Woman Suspected In San Rafael Grocery Store Assault, Robbery Arrested After Swimming To Island

SAN RAFAEL (CBS SF) – A woman suspected in an assault and robbery at a San Rafael grocery store was arrested Monday after she swam to an island in San Rafael Bay, police said.

According to San Rafael Police, the woman entered Andy's Local Market on Loch Lomond Drive around 3:15 p.m. and began to throw items and break glass. Witnesses said the suspect hit an employee with a bottle of alcohol and punched the worker several times. The suspect left before Marin County sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene.

About half an hour later, police said the suspect returned to the market and tried to strike the same employee with a hammer. The suspect left the scene again on foot before police arrived.

Officers then set up a perimeter and found the suspect on the 400 block of Bay Way as she began to swim.

Police brought in the department's patrol boat and called for assistance from the California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard to help find the suspect.

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The woman was found on West Marin Island, about a mile from shore. Officers and the department's K-9 team found the suspect on the island, who eventually surrendered peacefully after initially refusing to comply.

Police said the suspect, identified as 51-year-old Julianne Reibeling was brought back to shore by a CHP helicopter.

"This was a very dynamic operation comprised of federal, state, county, and city agencies seamlessly working together," CHP Golden Gate Division Air Operations said in a Facebook post.

Riebeling was treated at a hospital and then booked into Marin County Jail on charges of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest.

According to jail records, Riebeling is being held on $50,000 bail. It was not immediately known when she would appear in court on the charges.

In:
• San Rafael
• Robbery