Two from Monterey sentenced for looting in Santa Rosa wildfires

A 30-year-old Monterey-area man was sentenced last week to five years in prison and his female accomplice received probation for looting in Santa Rosa during the October wildfires.

Jonathan Conner pleaded no contest to eight felonies, including taking personal property during an emergency, fire or disaster, as well as admitting to a prior prison enhancement.

Christina Marsh, 22, of Marina in Monterey County, pleaded no contest to five felonies.

Judge Dana Simonds sentenced the pair Tuesday.

Conner and Marsh stole a pickup from a Monterey-area farm and on Oct. 28 came to Santa Rosa, according to a press release from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. That evening they entered a burned, abandoned unit in the Fountaingrove neighborhood at The Overlook apartments on Bicentennial Way and took a large-screen television, jewelry and “the ashes of the family dog.”

Neighbors alerted police of the looting, and the pair were arrested after leading officers “on a dangerous pursuit across Santa Rosa,” the press release stated. Early police reports said the pickup reached speeds of ?70 mph on Mendocino Avenue.

Officers for a time called off the pursuit, but witnesses later notified police that the pair had abandoned the truck on Belair Way and fled into the northwest neighborhood. Officers eventually arrested the two on Royal Oak Place, nearly a half-mile from the stolen vehicle and goods.

In November, the couple became the first of four people arrested on looting charges in Santa Rosa to be bound over for trial.

Conner, who in police reports also has been identified as “Johnathon,” initially gave police a false name and documents from a wallet stolen in Monterey County.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit.