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God works in mysterious ways

Repairs on the roof of St. Francis Solano School led to a budgetary decision as to whether or not the aging, rooftop air conditioning units should be repaired or replaced. According to a Sonoma Police report, school authorities decided new units would be too expensive and so Peterson Mechanical, the air conditioning contractor, had the five Carrier-brand units – each the size of a desk and weighing between 250 and 300 pounds – removed and placed in the parking lot under an overhang while they awaited renovation.

A roofing contractor saw the units at the church at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, a Friday afternoon. Then came the New Year’s weekend and another week without school. It wasn’t until midday on Jan. 4 that someone noticed the five bulky units were gone.

Police theorize that someone with a few accomplices used a sizeable truck – or made repeat visits with a pickup – and carted off the air conditioners while the school was closed.

The bad news: each unit cost $4,500. The good news: they were covered by the church’s insurance policy. Which means that St. Francis Solano will get new air conditioning units after all.

Police are continuing their investigation of the blessedly grand theft.

In other incidents reported to local law enforcement:

Monday, Dec. 26:

2:02 p.m. – Another grand theft. A resident in the 18000 block of Happy Lane reported $1,000 in cash went missing from her residence. She told sheriff’s deputies that she had friends over to her house between Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, and later discovered that the $1,000 she had hidden behind a picture frame in the bathroom was missing.

Tuesday, Dec. 27:

3:44 a.m. – Head-pounding displeasure. A 29-year-old Boyes Hot Springs resident was apparently displeased to be arrested on charges of domestic battery after an argument with his long-time girl friend turned physical. He reportedly spat in her face, then pushed her down and, after deputies arrested the man and put him in the squad car, he started pounding his head on the Plexiglass security panel in the car. Deputies then put the irate man in maximum restraints for his trip to an awaiting jail cell.

8:20 a.m. – Credit card bandit. A resident in the 19000 block of Marna Lane reported problems with her American Express card. She told sheriff’s deputies that on Dec. 23, she received a call from the credit card company inquiring as to whether or not she had made purchases at Victoria’s Secret and Best Buy. After informing the company she hadn’t, the card was cancelled. After Christmas, she received a call from Best Buy wanting to know if she tried to purchase something online. She informed them that she had cancelled her card and learned that whoever had access to her information, tried to use it seven times online, but was successful only once, charging $107.35.

1:06 p.m. – One expensive pallet tool. The owner of a business in the 1000 block of Fremont Drive reported that sometime after Dec. 22, a tool used to make pallets went missing from the business. The 35-pound tool was valued at $5,000.

Thursday, Dec. 29:

7:50 p.m. – Cab-napping. A 31-year-old Boyes Hot Springs resident found a warm place to sleep after he passed out drunk in the back seat of a taxi in the 400 block of Siesta Way. The man had wanted to go to a residence on Siesta, but found he wasn’t welcome there. When deputies arrived, the man was still in the cab, in a state of alcohol-induced sleep, so they arrested him on charges of public intoxication and a probation violation, and then provided him a more appropriate, and perhaps comfortable, place for him to sleep at the county jail.

Friday, Dec. 30:

1:19 p.m. – His girlfriend is a truck? A man who left his vehicle in the vicinity of Locust and Pine avenues while partying, returned later that evening only to find an intoxicated juvenile punching and kicking his truck. Since the juvenile was too intoxicated to reason with – and wanted to fight – the man left the truck and contacted the authorities. Sheriff’s deputies located the juvenile and he admitted kicking and punching the truck because, he said, he was mad about breaking up with his girlfriend. The 17-year-old was arrested on charges of vandalism and taken to juvenile hall.

Saturday, Dec. 31:

10:53 a.m. – Toyota troubles again. The catalytic converter bandits, who plagued Sonoma in May with at least 20 thefts of the exhaust-gas devices, may be at it again. A resident in the 100 block of Temelec Circle told deputies he had gone out to dinner the previous evening, came home and parked his Toyota Sequoia for the night. In the morning, when he started his SUV, he heard a loud noise and discovered the catalytic converter had been sawed out.

Later that day, a second victim, in the 900 block of Madrone Road, told sheriff’s deputies that sometime between midnight and 3 p.m., when he started his Toyota 4Runner, someone had removed his catalytic converter as well.

Sunday, Jan. 1:

12:32 a.m. – Barefoot with ecstasy. Citizens who encountered a shoeless man carrying flowers and asking people for help, contacted Sonoma police and a squad car arrived moments later to find the man at the corner of West Napa Street and Second Street West. As the car approached, the man suddenly began sprinting hard directly toward it, forcing the officer at the wheel to accelerate around the corner to avoid a collision.

The barefoot vagabond thereupon reclined in the street and, as the officer approached, rolled over onto his back and began doing sit-ups.

Asked if he had been drinking, the man confided he had consumed “some shots (of alcohol) and some ecstasy.”

He also explained that he had no idea where his shoes were, and that he had been at a party, but he didn’t know where.

He was charged with public intoxication and a probation violation and spent the rest of New Year’s Eve at the county jail.