OAKLAND — An Orinda police officer placed an armed felony suspect into the back of a patrol car after failing to find the loaded gun on the 27-year-old man’s waistband, allowing him to stash the pistol inside the vehicle, where it went undetected for nearly two weeks, according to federal prosecutors.
Maurice Herron, 27, was arrested in Orinda on Nov. 15 for an outstanding federal arrest warrant. Despite being handcuffed, he was still able to get a hand on the loaded Glock pistol on his waistband, remove it, and stash it on the floor of the patrol car, according to court records. Despite this all being allegedly recorded by a rear-facing camera in the patrol car, the gun wa…
OAKLAND — An Orinda police officer placed an armed felony suspect into the back of a patrol car after failing to find the loaded gun on the 27-year-old man’s waistband, allowing him to stash the pistol inside the vehicle, where it went undetected for nearly two weeks, according to federal prosecutors.
Maurice Herron, 27, was arrested in Orinda on Nov. 15 for an outstanding federal arrest warrant. Despite being handcuffed, he was still able to get a hand on the loaded Glock pistol on his waistband, remove it, and stash it on the floor of the patrol car, according to court records. Despite this all being allegedly recorded by a rear-facing camera in the patrol car, the gun wasn’t discovered until Nov. 26, when another Orinda officer noticed it while arresting another suspect in the same patrol vehicle, authorities said.
The Orinda officer who found the gun also noted it was loaded with 14 bullets, according to federal prosecutors.
Now Herron, who was considered a suspect in an Oakland fatal shooting earlier this year, has been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the Nov. 15 incident. He already has three other pending felony gun possession cases — two in state court, which were consolidated earlier this year, and a federal indictment alleging he possessed a gun on Jan. 7, court records show.
Herron was initially released from custody to a halfway house after his Nov. 15 arrest, but now he is back in federal custody, with a pending detention hearing set for Dec. 16, according to court records. He isn’t allowed to possess guns because of a 2022 felony burglary conviction, the criminal complaint says.
The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, which contracts police services for Orinda, didn’t immediately respond for a request for comment on the incident. The criminal complaint doesn’t identify the Orinda officer who failed to notice the gun
It’s been a busy year for Herron, who was arrested April 21 on suspicion of murder, after police identified him as a possible suspect in the April 19 homicide of 33-year-old Roosevelt Jones. But Herron avoided murder charges, and was instead charged with possessing a firearm allegedly found during the April 21 arrest. That charge was consolidated with another pending 2025 gun possession case, court records show.
Herron had a parole ankle monitor on, which placed him at the scene of the April 19 homicide, and showed he traveled to Highland Hospital afterwards, according to Oakland police. But prosecutors soon honed in on another suspect.
Jones was allegedly shot and killed by his attempted robbery victim, who police say killed him in self-defense. Jones’ 33-year-old cousin, Jashawndre Uphsaw, has been arrested and charged with murder under the theory that he was armed and assisted Jones in the robbery.