Sonoma police thwart burglary in progress

Sonoma police thwarted a burglary in progress in El Verano and recovered the stolen goods with help from alert witnesses Monday.

The case began when a resident called to report seeing a suspicious person in their backyard in the 19100 block of Bay Street at 11 a.m., sheriff’s officials said.

While searching the backyard, deputies from the Sheriff’s Valley substation on Grove Street didn’t find the suspect, but heard a commotion at another house on Bay Street, according to sheriff’s officials.

The deputies found broken glass, as well as items stacked outside the residence suggesting a robbery in progress, and surrounded the house. Minutes later, a man wearing a plastic face mask and a hoodie pulled over his head stepped out the rear door, then ran back into the house after seeing the deputies, sheriff’s officials said.

The deputies charged after the suspect, who ran out the front of the house and across the creek. They chased him to a housing complex on Railroad Avenue, tracking him down in a storage shed, sheriff’s officials said. After a struggle, the deputies took the suspect into custody.

Shortly after that, witnesses again came through for sheriff’s deputies, telling them they had seen another masked man running from the yard of the Bay Street house.

The deputies found the man hiding in the back yard of a house on Walnut Avenue and took him into custody, finding him in possession of property from the victim’s residence, sheriff’s officials said.

Bryce Finch, 28, of Sonoma, the first suspect to be taken into custody, was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of crimes including burglary, conspiracy, identity theft and probation violation.

Brian Webber, 34, also of Sonoma, the second suspect to be taken into custody, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy.

Reach Janis Mara at janis.mara@sonomanews.com.