Sonoma County Transient Suspected of Rohnert Park Mail Theft

ROHNERT PARK, CA -- A transient who was arrested in Sonoma County for numerous offenses, including check fraud, stands accused of committing mail theft in numerous cities, including Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Petaluma, sheriff's officials said.

On Friday, Feb. 3, sheriff's deputies received a theft report in the Penngrove area. According to the sheriff's office, the victim said that a check was stolen from his mailbox and then cashed at a store on Santa Rosa Avenue.

An investigation led to the arrest of 25-year-old Hector Ivan Rios-Santillan, a Santa Rosa-area transient. He was taken into custody on suspicion of burglary, check fraud, possession of stolen property and multiple probation violations. He's suspected of committing mailbox thefts in the rural Petaluma and Penngrove areas, sheriff's officials said.

Five days before he was arrested by the Sonoma County deputies, Rios-Santillan was arrested by the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety on suspicion of committing similar offenses.

Evidence from the Jan. 29 investigation aided Sonoma County sheriff's investigators in linking Rios-Santillan to the Feb. 3 theft report.

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