A Santa Rosa exterminator and wedding disc jockey whose disappearance mystified his family and sent sheriff's deputies on a manhunt after he went missing with his employer's truck last month was arrested early Wednesday in Reno.
Bryan William Scobey, 35, was arrested on a warrant out of Sonoma County after being accused of stealing a Hitmen Termite and Pest Control truck and tools and trying to sell them. Scobey was being held at Washoe County jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to jail records.
"Hopefully the (district attorney) will file a criminal complaint and then he'll be extradited," sheriff's Lt. Chris Spallino said.
Sonoma County sheriff's detectives alerted Reno-area law enforcement to keep watch for Scobey after a tip led detectives to believe he had gone there.
Reno police detectives found Scobey outside of a business in the south side of Reno around 7 a.m. Wednesday, said Detective Roya Mason of the Reno Police Department. Mason would not comment on how they found him.
"He was cooperative and he was in good health," Mason said of the suspect.
Scobey's employer contacted the sheriff's department on Jan. 13 after he failed to make several work appointments and didn't return with a company truck at the end of the work day, sheriff's officials said. Scobey's wife, Trina Scobey, 41, filed a missing person's report after he failed to return home, she said.
That evening, sheriff's officials launched a four-hour helicopter and ground search in unincorporated Sonoma, the last location tracked by the company truck's global positioning system.
What had begun as a missing person's case turned into a fugitive case about a week later after deputies spoke with a man in Yreka who said Scobey offered to give him the company truck if the man drove with him to Reno.
Detectives began a search for Scobey on suspicion of embezzling a company vehicle and company tools.
Scobey's employer couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.
More than 2,000 people joined a Facebook page devoted to news about the search for Scobey and to post encouraging words to his family. Friends also launched a "Find Bryan" Website.
The three weeks Scobey was missing were the longest time he had gone without talking to his wife since they married about 15 years ago, Trina Scobey said.
His wife and friends said there were no signs that he wanted to flee, but after his disappearance they found signs of trouble in his life.
His wife discovered he had stopped paying household bills, including her car insurance, about four months prior to his disappearance, she said.
He hadn't been sleeping well for weeks and would spend a few hours awake each night, she said.
Scobey had talked about his money problems with friends, including Ajainin Turner, 36, of Rohnert Park, who said he's known Scobey for nearly four years. Turner loaned Scobey about $1,000 last fall, but Scobey paid him back within a month, he said.
"He was always very direct and willing to stand up and state any mistake he'd made," Turner said. "I thought more than likely a tragic accident happened, or something more malevolent had taken place."
Scobey's wife, contacted Thursday, said she would visit her husband in Nevada next week, but had no other comment about her husband or the case.
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