Ex-Felon Found Sleeping in Child's Bed With Shotgun, Ammunition

An ex-felon in possession of a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition was arrested after police found the Rohnert Park man dozing in a child's bed in a Petaluma home where officers responded to a reported home invasion robbery  Wednesday, police said.

Officers responded to a report of the robbery in progress at a  home on Trellis Lane. Arriving officers contacted the homeowner at a
neighbor's home, and the victim said that several suspects had entered her home and broken several doors open.

According to the victim, one of the suspects was armed with a shotgun during the home invasion robbery. The victim told police she believed one of the suspects was still inside at the time she was contacted.

Police said that officers conducted a check of the home and located Allen Stankas, 23, in what appeared to be a children's bedroom where
Stankas was apparently sleeping.

Officers woke up Stankas and then allegedly located a loaded sawed -off shotgun wrapped in a jacket by the bed and a shotgun shell in  Stankas' pants pocket, police said.

Officers failed to locate any other suspects in the home, and upon
re-interviewing the victim -- who said Stankas was not one of the suspects -- she recanted that the event had ever taken place, police said.

Police could not locate any witnesses to confirm that a disturbance had occurred at the home. Stankas is an ex-felon and cannot possess firearms or ammunition. He was booked into Sonoma County Jail.

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