A Santa Rosa man accused of ransacking three homes and setting them on fire pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges carrying a maximum 40-year prison sentence.
Andy Ruben Navarro, 49, faces three counts of felony burglary and three counts of arson in connection with crimes that occurred from April to July. Prosecutors added three enhancements for past burglary convictions going back to 1982.
His alleged victims watched as the gray-haired man stood in a blue jail uniform before Judge Robert LaForge and denied the allegations.
His alleged accomplice, Stacy Perez, 47, also pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of stolen property and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Perez, who remained free on bail, faces more than three years in prison.
Both will return to court today before Judge Jamie Thistlethwaite to set a preliminary hearing date.
Navarro was arrested July 17 after detectives investigating a July 10 burglary on Fulton Road linked him to a beer can that he allegedly left behind at the house.
Acting on a hunch, officers reviewed a security video from a nearby convenience store and identified Navarro, who was buying beer at the store and was on parole for an assault conviction, police said.
They searched his house and found what detectives described as a trove of stolen belongings. Some of it was taken in an April 20 burglary of a house on Hopper Avenue and a May 1 theft at a house on Banyan Place. Both houses also were set on fire.
Prosecutor Victoria Shanahan said investigators were awaiting results of DNA testing on the Budweiser beer can found in the Fulton Road house.
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.
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