In Your Town for Aug. 4, 2023
NOVATO
Police accuse suspect
of assault, hate crime
Novato police arrested a suspect on assault allegations in a case they consider a hate crime.
The incident happened Wednesday on Fourth Street, where a man driving a pickup truck accosted a bicyclist, according to police Lt. Chris Jacob. The driver accused the cyclist of stealing his bike, then allegedly tried to ram him with the truck, threatened to kill him and used racial epithets.
Witnesses provided a description of the driver and the truck, and police found the vehicle unoccupied. Later in the day, the suspect came to the police station and gave a statement.
Police booked Brian James Collins, 59, of Novato on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and a violation of the cyclist’s civil rights. Collins remained in custody at the Marin County Jail on Thursday in lieu of $50,000 bail.
CORTE MADERA
Detectives book man
in carjacking probe
Investigators have arrested a suspect in connection with a carjacking in Corte Madera.
The victim reported the crime at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday in the 5000 block of Paradise Drive, according to Central Marin police Cpl. Jeff Peterson. The driver said two robbers with semi-automatic handguns demanded the keys and took the vehicle.
Central Marin investigators obtained video footage and worked with other law enforcement agencies. On Wednesday, San Francisco police stopped one of the suspects in the vehicle that had been stolen.
Central Marin detectives went to San Francisco to interview the suspect and arrested him there. Norlan Francisco Rivera, 18, was booked into the Marin County Jail on suspicion of robbery/carjacking and conspiracy.
Rivera remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $500,000 bail. He is also being held on warrants involving allegations of theft, possession of stolen property and vehicle tampering.
The jail booking log lists him as a San Rafael resident, but Central Marin police said he lives in San Francisco.
Police are still working to identify the other robber, Peterson said.
COURTS
Marin man sentenced
in gun investigation
A Marin County man who allegedly posted pictures of himself holding a pistol as he drove through Oakland has been sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison, court records show.
Tyler Revels, 25, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge that stemmed from an April 2021 probation search of his home that occurred after his probation officer learned of the incriminating Instagram posts, prosecutors said.
Probation officers found 60 loose bullets, a loaded pistol and multiple magazines in the home, authorities said.
Revels was charged in federal court in October 2021, and was released from pretrial custody. During a search of his home in March 2022, authorities allegedly found identifying information for several people, including a woman who reported losing her wallet at a Bay Area spa days earlier. He pleaded guilty to the gun charge in May 2022.
Revels, who was sentenced in late June by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, has not yet been transferred to federal prison. He is in custody at the Marin County Jail, where he faces false imprisonment and battery counts, as well as an accusation that he attacked a fellow inmate, according to the jail’s registry.
Revels’ lawyer wrote in court papers that while on pretrial release, Revels “completely turned his life around” and got a job as a case manager/community health worker with Code Tenderloin, a San Francisco workforce development nonprofit.