Police: Burglar wakens napping Petaluma man

A napping man awoke to find in his Petaluma home a suspected burglar who came in through an open window, police said.

The resident woke up after hearing noises and found the stranger in the living room of his Spyglass Road home about 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Petaluma police said. He confronted the suspect, later identified Evan David Thomas, 26, who then ran out the front door.

Police said the suspect got in through the window after going into the backyard through an unlocked gate. A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the man approaching the house, and a neighbor reported seeing a man fleeing, police said in a news release.

Officers searched the southeast neighborhood and found Thomas nearby on Sartori Drive.

Thomas didn’t appear to have taken anything from the home but had a backpack with about $500 worth of clothes from a nearby TJ Maxx store, police said. Officers later determined the clothes had been stolen from the store, police said.

Thomas, described as a local homeless man, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and was booked into Sonoma County Jail on $50,000 bail. He remained in custody Monday morning.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport.