PETALUMA – On Christmas day, a man walking his dog saw a suspicious vehicle parked in his neighbor’s driveway. He observed the driver removing packages from his neighbor’s porch and putting them into his car. He recorded the license plate from the suspicious vehicle and notified Petaluma Police Department.
Preliminary checks for the vehicle in the vicinity of the theft and the neighborhood where the vehicle was registered were fruitless. However when officers returned hours later they found the suspect vehicle at the residence of its registered owner. As officers approached two men in the driveway, one of the men fled while the other was detained. The man who had run was discovered hiding in a shed in a year yard.
Officers searched the garage area of the home and located a pink motorized child’s car, as well as other items associated with the packaged thefts earlier in the morning. Other items from other thefts were also located including Christmas gifts and tools taken from other location(s). The Petaluma PD returned all recovered items to their owners.
The suspects were identified as 44-year-old Gregory Johnson and 36-year-old William Kirk Andrus, both of Petaluma. They were arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail. The grinches are facing charges of possession of stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest. Records show that both men have been in trouble before. Andrus was arrested in April on charges of threats of violence, and possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia. Johnson has had several arrests over the past five years, ranging from possession or a controlled substance and paraphernalia, to possession of stolen property, and false ID and a stolen ATM card.
Officers also took additional property for safekeeping when Johnson couldn’t explain how some items ended up in his house. Some of the recovered property included individually packaged and priced Christmas ornaments and decorations. Anyone able to provide additional victim information is asked to contact the Petaluma Police at (707) 778-4372.
