Pot plants, cocaine seized from scene of deadly Santa Rosa home invasion

More than 1,000 marijuana plants, about 40 pounds of processed pot, cocaine and a hash oil lab using highly flammable butane fuel filled the inside of two rented Rincon Valley residences where a shootout left one man dead and another clinging to life, police investigators said Tuesday.

One day after the gunfight, detectives were still combing through evidence seized at the adjacent residences on Acacia Lane off Highway 12 and investigating how the intruders knew there was marijuana and other drugs to be found there, said Sgt. Rich Celli, who runs the Santa Rosa Police Department’s narcotics team.

“It was an operation that in our estimate had been going on ... for at least a year,” Celli said of the pot cultivation. “They were definitely moving a lot of marijuana through there.”

The narcotics and violent crimes detectives were jointly investigating Monday’s interrupted middle-of-the-night robbery that left one suspected robber dead and another critically wounded.

The shootout also led to the arrest of two men who lived at the properties. They’re suspected of marijuana cultivation, drug sales and other crimes, police said.

Suspected getaway driver Miguel Junior Flores, 36, of Cloverdale was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on suspicion of murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, attempted robbery, conspiracy and committing a felony with a firearm, court records show.

Detectives still were attempting to determine Flores’ role in the attempted robbery and shootout. But he was arrested in connection with the death of his suspected accomplice because California law allows for a person to be charged with murder when they are involved in the commission of a felony crime that results in a wrongful death.

Police suspect Flores was behind the wheel of a waiting pickup when his accomplices, Pablo Reyes-Martinez, 22, of Santa Rosa and Fidencio Reyes Bocanegra, 24, used a sledgehammer to bash in the front door of the Acacia Lane home just before 1 a.m. Monday. Inside, a family of four slept, including two children.

Resident Manual Garcia, 25, awoke, looked out and called 911, saying armed men were trying to get in his front door. He also grabbed a handgun and fired at the intruders from a bedroom window, who returned the gunfire, police said.

Sgt. Dave Linscomb estimated 3-4 shots were fired by both sides in a gun battle that played out just 15 or so feet apart. No one inside the home was injured.

While both Reyes-Martinez and Bocanegra were hit, it remained under investigation whether both of the suspects had been armed or just one had wielded a handgun, and whether they were struck by Garcia’s shooting or if they’d been hit by shots fired from their side, said Linscomb, who runs the violent crimes detective team.

Wounded, Reyes-Martinez and Bocanegra fled to Flores in a waiting Nissan Frontier pickup, and they fled, police said.

Within one hour, the Nissan was spotted by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy as it arrived at Kaiser Medical Center off Bicentennial Avenue. Police said the men refused to exit the pickup until tear gas was deployed. Flores and Bocanegra exited the vehicle and deputies pulled out an unresponsive Reyes-Martinez from the backseat of the pickup. He was then pronounced dead.

Inside the truck detectives found copious amounts of blood but no weapons. Linscomb said a search still was on for whatever weapon was used in the shootout. While it appeared there were three suspects in the aborted robbery, the sergeant also said it was possible others were involved as someone could have gotten out of the truck during the time between when it left the east Santa Rosa neighborhood and ended up at the hospital across town.

The shootout uncovered the extensive drug processing setup at the adjacent Acacia Lane homes. It included air filtration systems to lessen the pungent odor of marijuana and jerry-rigged electrical systems that were bypassing the PG&E utility meter, a process to avoid paying for the high volume of electricity needed to feed indoor marijuana production, the sergeant said.

Between the two properties, detectives reported finding 39 pounds of processed marijuana, 150 fully grown plants and 1,236 plants in various stages of growth. Another 300 or so young plants were growing in the backyards, Celli said.

A hash lab had been set up in the kitchen of the adjoining property, which otherwise featured marijuana growing in almost every room, he said. Detectives also found 1.5 ounces of cocaine, $3,500 in cash, an assault rifle and two handguns.

A resident of the home, Garcia, remained in custody on $1 million bail Tuesday at the Sonoma County Jail. He and neighbor Rolando Ramirez-Ruiz, 23, who lived in the adjacent home where detectives found some of the alleged drug activity, were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on a variety of drug charges, including marijuana cultivation for sale and manufacturing hashish, records show. Garcia faces an additional charge of child endangerment.

Staff Writer Randi Rossmann contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.