago

Back when I was a child some cities required bicycle license plates. All you had to do was give the city your proof of ownership, the model and serial number of the bike, and pay a small fee, and you were legit. It would make it easy for police to retrieve bikes for their legal owners. After some googling I discovered the reason that they stopped doing that is after paying a fee the bikers expected services, like bike lanes and parking racks. The city now does that anyway for the bikers, so why are they getting a free ride? Pun intended.

If the Grown Men On Bikes had to show proof of ownership I doubt that many of them could comply. It would be easy to nail them and run a registration check because I’ve never seen one stop at a stop sign unless death by speeding truck was eminent. With all the stupid bike laws that they are trying to pass (“No fancy riding”) why don’t they pass a license law that makes sense/

If the GMOB’s didn’t have bikes, they couldn’t do snatch and grab thefts and get away. I guess good ideas are simply not popular these days.

Leslie
Guest
Leslie
8 years ago

I’m sorry but if everyone was required to pay bicycle fees there wouldn’t be alot of them legal. You are talking about money here an alot of citizens just don’t have the extra cash! Get real here

the misadventures of bunjee
Guest
the misadventures of bunjee
8 years ago

This has never really worked anywhere, or for very long. It’s far too easy to remove bike serial numbers and/or stamp new ones on. Also, most bikes cost less than $950, or the threshold for keeping someone in jail for stolen property. I don’t think police (or anyone really) are all that interested in maintaining and cross referencing a large, ever-changing database of bicycles and ownership thereof. Think how efficient the DMV is and apply an entirely new layer of that for bicycles.

And yes, when cyclists start paying fees for something, it is only natural to expect a return on that investment. Drivers do with road maintenance and various other things. That, and bicycles will continue to be stolen as they are now. A serial number requirement will be of little deterrence. Heck I can’t even prove ownership of a cruiser I have beyond my grandfather bought it 40 years ago or so and gave it to me.

veteransfriend
Guest
veteransfriend
8 years ago

Wow. I like that comment.

Jim v
Guest
Jim v
8 years ago

Please make the bicyclest. obey the law. I know the jail is always full , but when I have to pay a fee of Over $600 for going 5 miles over the speed limit there should be plenty of money to build a bigger Jail. How about some of you peace officers taking a pay cut getting paid over $200,000 a year is BS.

kari
Guest
kari
8 years ago

I hate to break it to ya, but the guys working the streets are NOT making 200K a year. And btw, I say pay them whatever we can…without them, we are really screwed.

LAZY SKUNK RANCH
Guest
LAZY SKUNK RANCH
8 years ago

We should just ban cops AND bikes, so everyone can live in harmony with rainbows and unicorns.

dirtyjoe
Guest
dirtyjoe
8 years ago

Tweeeeeeeker! Scumbag tweeeeeeeker!

Humboldt sucks!
Guest
Humboldt sucks!
8 years ago

How many times do we get to see this tweaker piece of crap in the news?? Seriously, wtf is wrong with this county? Everywhere you look, it’s criminal tweaks with neck tats robbing everything they see in sight. Walk through any town in humboldt, day or night, and it looks like someone is filming a zombie movie. I’m seriously considering carrying a gun with me at all times…

trackback

[…] Mugshot of Balke comes from a May 12 arrest for attempted robbery.  […]

geezer ingvardD
Member
geezer ingvard
2 years ago

Wow, Kim. Connrcting the dots, it’s in your DNA. Appreciate muchely for the free speech soap box for all to use.