Man charged with stealing $200,000 worth of Star Wars memorabilia from Rancho Obi Wan in Petaluma

A man is facing felony grand theft charges for stealing more than $200,000 worth of Star Wars vintage action figures from a Petaluma museum.|
KRISTIN J. BENDER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO - A Georgia man is facing felony grand theft charges for stealing more than $200,000 worth of prized Star Wars vintage action figures from a Petaluma nonprofit museum.

Steve Sansweet is the founder of Rancho Obi-Wan, where roughly 400,000 pieces of memorabilia are stored and shown to visitors.

Sansweet says that more than 100 pieces were stolen starting from 2015 to 2016 by a friend who stayed at the compound four times during that period.

Police later arrested 45-year-old Carl Edward Cunningham. In March, the Sonoma County District Attorney's office charged him with felony grand theft. He is free on $25,000 bail.

Neither Cunningham, nor his lawyer, Amy Chapman, returned calls for comment Monday. Cunningham was slated to be in court Monday for a preliminary hearing.

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