Deputies arrest suspect in pot-related home invasion near Santa Rosa

Sonoma County sheriff’s detectives announced Thursday the arrest of a Florida man in connection with Wednesday’s cannabis-related home invasion and armed robbery on the southwestern outskirts of Santa Rosa.

Ruben Hernandez, 33, of Miami, was arrested without incident in the 3600 block of International Boulevard in Oakland around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, said sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum.

Hernandez is suspected of being one of two men who broke into a home in the 3300 block of Primrose Court off Todd Road around 9:30 a.m., tied up two residents at gunpoint and took a “significant” amount of marijuana, Crum said.

Sonoma County property records show the home belongs to Victoria Strowbridge, who neighbors say has lived in the house for more than two decades and has grown marijuana in a converted garage.

Strowbridge declined comment Thursday.

Alexa Wall, chairwoman of the Sonoma County Growers Alliance, said the property is not eligible for a cannabis cultivation permit as it falls within a rural residential area and is next to a school.

According to Crum, one man came through the front door of the residence and the other entered through the back door with a handgun. One held Strowbridge at gunpoint, and they tied up her hands before stealing her marijuana, he said.

The men were not wearing masks and Strowbridge recognized them from previous contacts, Crum said. He would not elaborate on the nature of those interactions.

Strowbridge tried to escape and her adult grandson, who lives on the property, attempted to help but was also tied up by the assailants, Crum said.

The two men fled in a rented gray Chrysler minivan.

Hernandez was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Oakland while exiting the minivan.

Neither weapons nor marijuana was found inside the van.

Strowbridge is known as a friendly neighbor who would hold women’s drumming groups in her home, said Michael Valentino, who lives across the narrow dirt street.

“We’ve gotten along well for years,” Valentino said. He was unaware of marijuana cultivation in the home.

Another neighbor who has lived on Primrose Court for more than two decades and declined to give his name Wednesday, said Strowbridge had been growing large amounts of cannabis inside a converted garage for at least 10 years.

The garage is a few yards from Bellevue Elementary School property and just over 100 yards from classrooms.

Scanner reports at the time of the incident indicated the two suspects may have fled with as much as 100 pounds of marijuana, but Crum said the amount was likely smaller. He would not say if marijuana had been grown on the property.

Hernandez was taken into custody by detectives and brought to the Sonoma County Jail where he was booked around 7 p.m. Wednesday on robbery, kidnapping, false imprisonment and conspiracy, with bail set at $100,000, Crum said.

Hernandez posted a bail bond around 4:20 a.m. Thursday and is due in Sonoma County Superior Court May 14, Crum said.

Detectives are continuing their search for the second suspect, the sergeant said.

Crum said it was unlikely Wednesday’s armed robbery was related to six other pot-related home invasions in Sonoma County in three separate cases this year. Two of the invasions, including Wednesday’s, have occurred in the unincorporated neighborhood just beyond Santa Rosa’s southern boundary.

Crum has blamed the recent spate of marijuana-related home invasions on the legalization of cannabis in the state, but was unable to provide data about annual cannabis-related crimes and home invasions in Sonoma County prior to the legalization of recreational cannabis through Proposition 64 in November 2016.

Growers refuted Crum’s assertion.

“This was a place where the person shouldn’t have been growing in the first place,” said Wall, of the growers’ alliance. “It also needs to be noted that not one of these recent crimes have targeted permitted operators.”

According to a spokeswoman with Sonoma County’s Permit and Resource Management Department, it received four non-cannabis related complaints about the Primrose Avenue property, resulting in building code violations for unpermitted construction and substandard housing conditions.

The four code violations were noted between 1987 and 2003 and were all remedied, the spokeswoman said.