2 arrests in pot theft near SRJC

<p>Two men suspected of stealing marijuana at gunpoint were arrested early Monday in Santa Rosa following a robbery in a parking lot in the Santa Rosa Junior College neighborhood, police said.</p><p>The robbery victims were two Ukiah residents, who told police the marijuana was for medicinal purposes. Three pounds of marijuana were taken in the robbery.</p><p>Santa Rosa police made two arrests within an hour after receiving a report of a possible robbery in the area of King Street and College Avenue.</p><p>The suspects were identified as Matthew Doering, 21, of Mill Valley and a 16-year-old Santa Rosa boy, whom police did not name because he is a juvenile.</p><p>The robbery was reported at 11:47 p.m. Sunday and the arrests were made at 12:37 a.m. Monday, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said.</p><p>The suspects were spotted near the scene of the robbery during a search aided by Sonoma County sheriff's deputies and a CHP helicopter crew, Banayat said .</p><p>Neither victim was injured in the robbery. The 3 pounds of marijuana they had was within the legal limit for medicinal use.</p><p>Police didn't say why the robbery victims were in the junior college neighborhood with the marijuana or whether they appeared to have been targeted for the marijuana.</p><p>The holdup marked at least the fourth time in two months that police responded to marijuana-related armed robberies in and around Santa Rosa, including a Nov. 27 home invasion in which a 20-year-old Windsor man was killed.</p><p>On Dec. 2, three gunmen forced their way into a Stevenson Street home in Santa Rosa.</p><p>The victims told police that one man held the occupants, a woman and three teenage girls, while two others searched the residence and found marijuana and cash. No shots were fired.</p><p>Police they found evidence that marijuana had recently been harvested on the property. One resident said the marijuana was used medicinally.</p><p>On Nov. 27, police said, Maximiliano Izquierdo Martinez of Windsor was shot to death after he and two accomplices broke into a Rincon Valley rental home.</p><p>Police said they found more than 300 pounds of processed marijuana inside the Beech Avenue house and retrieved $26,000 in cash.</p><p>Five tenants were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale and related charges. Martinez's alleged accomplices are scheduled to enter pleas next month to charges including murder, attempted murder, robbery and committing a crime to benefit a gang.</p><p>On Oct. 24, Sonoma County sheriff's deputies responded to an armed robbery at a Bellevue Avenue home where investigators said a large quantity of marijuana was growing.</p><p>Two people fled the residence, located near Primrose Avenue. Deputies later took two suspects into custody.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Katy Hillenmeyer at 521-5274 or katy.hillenmeyer@pressdemocrat</p><p>.com.</p>