Rohnert Park woman accused of passing fake $100 bill at Rancho Cotate High School bake sale arrested

The woman suspected of passing a fake $100 bill at a July 10 bake sale in front of Oliver’s Market in Cotati was arrested Sunday evening, Cotati police officials said.

Michelle Kruse, who also went by the alias Dana Hamilton, was taken into custody at about 7 p.m. at her Rohnert Park home. Following widespread media attention, numerous tips from the public helped identify and ultimately locate Kruse, police said.

Kruse, 41, is suspected of using a counterfeit $100 bill at a bake sale benefiting the Rancho Cotate High School music program. Sgt. Craig Guydan said Kruse had been shopping at Oliver’s and possibly intended to use the $100 there. He said she may have gotten cold feet and left the store.

Moments later, she walked up to the bake sale and purchased three Rice Krispies treats, a brownie and possibly a slice of cake at the bake sale. A Rancho Cotate student tried to stop her but she sped off, nearly running into other cars in the parking lot.

The tips started coming after images of Kruse and the car she drove off in were published?online and in the newspaper.

On Sunday evening, during a routine patrol, Cotati Police Officer Baudelia Gallo spotted a BMW headed northbound on Old Redwood Highway. Gallo ran a check on the car’s license plate and discovered that the registration stickers were phony.

The officer stopped the car and learned that the occupants were on “searchable probation,” which permitted a routine probation search of the BMW. The officer then discovered ID cards in the name of Kruse’s alias, Dana Hamilton, police said.

Sgt. Guydan said the occupants of the BMW provided information about where to find Kruse.

“It’s a small world in Sonoma County,” Guydan said. “The people inside the vehicle wanted to provide information about where Michelle was right now.”

Cotati police sought the assistance of Rohnert Park police officials before heading out to Kruse’s residence, officials said. She was found in the garage of a residence on the 100 block of Frederick Drive.

Police also found 2.9 grams of heroin, 3.3 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale, fresh packaging bags and numerous methamphetamine pipes. The amount of drugs found was enough to charge Kruse with suspicion of possession of heroin and methamphetamine for sale, both felonies, police said.

She was also charged with suspicion of possessing and using fake currency.

Investigators are still trying to figure who made the $100 bill and where it was printed. Guydan thanked the public for their help in solving the crime.

“The public response was phenomenal and for the most part all the information that we received was accurate as well,” he said, adding that tips led to identifying the license plate number on the car.

Vickie Gilbert, a board member with the Rancho Cotate High School Music Boosters club, said the public also responded with donations to the school’s music program. Earnings from the bake sale were to be used to pay some of the expenses of a trip next year to Disneyland, where some of the music students are expected to march down Main Street.

Former high school band students, who themselves marched at Disneyland, contacted the Music Boosters club to make donations.

“It’s been humbling and overwhelming. We really truly are blessed,” said Gilbert. “We want to thank the public for the outreach of support they have shown us and given us.”

Guydan said Kruse’s arrest was delayed in part because she sold the car she was driving shortly after news of the bake sale incident was spread by the media. But he said with all the tips coming in, it was only a matter of time.

“One way or another, we would have found her eventually,” he said.