Sonoma County hit with string of burglaries at homes being rebuilt after October wildfires

Thieves descended on scorched neighborhoods in Larkfield this week, stealing expensive construction equipment and tools from sites where homes are being rebuilt after the October wildfires.

The string of burglaries targeted several storage trailers in the burn zone north of Santa Rosa, where compressors, drills, nail guns and other tools were stolen from crews building homes for fire victims. The spree marks the first construction thefts reported in the burn zones to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, Sgt. Spencer Crum said Thursday.

Four trailers were broken into Wednesday night or early Thursday at rebuild sites on Willow Green Place and Dorchester Drive, according to Crum. Another construction site outside the burned area, in Windsor near Hembree and Victory lanes, also was burglarized.

Each of the trailers was tightly secured, some even blocked by heavy equipment that thieves moved to get inside, Crum said.

“This is the worst of humanity: preying upon people who are doing everything they can to rebuild their lives,” said Sonoma County ?Supervisor James Gore, who represents Larkfield. “None of us should have any sympathy for people who are scraping at the bottom.”

Larkfield fire victims have reported six thefts in their neighborhoods to Gore’s office this week. The unincorporated community between Santa Rosa and Windsor was among the places most acutely devastated seven months ago, when the Tubbs fire destroyed nearly 740 homes.

The Sheriff’s Office will investigate the crimes “to the full extent” and will staff extra patrols around all rebuild sites, Sheriff Rob Giordano said in a statement.

He called the burglaries “completely unacceptable” amid the recovery from the worst disaster in Sonoma County history and asked everyone in the area to watch for suspicious people at construction sites during the nighttime.

Thieves struck a Dorchester Drive construction site where Jesus Garcia is framing a new home on a burned property. When Garcia arrived at the site about 6:30 a.m. Thursday, he discovered burglars had cut off the combination lock on a trailer where he and other workers stored their tools. The contents of the trailer were gone.

“They went through the whole thing. They just took everything,” Garcia said. “What are people doing? ... You’re working to make a living and people are going around stealing stuff.”

Garcia said he lost about $7,000 to $8,000 in equipment and tools, including a compressor and drills. He was storing tools on site because it was easier than hauling them over from Lake County, where he lives. Now Garcia figures he’ll take his tools with him every day.

Workers hired by Fairfield-based Silvermark Construction Services, which is rebuilding several homes on Willow Green Place, also discovered early Thursday they were missing numerous tools, including a compressor and a pipe threader, said Roxanne Johnson, an account executive for operations with the company. The burglary claimed at least $10,000 in property, Johnson estimated.

Silvermark Construction is considering hiring a private security company to prevent future burglaries, Johnson said.

“It’s disappointing that it’s even brought up, especially when we’re trying to have homes rebuilt for people who’ve lost their homes,” she said.

The spree was concerning to Larkfield fire victims, even those who hadn’t been burglarized.

“This is just the beginning, most likely, of crimes like this,” said Brad Sherwood, who lost his Chelsea Drive home in the Tubbs fire. “Here we are already seeing this magnitude of thefts with just a few rebuilds going on, and if we don’t nip this in the bud now, it’s only going to get worse. Absolutely, it’s a call to action to the Sheriff’s Office.”

Gore said he’s been in contact with the Sheriff’s Office and floated the idea of bringing private security into the burn zones, but a captain said authorities would focus first on stepping up their own patrols.

“In another neighborhood, if there’s stuff going on, you go into a community meeting and tell everybody to pay attention and have the neighborhood watch do it,” Gore said. “The problem is, all the houses are burned down, so no one’s there. It’s a quiet wasteland at night.”

Crum said the pattern of burglaries and their locations suggest a group of thieves who may have needed heavy-duty equipment to access the items they stole. The thefts would have required a lot of time and made loud noises.

He encouraged anyone who sees suspicious nighttime activity at rebuild sites to call the Sheriff’s Office dispatch at 707-565-2121.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @thejdmorris.