Thieves strike at phone, coffee shops in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Cotati

Three men used wire cutters to snatch phones and computers on display at a Santa Rosa T-Mobile store Monday before striking at a Petaluma store and leading police on a high-speed chase down a busy road.

One man remained at large Tuesday, Petaluma police said.

The trio was likely not the same group of men Monday who walked into a Peet's Coffee shop in Santa Rosa and another in Cotati and grabbed laptops from customers, Petaluma police Lt. Tim Lyons said.

”We think a separate crew hit the Peet's Coffee,” Lyons said. “Whether they knew each other, we don't know.”

The Santa Rosa phone store burglary occurred at the College Avenue business about 7:30 p.m. Monday. After the burglary, Santa Rosa store employees called Petaluma police, saying one of the stolen phones was pinging a location of east Petaluma. Police called the McDowell Boulevard T-Mobile store to warn employees, but the men already had arrived, Lyons said.

An officer responding to the crime saw a silver BMW speed from the parking lot. Patrol cars came up behind it and the driver sped up to 80 mph, heading south on McDowell Boulevard.

The BMW hit a roundabout curb at Baywood Drive and three men ran from the car, disappearing into the neighborhood. One was found hiding in a yard on Evergreen Way.

Another climbed onto the roof of a Catalpa Way home. A woman living in the neighborhood stopped police around 8 p.m., saying she escaped her home after a man came in and blocked her from leaving. Police searched the house but found no one. They determined the suspect on the roof had been the man in her home.

The third suspect wasn't found. He was described as a black man wearing a white T-shirt, green shorts and possibly one shoe. He was last seen in the 1300 block of St. Francis Drive.

Inside the abandoned car, officers found several phones and tablets, some still with cables attached, Lyons said. Police later found in front of a South McDowell Boulevard home, south of the crash site, a lone shoe with a cellphone inside.

Tarell Armstrong, 26, and Joshua Green, 27, both of Oakland, were arrested on suspicion of burglary, trespassing, resisting arrest, evading and unlawful restraint, police said. Both men remained in Sonoma County Jail Tuesday without bail.

Police asked anyone who finds electronic equipment in or near Baywood Drive to call Petaluma Police Detective John Silva at 707-778-4372.

Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport.