Elderly Sonoma woman victim of midday home robbery

A 96-year-old woman was the victim of a bold midday theft on Wednesday, but the suspects were apprehended a few minutes later on their way out of town.|

A 96-year-old woman living in the 19300 block of Sonoma Highway was the victim of a bold midday theft on Wednesday, but the suspects were apprehended just minutes later on their way out of town.

At about 3:15 p.m. a caller from an office building nearby told the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office that she had seen two men running out of the home, carrying a small safe and other materials. The men put the safe into a blue Ford Focus and, when joined by a third man, drove east on Sonoma Highway toward Sonoma.

The caller was able to take a photograph and give a good description of the vehicle and its occupants, which allowed vehicles from the Sonoma Police to give chase down West Napa Street to the intersection of Napa and Broadway, where they made the stop.

Deputies detained three suspects, who were identified as Tarzan Miller, a 34-year-old male from Richmond; Tommy Mitchell, a 27-year-old male also from Richmond, and his uncle Richard Mitchell, a 48-year-old from North Highlands near Sacramento. In the vehicle, the deputies found a small safe and a pillow case loaded with jewelry.

Deputies returned to the victim’s home and contacted the 96-year-old woman, who didn’t realize she had been burglarized. When shown the safe and the pillow case with jewelry, she said that was from her home. She took deputies into her home and verified that her safe was missing along with her jewelry and a pillowcase off one of her pillows.

She told deputies she had been watching TV in her home when she heard a knock at the front door. When she answered it, a man wanted to talk to her about tree trimming in the backyard of her home. She went into the backyard with the man and they talked about her trees for about 15 minutes before he left.

Apparently while they were discussing tree trimming, two other men and been going through her home and stealing her property.

“We are very thankful to the alert caller who noticed the suspicious behavior and called 911 to report the crime,” said Sgt. Spencer Crum of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

All three suspects were booked into the Sonoma County Jail on felony charges of burglary, possession of stolen property, elder abuse and conspiracy. They are being held on $100,000 bail each, with a court appearance set for Friday, July 21, at 1:30 p.m.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.