Full Notification

On June 20, 2015, at 1047 hours, the Sheriff’s Office received a report that the victim of a previous scooter theft had located her stolen scooter in the bed of a UHAUL pickup truck in the parking lot of Safeway, 16405 Highway 116, in Guerneville.

After being confronted by the victim, the driver of the UHAUL, later identified as suspect Kristy Chavez (age 31), fled the scene of the Safeway parking lot at a high rate of speed in the UHAUL truck.

A Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy arrived in the area and drove westbound on 1st Street towards the Safeway parking lot. The deputy saw the UHAUL drive past him eastbound, at a high rate of speed, towards the Guerneville Plaza. The deputy turned his vehicle around, activated his emergency lights and siren, and attempted to catch up to the fleeing UHAUL. Approximately two blocks away from Safeway, the UHAUL crashed into a parked car at the intersection of 1st Street and Main Street in downtown Guerneville. The impact of the collision pushed the parked car onto a curb, and into a second parked car, which pinned a citizen between the two vehicles.

Numerous bystanders and citizens assisted the Sheriff’s Deputy, along with second Sheriff’s Deputy, in physically moving one of the parked cars enough to extract the citizen who had been pinned between the vehicles.

The citizen was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The suspect, Chavez, was arrested, and booked at the Sonoma County Jail, for possession of stolen property, felony evading, and for an outstanding warrant from the California Department of Corrections.


Press Release Prepared by:
Greg Miller, Lieutenant, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, 565-3941
Crime Report Number; SCY-150620-009