Pantless Intruder Caught In Hollowed-Out Sonoma Tree After Wild Chase

GUERNEVILLE - A 34-year-old man who wore no pants led officers from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on a wild chase Thursday, ultimately swimming across Pocket Canyon Creek before being caught in a hollowed-out tree on Neely Road by a K9 dog.

According to a report filed by the department, the Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at about 9:23 p.m. from a woman reporting a man trying to break into her home.

The report said she was terrified as a man - identified as Jeffrey Aaron Pate, a transient from Guerneville - tapped on her windows and tried to open her doors. The woman yelled at the intruder as he hid under her back stairs.

The Sheriff’s Office says deputies from the River substation responded to the home on Drake Road extension. They contacted the woman and soon found a man without pants in the backyard.

As the deputies confronted him, the man allegedly ran and crawled into a drainage pipe.

Responding deputies next spotted him outside the pipe in a culvert. They shouted to him to stop, but instead the suspect jumped into the water.

Authorities say he swam across Pocket Canyon Creek near Guerneville River Park, and was soon seen holding on to the steep embankment.

Deputies ordered him to climb up, but he jumped back into the creek and swam to the other side. He and was last seen climbing the embankment whereupon he fled into the dark woods.

As the search continued, deputies were able find the man hiding in a hollowed-out tree behind some large pieces of wood, near a resort on Neely Road.

In the dark, deputies say the man did not respond and comply with repeated commands to surrender.

After several warnings, the department’s K9 Deputy sent his dog, ‘Falko’.

Falko contacted the man and dragged him out of the tree.

The Sheriff’s Office says while attempting to take the man into custody, he violently resisted and fought with deputies. They were eventually able to secure him in handcuffs and placed him under arrest.

One deputy suffered an injury to his hand during the assault.

Pate was transported to a local hospital to evaluate any injuries and was cleared for custody.

Jeffrey Aaron Pate was booked into jail for attempted burglary of an occupied house, prowling, assaulting a peace officer, violently resisting arrest, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and violation of probation.

Pate’s bail was set at $41,000 and he is scheduled to appear before a judge on January 11, 2016 at 1:30 p.m.