Man Arrested On Sex Assault Charge After Standoff With Rohnert Park Police

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – A 45-year-old Rohnert Park man was arrested today after his estranged wife accused him of sexual assault and an hour-plus standoff with officers at an apartment complex, police said.

The female went today at approximately 12 noon to the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety to report her estranged husband, Rigoberto Garcia-Vallarta, had sexually assaulted her at 4 a.m., the department said.

Detectives were told Garcia-Vallarta, possibly armed with a rifle and threatening his life, was in his vehicle at an apartment complex on the 6900 block of Commerce Boulevard.

Arriving officers did, indeed, find the man inside his car parked in a carport and called him asking him to surrender, police said.

As officers waited, a white sedan pulled up and Garcia-Vallarta walked to the car and talked with the male driver. After spotting the police nearby, however, he ran into his apartment, police said.

Officers learned two people also were inside the apartment, and it was unknown if he had more weapons, so police closed in on the unit and set up a perimeter, while trying to contact Garcia-Vallarta on his cell phone, via a public-address system and on a landline with no results, the agency said.

Police made cell-phone contact with the two inside the apartment with Garcia-Vallarta, and they did exit safely, the department said.

After an hour and 15 minutes, Garcia-Vallarta came out of the unit and surrendered unarmed, police said, adding that an unloaded rifle was recovered from the floor of his vehicle. No other weapons were located.

Garcia-Vallarta was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of felony sodomy, police said.

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