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Crime & Safety

Suspect in Nighttime Commercial Burglaries Arrested

Early Wednesday morning, at about 2:09 a.m., a Sonoma Police deputy on routine patrol in the 500 block of 3rd St. West spotted a suspicious male walking out of the parking lot behind the Sonoma Marketplace Shopping Center.

As the deputy observed the subject, who was dressed in dark clothing, he nervously drop several items and attempt to walk away from them. Aware of a rash of recent commercial burglaries, the deputy approached the subject and detained him.

The discarded items turned out to be a small crowbar and a sling-shot. Several of the recent burglaries involved pry tools and, in at least one case, a sling-shot was found at the location of a burglary, believed to have been used to smash open a window to gain entry.

Deputies arrested 44-year-old Harlan Russell Butler, a transient from Santa Rosa and Guerneville, and booked him into the Sonoma County jail for possession of burglary tools and violation of probation.

Further investigation revealed that Butler's girlfriend, 29-year-old, Theresa Kessinger-Mears, lived in the 300 block of Calle Del Monte in the Sonoma Valley. Detectives from the Sheriff’s property crimes unit joined Sonoma police units in conducting a search at her house.

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During the search, detectives located several items that had been stolen from the recent burglaries in and around Sonoma, which further tied Butler to these crimes. Mears was also arrested and booked into the Sonoma County jail for possession of methamphetamine.

Additional burglary charges may be filed against Butler, say detectives, who are still investigating other leads.



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