Florida family have all their possessions stolen while dropping son off at Lincoln University in Oakland, California
A family from Florida is sending a stark warning to travelers coming to crime-ridden Oakland, California, where their car was broken into as they dropped their teen off at college.
The family was in town to enroll Rhomel Crossman, who had just graduated from high school in Florida, at Lincoln University in downtown Oakland, where he was planning to play football.
Now, Crossman's family say he is planning to withdraw because they're all too traumatized to leave him in Oakland for school.
His mother, Nerissa Murray Watson, told KTVU, 'In Oakland, California, you just gotta be careful. Everything is totally gone.'
Her family jetted into town over the weekend and rented a car to get around the city before driving to downtown Oakland to register Rhomel at school.
A Florida family were robbed on their first day in Oakland, where they were visiting to enroll their son in college
On Saturday evening, they left the car parked a block away from the school to go pick up dinner at a local restaurant.
They were only gone for 15 minutes, they say, before returning to find the windows of the white Nissan Rogue they rented broken into and give suitcases full of valuable items stolen.
'Three thousand dollars in a bag my husband put under the seat with three passports, social security cards, and my son’s high school diploma and birth certificate were all taken, said Murray Watson.
Police told her to file a report in person at the police station, but she knows her efforts likely won't pay off.
'To me, it’s lawless because we even called the police three times and they said they can’t come,' she said.
'I didn’t know that these things happen in America so it’s really strange to me.'
Beyond the hard-to-replace documents that the family lost, one member was robbed of a sleep apnea machine.
Coren Leslie-Green, Crossman's aunt, who joined them on the trip, said she is beginning to feel the impact of being without her medical device.
'Now, I start feeling my heart like it’s pounding in the morning instead of feeling rested,' she said.
Rhomel Crossman's family no longer want to send him to school in crime-ridden Oakland
Crossman's mother - Nerissa Murray Watson - says she is shocked things like this happen in the United States. She said it is the sign of a lawless society that cops will not come to the scene of the crime - she was told to file a police report in person
Crossman's aunt, Coren Leslie-Green, had her sleep apnea machine stolen. She says she is beginning to feel the impact of being without her device on her health
Murray Watson said she no longer wants her son going to school in the Bay Area.
'I have to bring back my son to Florida because it’s not safe here,' she said.
Meanwhile, the city is attempting to promote its supposedly lower crime rates.
According to the city, violent crime is down more than 30 percent from last year, and car burglaries are down 60 percent. Those figures may account for crimes that have been reported, as opposed to incidents that actually occurred.
