DNA Links Homeless Man To Sonoma Co. Bank Robbery: Sheriff's Office

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- Officials with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that DNA evidence has linked a 28-year-old homeless man to an alleged bank robbery that occurred in November 2016 in Santa Rosa.

Cesar Garcia Arista, a known transient who authorities say has an extensive criminal history throughout California, is believed to be responsible for walking into the Exchange Bank branch at Sebastopol Road and Dutton Avenue at 1 p.m. Nov. 21, 2016, and demanding money from a teller at gunpoint. The teller gave the robber, who wore dark clothing and a bandana over his face, an undisclosed amount of cash but was also able to give him a dye pack that exploded shortly after he left the bank, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

The day of the incident, the suspect was seen running northbound through a parking lot in the 500 block of Sebastopol Road, toward the Joe Radota bike trail, Crum said.

"In this area, detectives found a beanie cap and bandana," Crum said. "During the course of the subsequent investigation, detectives submitted these items to the State Department of Justice Criminal Forensics Laboratory for DNA analysis."

On June 6, nearly seven months after the robbery, detectives with the sheriff's Violent Crimes Unit received notice that there was a positive DNA match to Arista, who is currently being held in a San Bernardino County jail in connection with an armed carjacking, Crum said.

Additionally, Crum said Arista is being investigated in connection with two armed bank robberies in Southern California.

The sheriff's detectives assigned to the Santa Rosa investigation, however, have secured a $2-million warrant for Arista's arrest and are awaiting his transfer to Sonoma County pending the matters in Southern California, Crum said.

Image via Sonoma County Sheriff's Office