SONOMA CO. (BCN) — California Highway Patrol officers arrested three people Friday in connection with multiple smash-and-grab auto burglaries that had occurred earlier in the day throughout Sonoma County.
At 1:37 p.m., officers received a “be on the lookout” advisory from Healdsburg police regarding a silver Nissan SUV carrying three suspects who were allegedly involved in two separate auto burglaries in the city, according to CHP.
An officer spotted the suspect vehicle driving recklessly on southbound U.S. Highway 101, just south of Shiloh Road, CHP officials said.
The Nissan was speeding and passing traffic using the right-hand shoulder.
Officers performed an enforcement stop on the Nissan on the highway, at the Golf Course Drive overcrossing.
The southbound lanes of the freeway were shut down temporarily, as officers removed the vehicle’s occupants at gunpoint, according to CHP.
After the suspects had been detained, officers learned the suspects had been involved in at least four similar smash-and-grab auto burglaries within the city of Petaluma earlier in the day, along with the two reported in Healdsburg, CHP said.
Officers were able to recover some of the stolen property from inside the Nissan, including laptop computers, multiple tablets, cell phones, wallets, purses, credit cards, identifications and a baby bottle cooler containing a bottle of breast milk, CHP officials said.
CHP identified the suspects as 18-year-old Pinole resident Ronald Fluker III, Richmond residents Markeith Mason and Cardell Waters, Jr., both 20 years old.
Officers booked the trio into the Sonoma County Jail, according to CHP.