A manhunt is being conducted by police in Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties for a man suspected of several March 31 vehicle burglaries in Ben Lomond.
The suspect, Dimitri Storm, is wanted in connection to a series of crimes across both counties that include allegedly assaulting and threatening police officers, resisting arrest, stealing six vehicles, brandishing a firearm, multiple burglaries of vehicles and homes, leading police on a high-speed chase.
“He has been on a rampage,” said Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Deputy April Skalland. “We believe he is still out there and we don’t know where he is.”
Storm — described as a white male who is about 5-feet, 9-inches tall with a small beard — is believed to be somewhere in Sonoma County, Skalland said.
He is suspected of burglarizing numerous places, and Skalland said he allegedly switches license plates of vehicles he has stolen.
On March 31 and April 1, the sheriff’s department believes Storm burglarized numerous vehicles in Ben Lomond. One homeowner captured security footage of a man who matches Storm’s description rifling through a parked vehicle.
At about 12:30 p.m. April 2, a homeowner on Chardonnay Road in Santa Cruz returned home and found a man exiting his house with a gym bag. The man allegedly pointed a handgun at the victim, dropped the gym bag and escaped in a silver Lexus.
The man reportedly evaded a police perimeter by allegedly stealing a 1997 light blue Ford Explorer from a house on Hall Ranch Road.
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department deputies on April 5 tracked a man they believe is Storm using the OnStar system in a vehicle that was allegedly stolen from a home in Windsor. They attempted to apprehend him on a dead-end road in Petaluma, but the man fought with attempts to stun him and allegedly slammed a deputy’s arm in a vehicle door before speeding away.
Deputies and officers from other agencies chased the suspect for 90 minutes before they ended the pursuit in heavy commuter traffic in the town of Fairfax.
A few hours later, a Fairfax police officer spotted a man believed to be Storm on foot. The man threw a backpack containing numerous allegedly stolen items into a creek as he escaped into the brush. Among the items in the backpack were items that had reportedly been stolen from the vehicles in Ben Lomond.
On April 6, another vehicle was reported stolen from a home in nearby San Geronimo, a crime authorities believe is also connected to Storm.
According to Detective Sgt. Mike Raasch of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, Storm is considered armed and dangerous. Investigators also believe he might have shaved to change his appearance.
“So far, he hasn’t hurt anyone,” Raasch said Tuesday. “But he seems to be very desperate to get away, and that could be pretty dangerous.”
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