Crime & Safety
Federal Charges Filed In Petaluma Home-Invasion Robbery Case
The seven defendants were taken by federal authorities from Sonoma County Jail to San Francisco, their attorneys say.
SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The U.S. Attorney's Office will prosecute seven East Coast men on charges in connection with three home invasion robberies near Petaluma in March. The defendants were scheduled for a May 16 preliminary hearing in Sonoma County Superior Court, but they were taken by federal authorities from Sonoma County Jail to San Francisco, several of the defendants' attorneys said Wednesday morning before a preliminary hearing readiness conference.
Judge Robert LaForge granted a request from the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office to issue a warrant for the defendants' arrest and he set bail for each defendant at $1.4 million.
Deputy District Attorney Troye Shaffer said the prosecution's motion was procedural and retains the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office's jurisdiction to prosecute the defendants.
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"We're now second in line," Shaffer said.
The defendants were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, their Sonoma County defense attorneys said.
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The U.S. Marshals Service intends to take defendant Chrisshawn Denardray Beal, 20, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to the East Coast for prosecution on a warrant in that state, Shaffer said.
Sonoma County sheriff's officials said the defendants were looking for marijuana when they kicked down doors of three different homes in the 100 and 200 blocks of Eugenia Drive in unincorporated Sonoma County around 3 a.m. on March 12. None of the residences had marijuana.
At least one homeowner was tied up and reportedly pistol-whipped.
Four of the men were arrested after a pursuit into Novato, and three men were arrested when they tried to board a plane to the East Coast from San Francisco International Airport, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.
The seven men from North Carolina and Virginia were booked in Sonoma County Jail for robbery of an inhabited dwelling, burglary, false imprisonment, kidnapping and conspiracy.
The defendants are Beal, Ledarrell Javon Crockett, 28; and Jaray Day-Shawn Simmons, 20, of Winston-Salem, as well as Melvin Corbin, 19; Nakia Robert Lydell Jones, 22; Romello Shamar Jones, 20; and Siddiq Jafar Abdullah, 21, of Richmond, Virginia.
An eighth suspect, 20-year-old Jade Lafay Johnson, of Winston-Salem, was arrested March 15 in Winston-Salem. She was to be extradited to Sonoma County to face prosecution.
The Petaluma cases were the second marijuana-related home invasions in Sonoma County this year.
Three men from Mississippi, New York and Virginia and a Santa Rosa man were arrested and booked in Sonoma County Jail for two home invasion robberies, burglary and a murder during one of robberies on Feb. 8.
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Those defendants are Jonathan Christopher Jackson, 19, of Richmond Hill, New York; Tyrone McCrae, 25, of Jackson, Mississippi; David Ealey, 23, of Richmond, Virginia, and Mussie Himed, 28, of Santa Rosa.
Two of the four defendants are being examined to determine if they are mentally competent to participate in the criminal proceedings.
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