More Fire Evacuees, Petaluma Residents Victimized By Alleged Thief: Police

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – A Petaluma woman who was arrested earlier this week for allegedly stealing and using credit cards and checks belonging not only to Petaluma residents but also Santa Rosa fire evacuees staying in Petaluma emergency shelters has been re-arrested on additional charges. Katie Maureen Lehnhard, 31, was initially arrested Monday and jailed on suspicion of mail theft, forgery and fraud.

Petaluma began looking into the thefts when a victim reported a personal check written out to a Petaluma homeless shelter had cleared her bank account. Petaluma police Sgt. Lance Novello said that based on information from the cancelled check, the victim was able to provide police with a potential suspect: Lehnhard.

When police contacted Lehnhard, they learned she had an arrest warrant and was on active probation — allowing them to conduct a probation search. Police allegedly found Lehnhard with credit cards, IDs and checkbooks belonging to the reporting victim, other recent Santa Rosa fire evacuees staying in Petaluma evacuation centers, and Petaluma residents, Novello said.

Along with mail theft, police suspected the items were possibly related to thefts from vehicles, some of which were left behind in burned out neighborhoods, Novello said.

Lehnhard was arrested at noon Monday and booked into the Sonoma County Jail but was later released from custody.

Petaluma police continued their investigation, however, and identified two additional victims in Santa Rosa and three in Petaluma, Novello said.

Wednesday, police located Lehnhard in Petaluma. She was re-arrested and booked back into jail on suspicion of three counts of misdemeanor misappropriation of property, two counts of misdemeanor theft by unauthorized credit card use, two counts of felony burglary and five counts of probation violation.

According to jail records, Lehnhard is being held on $104,000 bail and is due in court Friday.

Photo via Petaluma Police Department