Santa Rosa police dog helps capture burglary suspects

A Santa Rosa police dog bit a burglary suspect on the thigh early Thursday after finding the 21-year-old man hiding under a deck in a residential area off Fountaingrove Parkway.

Hoss, a Belgian Malinois “K-9 partner,” helped officers arrest two men after a suspicious neighbor called emergency dispatchers at about 12:40 a.m. to report a burglary in progress at an occupied home on Vintage Circle, near Parker Hill and Stagecoach roads.

When an officer arrived, he found a parked BMW that contained several items from a home. Two men soon exited the home’s front door. When confronted, the two fled back inside and slammed the door, according to a police news release.

After setting up a perimeter, officers called into the residence. The home’s owners came out, unaware that unknown men had been inside.

The canine team of Hoss and his handler, Officer Luis Pena, arrived. “Officers located possible stolen property in the back yard of the victim residence and a broken fence leading into a neighboring yard,” the news release said.

Hoss then found Rogelio Martinez-Vasquez, a Santa Rosa resident, hiding under a deck in a nearby yard.

“Hoss bit the suspect in his right thigh,” the news release said.

Martinez-Vasquez was taken into custody. In the same yard, police found a loaded .45-caliber handgun.

Another officer spotted a man running a short distance away and took him into custody. The man, 30-year-old Jose Neri-Martinez of Santa Rosa, was identified as a suspect, and the loaded handgun later was found to be registered to him.

The two men were arrested on suspicion of burglary, carrying a loaded firearm and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. Neri-Martinez also was held on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and a parole violation.