Theft ?suspects face multiple felonies

An Antioch woman and a San Francisco man were arrested Sunday after deputies from the Sonoma Police Department, responding to a shoplifting in progress at the Safeway, discovered about $9,500 in purloined goods in the couple’s vehicle.

At about 9:30 p.m., the deputies were sent to the Safeway, at 477 W. Napa St., after a caller saw a theft in progress and provided a description of the woman and the vehicle to the dispatcher. When the deputy arrived, the witness told the deputy that the women drove away in a silver minivan.

A second deputy responding to the theft saw a silver minivan eastbound on West Napa Street about five blocks from Safeway. The deputy pulled over the minivan and contacted the occupants. The passenger was a woman matching the witness’ description and after she couldn’t provide any identification, she was detained.

Deputies saw several items of store merchandise in plain view inside the back of the minivan.

The witness was taken to the traffic stop and identified the woman as the suspect observed stealing several items of merchandise. The merchandise consisted of baby formula and multiple packages of over-the-counter medication that requires an ID to purchase.

During the investigation, deputies recovered more than 400 items of similar store merchandise believed to have been stolen from other Safeway’s in Napa County and Contra Costa County.

The value of the suspected stolen merchandise is approximately $9,500.

Deputies later determined the woman provided a false name to deputies at the scene. After they determined her actual identity, they discovered she had an outstanding arrest warrant in Napa County on a separate theft-related case.

Sonoma Police deputies arrested Ashley Chiane Easy, 23, from Antioch, and Julio Cesar Cuellar, 41, from San Francisco. Easy and Cuellar were arrested and booked into the Sonoma County jail on charges of felony burglary, felony possession of stolen property, and felony conspiracy. Easy was also charged with providing a false name to a peace officer. As of Tuesday afternoon, Easy was still in jail on $60,000 bail.