Legal pot grows are nice and friendly alert – Man in custody after a marijuana robbery

With the assistance of a Santa Rosa Police Officer, deputies arrested Jesse Covarrubias, 29 years old, Delano for robbery, burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime.

On October 22 at approximately 2:12 AM, three people confronted a security guard at a marijuana grow located in a barn in the 2400 block of River Road. All suspects had handguns and ordered the security guard onto the ground. They took his cell phones but did not hurt him. They loaded approximately 100 pounds of marijuana into one of two cars and drove away. One of the suspects, later identified as Covarrubias, drove away in a dark sedan.  A “be on the lookout” was issued so that local peace officers were aware of the situation. The other two suspects fled the scene in a dark colored sedan.

A Santa Rosa Police officer was in the area of River Road at Highway 101 when he observed a dark vehicle driving erratically and make a U-turn in front of Sutter Hospital. The officer followed the car westbound on River Road onto southbound Highway 101.  When the car came into his view again, he noticed it had pulled over onto the right hand shoulder of southbound Highway 101 just past the on ramp. The driver, Covarrubias, was standing outside the car and taken into custody without incident. Covarrubias had marijuana debris on his clothing.

Detectives are continuing to follow leads in this case to identify the additional two suspects that fled the scene.

Covarrubias was booked into the Sonoma County jail on felony charges of robbery, burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime. He is being held on $70,000 bail.

Prepared by Sergeant Juan Valencia, Public Information Officer
Case No. 191022-002
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