A plea bargain will keep Bryan Scobey, the exterminator who went missing for three weeks after fleeing Sonoma in his company’s truck, out of jail.
Scobey, 35, was arrested Feb. 3 in Reno. Extradited back to the Sonoma County Court, he was charged with auto theft and grand theft. Those charges were dropped in exchange for pleading guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle, for which he was sentenced to three years’ probation and participation in a work-release program.
The Hit Man Termite & Pest Control vehicle and items missing from it had been returned to the Santa Rosa-based company.
Defense attorney Kathleen Pozzi told the court Scobey was in the midst of a personal crisis when he made the spontaneous decision to flee on Jan. 13. An entry Tuesday by Scobey on the Friends of Bryan Scobey Facebook page admits an addiction problem, thoughts of suicide and the attempt to run and try “to hide from life.”
In recalling the ordeal, the Scobey post said, “I am happy to be home, safe from my bad decisions and working toward rebuilding the love and respect I had worked so hard to establish.”
He thanked his wife Trina for her “unending love and faith (which) has brought me back from the ruins.”
Scobey went missing from Sonoma Jan. 13. He apparently disabled the vehicle’s GPS system to avoid being tracked. He was reported missing by his wife and employer, and police mounted a search of the area near Burndale Road and Fremont Drive, his last known location.
Police said Scobey made his way from Yreka to Reno, where he got a job at a restoration company. His Feb. 3 arrest by the FBI was actually based on his resemblance to a bank robbery suspect. Cleared of that, he was held on the California warrant which he said he didn’t realize had been issued.
Now, Scobey wrote on Facebook, “I am clean, healthy, strong and ready to start over.”
