Full Notification

On Wednesday, November 9th, a victim reported to the Sebastopol Police Department that his 2003 BMW X5 was stolen from the Sebastopol City Plaza, where he had previously parked it. At that time, there were no leads available and no suspect had been identified.

Today, on November 15th, a Sebastopol resident called the Sebastopol Police Department to report a suspicious vehicle parked on Golden Ridge Avenue. Upon arrival, the Sebastopol Police Department conducted a records check on the vehicle and discovered that it was the aforementioned stolen vehicle.

The responding Officer noticed that property located within the vehicle was familiar to him. Based on his knowledge of several local transients, he believed the property belonged to one in particular, Chester Evan Smith, age 49, of Sebastopol.

Officers later located Smith at the Sebastopol City Plaza. Upon being interviewed, Smith admitted to stealing the vehicle and corroborated physical evidence related to the investigation that only the suspect could know. This included the fact that Smith had driven the vehicle to an unknown location and crashed it an unknown number of times, causing major damage.

Smith was arrested for Felony Vehicle Theft and Felony Possession of a Stolen Vehicle and booked into the Sonoma County jail.