The story was updated on Jan. 23, 2026 at 10:25 a.m. – Interim executive director of community safety Abdul Pridgen confirmed that the perpetrators used a forklift to break into the Laney Student Center and the ATM was recovered.
Oakland – An attempted burglary took place at the Laney College branch of U.S. Bank early Monday morning, according to an email sent to employees by the college president.
The email from Interim President Becky Opsata stated that “thieves tried to steal the U.S. Bank ATM from the Student Center” at approximately 5:47 a.m.
A representative from the Oakland Police Department (OPD) wrote in an email to The Citizen that by the time police arrived on the scene they “noticed signs of a burglary but did not locate any suspects.” OPD confirmed that the perpetrators attempted to take the ATM but were “unsuccessful.”
Executive director of community safety Abdul Pridgen confirmed in an email to The Citizen that the ATM was recovered. “They removed the ATM, but later dropped it when they encountered a Diligence Ambassador,” Pridgen wrote.
The incident appears on the Peralta Community College District’s daily crime log as a “forced entry” burglary.
Pridgen added that the perpetrators used a forklift to “breach the doors” of the Student Center.
A set of doors at the entrance to the Laney Student Center and the ATM are currently covered with wooden boards. Heavy scratches on the floor lead from the doors to the ATM.
The Student Center will stay open during its normal operating hours. According to Opsata, “repairs are underway.”
The Citizen reached out to Peralta’s executive director of marketing, communication, and public relations, Mark Johnson, for comment.
Johnson wrote that Opsata sent the email out of an “abundance of caution,” but was not required to do so. He added, “With the semester not yet started, the campus closed, no students around, no ongoing threat, and no legal requirement for ‘timely notice,’ no additional communication was sent.”
According to the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, a federal law requiring colleges and universities to report campus crime data, colleges must immediately notify the campus community, including students and staff, of any known “emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat” on school property.
Opsata included in her email to Laney employees that the notice was provided “in compliance” with the Clery Act.
At the time of publication students have yet to receive a similar notice of the crime.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact OPD’s Burglary Unit at (510) 238-3951.
(Jan. 23, 2025 8:37 a.m.) Editor’s note: The headline of this article has been changed to more accurately describe the attempted theft.
