Housebreaker nabbed

A 16-year-old Sonoma youth is in juvenile hall following an aborted home robbery on Oregon Street.
Just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, a worshipper en route to the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall on Fifth Street West heard glass breaking behind a nearby apartment. He looked through a side gate, saw a young man standing in the back yard by a broken apartment window, and asked what was going on. The youth looked at the man, turned and continued smashing.
Police arrived to find a window broken, the adjacent sliding glass door open and its vertical blinds drawn. Hearing someone rummaging around inside, the officers called out to the intruder – only to have him bolt through the front door on Oregon Street and flee toward Fifth Street West. Officers chased the culprit north on Fifth Street West and west on Studley Street but briefly lost him. Another officer arrested the youth by the corner of Studley Street and Sixth Street West.
One other adjacent apartment was broken into but did not seem to have been ransacked, Sonoma Police Sgt. Dave Thompson said, crediting on-scene witnesses with identifying the suspect. No items were apparently taken. The 16-year-old was charged with felony burglary and vandalism, resisting arrest, and possession of tobacco.