Sonoma County man, 19, arrested in theft, resale of excavator

A Sonoma County man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing and selling a Caterpillar excavator worth an estimated $40,000, among other charges.

Tre Dominick Miller, 19, was arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail with a bond of $90,000 as a result of an almost two-month investigation by the Petaluma Police Department and the Sonoma County sheriff’s auto theft task force.

Authorities began their probe after Miller allegedly sold the stolen excavator to an unsuspecting Sonoma County resident.

Police said they found evidence implicating Miller in the theft of checks from residences while he worked for a local moving company, using stolen credit card information to make purchases of property, and forging checks to purchase or attempt to buy several new vehicles from various dealerships in Sonoma, Santa Clara, Marin, Placer and Colusa counties.

Miller faces two counts of vehicle theft, two counts of grand theft, three counts of burglary, two counts of forgery and one count of identity theft.