Guard Down: The Unraveling of a Fabricated CCW in the East Bay

You know, sometimes the simplest things—a mundane traffic stop, say—can unravel a rather elaborate, shall we say, deception. That’s precisely what unfolded in Pleasant Hill recently, a story that honestly makes you scratch your head a little. It was October 17th, not long ago, when a routine patrol turned into something far more significant, all thanks to an expired registration tag. Imagine that.

The man in question? Donald Jenkins, a 37-year-old Oakland resident, who, rather ironically, worked as a security guard. He was pulled over by Pleasant Hill police near Interstate 680 and Contra Costa Boulevard. A standard procedure, right? Officer approaches, asks for license and registration, the usual dance. But then, things took a sharp turn. During the stop, officers—and let's give a nod to K-9 Apollo, who was also on scene, lending his keen senses—discovered Jenkins was carrying a Glock pistol tucked right into his waistband. Now, that alone isn't necessarily illegal, not with the right permit. And Jenkins, well, he produced one: a concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit.

But here’s the rub, and this is where the human eye, that little spark of intuition, truly comes into play. The officer, a seasoned professional no doubt, found something about the permit… "unusual." A gut feeling, you could say. And for once, that gut feeling proved remarkably accurate. A quick check with the California Department of Justice — a process that thankfully exists for just such suspicions — confirmed the worst: Jenkins’ CCW permit was, in truth, nothing more than a carefully crafted forgery. Fake. Bogus. Call it what you will, but it certainly wasn't legitimate.

And just like that, what began as a minor vehicle code infraction spiraled into a much graver situation. Donald Jenkins was immediately arrested, his days as a security guard, perhaps, coming to an abrupt and rather ignominious halt. He was booked into county jail, facing a rather hefty list of charges: carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle (which, you know, he was doing), carrying a loaded firearm in public (another clear violation), possessing a forged government document (the very permit he flashed), and, just for good measure, possessing a high-capacity magazine. His vehicle, naturally, was towed from the scene. It’s a pretty stark reminder, isn't it, that trying to skirt the rules, especially when it comes to firearms, rarely ends well. And sometimes, it's just an expired tag that brings it all crashing down.