Police seek links in Petaluma, Santa Rosaholdups

While Petaluma police detectives Wednesday continued to search for a serial robber suspected of hitting five businesses in the past week, Santa Rosa detectives are looking at whether the same masked, armed man could be responsible for four recent robberies in their city.

Meanwhile, Rohnert Park has had its own recent spate of armed robberies.

Rohnert Park police have arrested a local resident, suspecting he robbed a gas station and tried to rob a donut shop and a clerk at a Taco Bell drive-up window.

The cases in Santa Rosa and Petaluma remain unsolved, and detectives from both cities now are comparing notes regarding the two sets of quick-cash crimes, Santa Rosa detective Sgt. Dave Linscomb said.

Like the flurry of Petaluma robberies - three in one day - the four Santa Rosa crimes occurred within two days and three of them happened within nine hours.

Santa Rosa’s robberies, which occurred from Feb. 19 to 21, were at businesses in a westside cluster.

The robber hit the Radio Shack on Steele Lane, a 7-Eleven on Piner Road and twice robbed the Coffey Lane Liquor and Food Store.

While it remains unknown if the same man is responsible for the nine commercial robberies, Petaluma investigators believe one man perpetrated their five crimes and Santa Rosa detectives believe one man is responsible for their four robberies.

Santa Rosa’s robber was armed with a handgun, and in Petaluma’s cases, the robber once showed a clerk the butt of gun under his shirt and three times threatened clerks, saying he had a gun.

Petaluma’s robbery spree began March 25. The businesses robbed were three convenience stores, one gas station and a grocery store pharmacy.

Rohnert Park’s suspect is David Marchant, 48, whose criminal history in Sonoma County dates back to 1989 and includes numerous felony convictions and at least two prison stints. Marchant is in custody in the Sonoma County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bail.

He is due to appear in court April 14 for a hearing to determine if he should stand trial on suspicion of at least four felony robbery-related charges plus conviction enhancements due to his criminal history, according to Sonoma County court records.

Marchant is not a suspect in Santa Rosa’s unsolved cases, Linscomb said.

Rohnert Park detectives say they’ve connected Marchant to the three cases, which occurred in late February in a matter of days. Marchant, who was known to drive a Dodge Caravan, was arrested March 4 after police stopped him while he was driving from his home in the van. A search of his home and the vehicle turned up evidence, including a pellet gun resembling a real firearm, linking him to the robberies, police said.

After Marchant was arrested, Santa Rosa detectives connected him to a 1:40 a.m. armed robbery on Feb. 27 of a clerk and a maintenance worker in the lobby of the Flamingo Hotel, Linscomb said.

The robber demanded cash from the hotel cash drawer but when he found it was empty, he took wallets and personal belongings from the two employees, Linscomb said.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or Randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com or Twitter@rossmannreport.