Santa Rosa police said a Stockton man is suspected of carrying out at least some, if not the bulk, of the burglaries that have plagued Santa Rosa's Oakmont community since February.
Anthony Warrender Gladius, 32, has been in custody at the San Joaquin County Jail since his Oct. 4 arrest in Lodi on suspicion of auto theft and other charges, jail records show.
Santa Rosa detectives filed a warrant at the jail south of Stockton for Gladius' arrest on suspicion of burglary, having stolen property, hit-and-run property damage and threatening a person with a crow bar, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Mike Lazzarini said.
Fingerprints on discarded magazines at the site of a Sept. 12 burglary initially suggested Gladius was involved in the crime, Lazzarini said.
Detectives have since learned that his grandparents lived on Mockingbird Circle in Oakmont until they died several years ago, Lazzarini said.
Officers are still investigating what other connections he may have to Sonoma County, as it appears he has been in the area at various times for months.
"He's coming out here for some reason, and we haven't identified what it is yet," Lazzarini said.
More than a dozen homes have been burglarized since February at the retirement community in east Santa Rosa, Lazzarini said.
The break-ins and thefts put residents on high alert, prompting heated debate over whether to install surveillance cameras at the community's two entrances off Highway 12.
Oakmont Village Association board members approved putting cameras at its Oakmont Drive and Pythian Road egresses at a September meeting.
With cameras set to be installed and news of Gladius' arrest, residents Pat and Bob Chapman said they can now start to move on.
They came home from a concert April 18 and found their kitchen cupboards open and a back door kicked in.
A burglar or burglars ransacked their home, taking computers, a guitar and about $20,000 of jewelry, even mussing up the bed linens.
"They took a drawer out of a dresser and kept the drawer," Pat Chapman said.
Chapman said she is most sorry to be without her father's wedding ring and her mother's diamond necklace.
"He needs to be held responsible for what he did," she said.
Neighbors now speculate that the magazines with Gladius' fingerprints were used while he posed as a peddler going door-to-door, Chapman said.
The Sept. 12 burglary took place at a home on Walnut Orchard Way and was interrupted by a neighbor, Lazzarini said. The burglar, now suspected to have been Gladius, threatened the neighbor with a crow bar.
The burglar left in a green Honda, crashing into a fence as he sped away.
Santa Rosa detectives later discovered that a driver's license taken during an April 29 break-in on Walnut Orchard Way was listed among Gladius' personal property when he was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail last spring.
Gladius was arrested May 15 in Stockton on suspicion of being in possession of burglary tools and narcotics, as well as evading police, Lazzarini said.
On Oct. 4, Santa Rosa detectives traveled to Stockton to arrest him and search Gladius' home, but before they arrived, Lodi police arrested Gladius after he was pulled over in a stolen car, Lazzarini said.
Santa Rosa officers still searched his home and seized a trove of tools, electronics, jewelry and other items they suspected was taken from Oakmont homes, he said.
They have only just begun to process those items.
So far, they have linked the possessions to one of three April 18 burglaries on Pythian Road and a July 21 burglary on Oakmont Drive, Lazzarini said.
Officers also are investigating whether Gladius was involved in car thefts in Sonoma County.
When Gladius was arrested in Lodi, he was in a car reported stolen from Stockton with license plates swapped with another vehicle, Lazzarini said.
"We definitely have linked this guy to a number of Oakmont burglaries, but is that to say he committed all of them? I don't know," Lazzarini said.
Anyone with information about Gladius' connection to Sonoma County can call Santa Rosa Police Det. Joe Bjornstrom with the property crimes team at 543-3575.
You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220, julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com or on Twitter @jjpressdem.
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