Arrest in one of Sonoma’s 2017 bank robberies

DNA match in Florida leads to charges against alleged Umpqua bandit.|

The arrest of a man in Pinellas County, Florida earlier this month on counterfeiting and drug charges has led to the possible solving of a bank robbery that took place in downtown Sonoma in 2017.

A DNA match between the alleged perpetrator of the Florida crime and DNA evidence found following the Sept. 18, 2017 robbery of Umpqua Bank on West Napa Street has led to local charges against 32-year-old William Paul Brust of Pacifica.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office officials believe that it was Brust who, at around 10 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2017, entered the Umpqua Bank in the 100 block of West Napa Street wearing a gray wig, dark glasses and a black sweatshirt. According to Sheriff’s officials, Brust passed the teller a note demanding money. After receiving an undisclosed amount of money, he fled from the bank on foot and scaled a fence leading to the adjacent Best Western Motel and was able to flee.

Deputies from the Sonoma Police Department and Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office canvased the area, both on the ground and via helicopter, but were not able to locate the suspect.

During the follow-up investigation, a witness came forward saying he’d seen a man shedding clothing in the area of the Best Western and, as a result, deputies found the wig and sunglasses in a nearby garbage can at the motel. The detectives reported that they were able to obtain a DNA sample, but it didn’t match anyone in their DNA database.

At that time in 2017, the Umpqua robbery was the third bank robbery in Sonoma in a two-month period. The Rabobank on West Maple Street was robbed on July 25 and the Wells Fargo Bank on West Napa Street was robbed on Sept. 9. Suspects in both prior bank robberies were quickly apprehended. But the Umpqua robbery remained unsolved.

That is, until Feb. 6, 2019 when Sonoma law enforcement officials received notification of a DNA match in the Umpqua case with the arrest of Brust on counterfeiting and drug charges in Florida. Detectives followed up on the DNA lead and found that Brust was living in San Mateo County at the time of the Sonoma bank robbery. A previous San Mateo County Sheriff’s photo of Brust and the surveillance video taken from the Umpqua bank were compared and matched up.

Brust has been transferred to the San Francisco County Jail where he has charges pending for drugs and weapons, according to the Sonoma County Sherrif’s office. Sonoma County Sheriff’s detectives received a no-bail arrest warrant for Brust charging him with the 2017 Sonoma bank robbery. It is expected that he will be transported to Sonoma County once his legal issues in San Francisco are resolved.

“We want to extend a thank you to the Sonoma community,” said Sheriff’s office Public Information Officer Spencer Crum in announcing the arrest on Friday. “This is an excellent example of our alert residents working together with their police department to help solve violent crime and make our community safer.”

Email Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.

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