A Bay Area man has been charged with robbing eight stores around the East Bay, and with possessing the purple pistol that prosecutors say helped them connect the dots between the crimes.
Jaray Washington, 43, was charged with eight counts of robbery, one count of using a firearm in a crime of violence, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Washington is charged in a second federal case with violating his supervised release from a 2021 gun conviction, which he picked up after serving a nine-year prison term for robbery, records show.
Washington’s history with robbery cases goes back 16 years. He was named in 2008 as a suspect in up to 25 robberies, where police accused him of being part of the so-called “Taliban gang” in East Palo Alto. After serving a nine-year prison term, Washington was arrested for gun possession in Alameda County in 2020, sentenced to two years in federal prison, then named last April as a suspect in 11 robberies around the Bay Area.
In each of the eight robbery charges he faces, Washington allegedly used the same “distinctive purple pistol” that was later found in his mother’s Oakland home, prosecutors said in court records. He was also found with multiple driver’s licenses and social security cards in other people’s names, and even flashed the pistol on a video posted to social media before the police raid, authorities said.
The robberies occurred in Hayward, Livermore, San Leandro, Castro Valley, and Fremont. In some of the instances Washington wore a mask, but still used the same purple pistol, according to prosecutors. He typically pointed the gun at store clerks and threatened them, in one instance forcing two clerks into a backroom, authorities said.
The robberies yielded $200 to $1,500 in cash, cigarettes, and valuables, and authorities say Washington and an accomplice would often rob the clerks as well as the stores.
Washington is being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail. In his 2021 gun case, his attorney said that Washington had a traumatic upbringing after the death of his father, and spent some of his formative years in a boy’s home in Arizona, where he was physically abused.
“(Washington) indicated he feels like a failure due to being in prison and not being there for his children. The defendant advised it was similar for him growing up without a father and he feels bad the cycle has repeated itself,” his attorney wrote in court papers.
“Regarding what influenced him to commit the offense, the defendant indicated his drug usage affected his behavior and decision-making. He recalled he was heavily using methamphetamine and began hallucinating and thinking people were wanting to kill him, which motivated him to purchase and possess a firearm.”
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