Two men from Richmond were caught in the act of stealing cars in Sonoma Thursday morning, one day after their girlfriends were busted for auto theft in Petaluma. By Thursday afternoon the group had been connected to 10 stolen cars, with more expected.
“They’ve been doing this for awhile,” said Police Sgt. Ruben Martinez. One of the male suspects was carrying filed keys and several custom-fabricated lock picking tools. “Whenever they needed drugs, they’d go out and steal a car.”
The Sonoma piece of the puzzle began at 5:51 Thursday morning with a report of a car stolen from the 700 block of Madison. When the officer arrived the victim told him that the victim’s brother had taken off to follow the stolen vehicle, a pick-up truck. The brother used a cell phone to relay his location along south Broadway, and the officer proceeded to that area.
While following the truck, he later told police, the brother noticed a Saturn also trailing the truck. The Saturn and the truck pulled to the side of the road, where the driver of the Saturn got out of that car and into the truck. Those were the two males, ages 27 and 38, from Richmond.
When the truck stopped again, on a dead-end lane, the victim’s brother actually approached the vehicle to offer cigarettes and make small talk. Having been close enough to describe and identify the suspects, he drove away to meet the police.
At this point, Martinez said, it was likely that the suspects began to panic, and they took off on foot. One was spotted walking down Broadway; he was arrested but would not answer police questions. The other suspect was found later, hiding in bushes near the truck. Once at the police station he admitted the crimes.
One of the suspects appeared to be high, Martinez said, but no drugs were initially found.
The two were charged with stealing a vehicle, possession of stolen property, conspiracy and possessing burglary tools, among other counts.
Martinez said members of the Sonoma County Automobile Theft Task Force made the connection to the Petaluma bust, where two women from Richmond were arrested Wednesday for stealing two cars.
When the woman had not returned to Richmond by the following day, the two men decided to go looking for them in Petaluma, where they stole the Saturn and then moved on to Sonoma.
The investigation is ongoing. While they will likely be tied to other thefts, Martinez said the foursome do not appear to be part of a “chop shop” – a more elaborate operation that breaks a car down into all sellable parts. “They’re drug addicts. They’d take out tools, the stereo, the rims – whatever they could sell for drugs,” he said.
