Two arrested after burglary interrupted at Santa Rosa business

Employees of a Santa Rosa landscaping firm arrived at work early Monday and interrupted a burglary, according to a Sonoma County sheriff’s spokeswoman.

Deputies arrested two men in the area of the Santa Rosa Avenue business. They were suspected of breaking in, stealing tools and planning to steal computers and other business items inside garbage bags by a door, sheriff’s Sgt. Cecile Focha said in a news release.

The employees got to the business just before 6 a.m. and found the two men who then left the site. One employee called 911 and gave descriptions of the men and which way they were headed.

While deputies were en route, an employee took off after one of the suspects.

The employee and a security guard, who happened to be in the area, detained transient Gary Robert McDonald Jr., 48, Focha said. The employee demanded McDonald give up a tool box he was carrying, bearing the company logo, as well as several other items marked with the company’s name, she said.

Arriving deputies arrested McDonald and Roderick Nohr, 46, also described as a transient. Nohr was stopped in a rental agency parking lot, across the street from the landscaping business.

Both were arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary. McDonald also was arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property and drugs and he was wanted on a warrant.

His bail was set at $55,000. Nohr was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.