Sonoma County deputies send girl to prom after purse stolen; suspect in custody

Julisa Sanchez was following instructions when she left her purse in the car before running off to skate at Snoopy’s Home Ice in Santa Rosa two weeks ago.

A sign at the rink urged visitors to secure their valuables in their cars, a Sonoma County sheriff’s detective said. But the purse was gone when the teen returned. So was the money she had been saving for her senior prom.

Shane Paul Titman, a Santa Rosa man who was out on bail for previous theft charges, is suspected of breaking into the 18-year-old girl’s car and stealing her purse and cash, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

“She followed the instructions on the sign. She’s a victim of circumstance,” said Detective Joe Dulworth, who also serves as president of the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, which decided to give Sanchez $400 so she could go to prom.

“I have my own daughter myself,” Dulworth said. “I can understand how devastated she’d be.”

“She’s a senior and prom only happens once,” Dulworth added.

The Analy High School student was working a part-time job at a snack bar in Bodega Bay, earning money to pay for her May 16 prom.

“I was devastated … working so hard for that money, for so long,” she said via text message about the theft.

But she was surprised when detectives met her at the DMV office, where she was going to get a new identification card after hers went missing in the theft. They handed her the purse, along with a $400 check.

“I honestly just wanted to cry,” she said. “I thought it was the sweetest thing. I couldn’t believe it.”

As for Titman, he’s back in jail on suspicion of the new car burglary and identity theft charges. The Santa Rosa man was arrested Wednesday after deputies spotted him breaking into a Chevrolet Suburban parked at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Detectives pulled him over at a nearby shopping center. They found a purse stolen from the Suburban sitting on his lap, sheriff’s Sgt. Cecile Focha said.

Titman, 37, was under surveillance the past two weeks, Focha said. Detectives had received a tip that he had broken into a vehicle parked outside a Santa Rosa school in late March, she said.

While under surveillance, they observed him at parking lots of churches, gyms, schools and parks in Santa Rosa and elsewhere in unincorporated areas of the county.

Focha said evidence found in his truck and surveillance videos from businesses linked him to other car burglaries, including the one at the skating rink parking lot where Sanchez’s purse was taken. Deputies found the purse in Titman’s truck, Focha said.

Titman was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on seven counts of auto burglary, possession of stolen property, ID theft and committing a felony while out on bail.

Surveillance video led to Titman’s earlier arrest in January.

Sheriff’s officials said he had stolen a purse from a vehicle parked at Bellevue Elementary School in Santa Rosa. It belonged to a school volunteer. Deputies said Titman had used her credit cards at Safeway, Wal-Mart and the Graton casino and were able to identify him from surveillance video obtained from businesses where he used the woman’s cards.

Sanchez said she’s grateful deputies made an arrest.

“When they had told me they put the guy away, I was happy. But when they told me they were giving me the money that had been stolen that caught me by surprise,” Sanchez said. “I can never thank them enough.”

You can reach Staff Writer ?Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@press?demo?crat.com. On Twitter ?@eloisanews.