Rohnert Park Man Suspected In 'Numerous' Car Burglaries: Police

ROHNERT PARK, CA — A Rohnert Park man was arrested early Friday in connection with several recent car break-ins in the city, police said.

Just before 4:30 a.m. Friday, a resident called police to report that a man was riding a bicycle slowly down a street in the G Section while looking into cars.

The caller said the man was last seen in Golis Park.

Rohnert Park Public Safety Lt. Jeff Justice said the caller's description of the suspect was similar to that of a suspect Rohnert Park police were looking for in connection with numerous recent car burglaries and thefts from cars in neighborhoods at the north end of the city,

When officers spotted the suspect in the park early Friday, he rode off on the bicycle but dropped the upper receiver of an AR-15 rifle, Justice said.

The suspect, identified by police as 34-year-old Joseph Ferretti, was then found hiding in a culvert on the former campus of Gold Ridge Elementary School.

"The AR-15 receiver and other property found was determined to have been stolen from vehicles in the area," Justice said.

Police also identified Ferretti as the suspect an officer saw near a stolen car early Thursday morning in the M Section of the city.

The officer was investigating thefts and burglaries that had just taken place in the area; when the officer saw the car parked along a street, the driver was gone but numerous items stolen during burglaries and thefts in Rohnert Park and Santa were found inside the car, Justice said.

"The car Ferretti fled from had been reported stolen out of Novato," Justice said.

"Ferretti was out on bail for a felony Possession of Stolen Property, and he was booked into the Sonoma County Jail for committing a felony while out on bail as well as numerous charges related to the all of the thefts and burglaries that he had been connected to," Justice said.

When Rohnert Park detectives and officers served a search warrant at Ferretti’s Rohnert Park home, they found multiple stolen items, including a shotgun, identification and credit cards, and other personal property stolen from cars in Rohnert Park, the lieutenant said.

The case prompted Rohnert Park Public Safety to remind community members to not leave valuable items, or anything else that may tempt thieves, in their cars.