SANTA ROSA – The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) issued a Community Bulletin regarding the arrest of a wanted man with felony warrants.
On Friday night, September 18 at about 8:40 pm, a SCSO Property Crimes Investigations (PCI) Detective was working an overtime assignment patrolling Santa Rosa Avenue when he recognized a wanted person getting out of a Toyota SUV at a liquor store.
The man was well known to the PCI Detective, who had identified the same man during an auto burglary investigation two years prior. The detective had been looking for the man and he knew that he had two felony warrants out for his arrest. The man was Johnny Raymond Ware, a 44-year-old resident of Santa Rosa.
Ware had recently come to the attention of law enforcement after he was captured on surveillance photographs using a victim’s credit card that had been taken in an auto burglary at a California State Park.
Ware was arrested without incident, however it was soon discovered that the vehicle he was in had been reported stolen to the Santa Rosa Police Department. The plates on the Toyota SUV had been switched, and there was evidence located inside the vehicle linking Ware to several recent auto burglaries in Sonoma County. One of the recent victims was a Sonoma State University student who had documents and books stolen from her vehicle earlier in the day while she was at work.
According to available records going back to 2006 show that Johnny Ware was already on parole when he was arrested in March of that year for possession of burglary tools, theft of lost property, possession of a false government ID, a hypodermic needle, and violating the terms of his parole. The next year, in October of 2007 he was charged with burglary, possessing burglary tools, stolen property, a controlled substance, violating parole and driving on a suspended license.
Six years later, in August of 2013 he was arrested once again for burglary, vehicle burglary, burglary tools, and possession of an illegal billy club or blackjack type weapon. Then in December he was charged with possession of drugs while in jail or prison.
Ware was booked into Sonoma County Jail for possession of stolen property, possession of a stolen vehicle, theft with prior convictions and two warrants for violation of felony probation. He is being held without bail. This is an open and on-going investigation as more victims from other crimes are in the process of being contacted. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Investigation Unit encourages anyone with information about Ware to contact the Anonymous Tip Line at 707-565-2185.
