SANTA ROSA – According to a Community Bulletin issued by the California Highway Patrol, a CHP Officer patrolling southbound Highway 101 saw a speeding 2003 Acura MDX at approximately 11 pm Tuesday, December 1st.
The vehicle was traveling at 85 mph when the officer began an enforcement stop. The driver yielded and pulled up to the right shoulder of the roadway, when the car’s passenger ran from the vehicle. The officer ordered the man to stop, and broadcast that he had the driver at gunpoint with the passenger fleeing on foot. The driver was taken into custody without further incident.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as 24-year-old Robert Sanders of Lakeport. He claimed that he had met the passenger in Ukiah and agreed to drive him to San Francisco so that he could teach him how to be a successful pan-handler. The young man had asked Sanders to drive his car because he was high on methamphetamine and thought he should not drive. Sanders agreed to do so.
Garrett Cole Skuster – image Facebook
The Acura had been reported stolen out of Salt Lake City. Sanders was arrested for vehicle theft, possession of stolen property and driving with a suspended license. During a search of the area, a jacket was found near a barbed wire fence between the freeway and Stony Point Road. The jacket contained a Utah driver’s license belonging to Garrett Cole Skuster, a 19-year-old resident of Salt Lake City. Sanders confirmed that Skuster was the passenger that had fled the scene. Skuster was found to be wanted out of Utah for vehicle theft.
Skuster had also been arrested in Salt Lake City on October 12 and charged with possession of marijuana and a controlled substance for distribution, drug paraphernalia, and giving false information to an officer. Just three weeks prior to that, they had arrested him for possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia.
Additional units, including a CHP helicopter, responded to the Santa Rosa area search. Despite the quick response of multiple units searching the location, Skuster was not located. The search was called off at 1:30 am. Local law enforcement has been notified of the identity and description of the outstanding suspect.
