Guerneville River Park
SANTA ROSA – A recent community bulletin released by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a semi-clothed man with the aid of K9 unit near Guerneville.
On Thursday, January 7th, shortly before 9:30pm, a terrified woman called 911 and told emergency dispatch that a man was actively attempting to get into her home. She said that the man had tapped on her windows and then tried to open her doors. When she yelled at him, he ran and hid under the back stairs.
Resort on Neely Road
Deputies assigned to the River Substation arrived at her residence on Drake Road and found a man without pants in the woman’s backyard. When Deputies confronted him, the suspect ran off and then crawled into a drainage pipe.
Additional Deputies responding to the scene spotted the suspect outside a pipe in a culvert. They ordered him to stop but he jumped back into the water and swam across Pocket Canyon Creek near Guerneville River Park.
Shortly thereafter, he was seen holding onto a steep embankment. Deputies again ordered the man to climb out of the water but he again jumped back into the water and swam to the opposite side of the creek. He was last seen climbing up an embankment and fleeing into the dark of the woods.
Deputies later found the suspect hiding in a hollowed-out tree near a resort on Neely Road. He reportedly ignored repeated commands to surrender.
A K9 unit then dispatched “Falko,” who drug him out of the tree. The suspect continued to resist arrest and fight but was eventually secured in handcuffs and placed under arrest. One Deputy suffered an injury to his hand in the process.
The suspect was identified as Jeffrey Aaron Pate, a 34-year-old transient from Guerneville. He was taken to a local hospital for medical evaluation and was cleared to be taken into custody.
Pate was booked into jail for attempted burglary of an occupied residence, prowling, assaulting a peace officer, violently resisting arrest, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and violating probation. Pate’s bail was set at $41,000.
