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Young car thief escapes yet again

The 16-year-old burglar, car thief and fugitive, who was arrested on the Sonoma Bike Path weeks after escaping from a police dragnet following a Sept. 20 break-in at the home of a prominent local winemaker and the theft of his Audi, was on the lam again last week.

The Sonoma Valley native who had been sentenced out of Sonoma County juvenile hall to a placement home in Minden, Nev., became such a behavioral problem at the home, that he was shipped back to Sonoma.

His transport was arranged with a driver in a normal sedan, in this case a Volkswagen Passat. The youth was not shackled, but he was made to ride in the back seat without his shoes and the door locks were controlled by the driver.

As the car reached Sonoma on the way to Juvenile Hall on Pythian Road, the driver had partially lowered the rear window so the young delinquent could have some fresh air. Near Maxwell Village Shopping Center, the youth suddenly started to stick his head through the 10-inch window opening.

“Don’t do it,” the driver shouted at the boy.”

“F*** it, I’m doing it,” yelled the boy, and he was out the window and gone, in his bare feet.

The escape was quickly reported to Sonoma Sheriff’s deputies who set up a perimeter around the area and called in the Sheriff’s helicopter, Henry 1.

But an exhaustive search proved futile, and as of the weekend the boy was still at large.

He is described as a gang member with numerous friends in a local criminal street gang. Anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts is urged to call Sonoma police at 996-3602.