Locals arrested in drug robbery

Two men are behind bars this week and face charges that they
robbed two others at gunpoint of an undisclosed amount of
marijuana, according to Windsor Police Chief Chris Spallino.
On Monday, Oct. 4 Windsor deputies received a report of a drug
deal went bad on Johnson Street and Bell streets with two men
claiming to be victims or two others who had robbed them instead of
buying marijuana.
“They made an arrangement for a drug deal,” said Spallino. “When
the prospective buyers showed up they pulled a firearm on the
victims and struck one of the victims in the head with a
firearm.”
The armed robbers were later arrested in Santa Rosa and named as
Placido Ruiz Sanchez, 22, of Santa Rosa and Jesus Gomez, 19, of
Santa Rosa. Sanchez was arrested by the Santa Rosa Police
Department during a traffic stop on Cleveland Avenue and Steele
Lane on Oct. 5 and Gomez was arrested by detectives during a
vehicle stop on Hearn Avenue on Oct. 7.
Spallino said officers obtained search warrants and discovered a
semi-automatic handgun at Sanchez’s home and another handgun and
marijuana at Gomez’s home.
The Sonoma County District Attorney’s office will ultimately
decide what to charge the two suspects with, but the two could face
charges of kidnapping, robbery, assault with a firearm on person
and threatening crime with intent to terrorize.
Spallino couldn’t say whether the DA would charge the two
victims in the incident who admitted to selling drugs on the
street. Despite the odd nature of the report, Spallino said any
victim of a violent crime should report the incident to police.
“Our first priority is going to be the violent crime,” he said.
“It’s a greater risk to the community when someone is willing to
take property by force.”
Home invasions, robberies and thefts of marijuana continue to
make headlines in Sonoma County in 2010. On Monday the Santa Rosa
Police Department was called to a Santa Rosa dwelling after three
men allegedly robbed the inhabitants of marijuana in a home
invasion.
Police officials say that marijuana grows in residential areas
can attract crime to neighborhoods—even to those growers producing
marijuana for medicinal uses. “It’s been more of a problem,” said
Spallino. “They’ve been increasing over recent years with
marijuana.”
Legal or not, marijuana—and the cash that can sometimes
accompany it by those growing it—can make for an attractive
target.
“When these activities are going on in houses in residential
areas, they’re not as veiled in secrecy as a methamphetamine
operation,” said Spallino. “There are some legit medical marijuana
grows where people are growing for medical clinics, and they’re a
little bit more likely to be discovered by the criminals.”