OAKLAND – A Bay Area man has been charged with robbing eight East Bay-area stores and possessing a purple handgun that prosecutors say helped link the crimes together.
Jaray Washington, 43, was charged with eight counts of robbery, one count of use of a firearm in a violent crime and one count of illegal possession of a weapon. Washington is charged in a second federal case with violating his probation from a 2021 weapons conviction he received after serving a nine-year prison sentence for robbery, records show.
Washington’s history with robberies stretches back 16 years. He was named as a suspect in as many as 25 robberies in 2008, in which police accused him of being part of the so-called “Taliban gang” in East Palo Alto. After serving a nine-year prison sentence, Washington was arrested on weapons charges in Alameda County in 2020, sentenced to two years in federal prison and named as a suspect in 11 robberies in the Bay Area last April.
In each of the eight robbery charges against him, Washington allegedly used the same “distinctive purple handgun” that was later found in his mother’s Oakland home, prosecutors said in court documents. Additionally, several driver’s licenses and Social Security cards in other names were found on him, and he even showed off the handgun in a video posted on social media, authorities said.
The robberies occurred in Hayward, Livermore, San Leandro, Castro Valley and Fremont. In some cases, Washington wore a mask but still used the same purple handgun, according to prosecutors. He typically pointed the weapon at store employees and threatened them. In one case, he forced two employees into a back room, authorities said.
Cash, cigarettes and valuables valued between $200 and $1,500 were stolen during the robberies. According to authorities, Washington and an accomplice often robbed not only the stores but also the salespeople.
Washington is being held without bail in the Santa Rita Jail. In his 2021 gun trial, his attorney said Washington had a traumatic childhood after the death of his father and spent some of his formative years in an Arizona boys’ home where he was physically abused.
“(Washington) stated that he feels like a failure because he is in prison and cannot be there for his children. The defendant stated that he felt similarly growing up without a father and that he feels bad because the cycle repeats itself,” his attorney wrote in court documents. “As for the reasons that led him to commit the crime, the defendant stated that his drug use affected his behavior and decision-making. He recalled that he was using methamphetamine heavily and began to hallucinate and think that people wanted to kill him, which led him to purchase and own a firearm.”
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