3 Armed Men Ambush, Assault, Rob Marijuana Security Officer
SONOMA COUNTY, CA October 27 2019 — The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office arrested one of three people suspected of robbing marijuana from a barn at a grow near Santa Rosa early Tuesday morning.
The three armed suspects confronted a security guard in a barn in the 2400 block of River Road at the grow site around 2:10 a.m. They took the guard’s cell phones but did not hurt him and loaded approximately 100 pounds of marijuana into a vehicle and drove away, sheriff’s Sgt. Juan Valencia said.
One of the suspects, identified later as Jesse Covarrubias, 29, of Delano, drove away in a dark sedan and the other two also fled in a dark-colored sedan.
A Santa Rosa police officer who was near River Road and U.S. Highway 101 saw a dark vehicle driving erratically and making a U-turn in front of Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, Valencia said.
The officer followed the car onto southbound Highway 101 and came upon the dark car on the right shoulder of the highway just past the on-ramp, Valencia said.
Covarrubias, who was standing outside the car, had marijuana debris on his clothing, and he was arrested and booked under $70,000 bail in the Sonoma County Jail for burglary, robbery, and conspiracy to commit a crime, Valencia said.
Detectives are trying to identify the other two suspects who participated in the robbery and burglary.
