California suspect who posed as a police officer arrested after Bay Area robbery

By Carlos E. Castañeda

A California man who posed as a police officer while robbing a spa business in the San Francisco Bay Area was arrested on Wednesday, authorities said.

The robbery happened on April 15 in Santa Clara County, where workers at the Sunny Spa in Cupertino reported that a man entered wearing a tactical vest, duty belt and what appeared to be a handgun, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

The man claimed he was a police officer and was there to perform an inspection of the business. According to the Sheriff’s Office, he unplugged the spa’s security cameras and had employees open the cash register, after which he took a large amount of cash and ran from the building. He was seen getting into a car parked in an alley and driving away, the office said. No one was hurt in the incident.

Deputies searched the surrounding shopping area along with Los Altos Police and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, but did not locate the suspect. Detectives eventually identified him as 32-year-old Brendan Kroning of San Andreas in Calaveras County. 

On Wednesday, Kroning was arrested at a parking garage in San Jose. Detectives found evidence inside his car that tied him to the Cupertino robbery, according to the Sheriff’s Office. With help from the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office, detectives also served a search warrant at his San Andreas home.

Investigators are also working to identify any additional victims or similar incidents involving Kroning or someone impersonating a police officer, the office said.

Kroning was charged with three counts of robbery, three counts of false imprisonment, and one count of impersonating a police officer.