Police: Backpack with graduate thesis stolen from Santa Rosa parking garage

A backpack was stolen from a Santa Rosa parking garage with a particularly valuable item inside: the victim's doctoral thesis, according to police.

In a Twitter post Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Rosa Police Department said the backpack contained the only copy of the victim's Ph.D. thesis. The unidentified suspect took a credit card he found in the backpack to the mall and used it to buy a skateboard, according to the police post.

A video released by police shows the suspected thief leaving the parking garage with a backpack, and later exiting the mall on a skateboard.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Josh Ludtke said the backpack was stolen from the parking garage located at 555 First St.

The name of the victim was withheld by police because he is a victim of a crime and the investigation is ongoing, Ludtke said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 707-528-5222.