San Rafael Robbery Suspect Swims Into San Francisco Bay In Escape Attempt
SAN RAFAEL (CBS SF) -- A woman suspected of robbing a market and assaulting an employee in San Rafael was arrested after trying to escape by swimming into San Francisco Bay, prompting a multi-agency response to place her in custody, police said Wednesday.
San Rafael police said the incident happened on Monday at Andy's Local Market located at 75 Loch Lomond Drive. Dispatchers received a report at around 3:15 p.m. of a woman inside the market throwing items and breaking glass. Since officers were on another priority call for service, the department requested mutual aid from the Marin County Sherriff Office.
Deputies arrived but the woman had already fled. Witnesses told deputies the woman hit an employee with a bottle of alcohol and punched the employee several times.
About a half-hour after the original call, the woman returned to the market and attempted to strike the same employee with a hammer, police said. Before police officers arrived, the woman - later identified as Julianne Riebeling, 51, with no fixed address - had fled from the area on foot toward the gated community of San Pedro Cove.
Riebeling fled through residents' backyards and eventually reached the shoreline of the San Rafael Bay, police said. Officers who set up a perimeter in the area located Riebeling on the shoreline near the area of 400 Bay Way and saw her swim away into the bay to escape capture, police said.
Riebeling swam east toward West Marin Island, eventually reaching the southwest side of the island - nearly a mile away from where she began her swim. Police summoned help from the California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard, with the Coast Guard boat taking police officers and a CHP helicopter taking a police K-9 unit to the island.
Riebeling was located by officers and given multiple commands to surrender. Riebeling initially refused to comply with commands but eventually she surrendered peacefully and was taken into custody, police said.
She was flown back to shore by the CHP helicopter where she received medical treatment from the San Rafael Fire Department and then taken to a local hospital. After medical clearance, Riebeling was arrested for robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest. She was booked at the Marin County Jail.