Three men suspected of stealing thousands of dollars in copper wire from shuttered Santa Rosa hospital

Three Santa Rosa men were arrested Friday morning on suspicion of stealing copper wire worth thousands of dollars from the old Sutter Medical Center on Chanate Road in Santa Rosa.

The arrest comes after several months of reports of burglary, theft and vandalism at the former Sutter hospital site, owned by Sonoma County. The hospital began shutting down in October 2015, when Sutter Health moved its operations to the facility on Mark West Springs Road.

Many of the calls to police involved the theft of copper electrical wire, amounting to a replacement cost of more than $3,600, police said. Police said most of the theifs took place in the main hospital building, set to be demolished as part of planned housing development, and an on-site power substation.

On Friday morning, officers were alerted to a suspicious vehicle that had been seen in the area before. Police located the vehicle and arrested Michael Vernon Hayes, 50, of Santa Rosa. Police later located and arrested Perry Winston Garrison, 53, of Santa Rosa and Mark Richard Castillo, 58, of Santa Rosa at the hospital substation.

Police detectives found in Hayes’ vehicle about 2,000 linear feet of copper wire and several tools used for cutting and removing the wire. Police said wire had been taken from inside the hospital.

Hayes, Castillo and Garrison were booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of burglary, vandalism, receiving stolen property, conspiracy and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.