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Published on January 22, 2025
Suspect Charged in Series of Burglaries at Piner High School in Santa RosaSource: Santa Rosa Police Department

In a string of nighttime burglaries stretching back to the fall of 2024, Piner High School in Santa Rosa has been recurrently targeted by thieves, with the suspect liberating various school properties such as tablets, computers, and tools. Santa Rosa Police Department (SRPD) utilized surveillance footage to identify a person of interest but had not been able to gather enough evidence to make an arrest until recently. According to a social media post from Santa Rosa Police, the latest break-in on Monday saw further losses, including laptops and textbooks.

Campus surveillance has firmly identified Daniel Vanzant, a 52-year-old transient from Santa Rosa, as the culprit in the recent burglary; detectives had recognized him as the same individual involved in prior instances. Following the dissemination of Vanzant's information among the officers, patrol units could quickly locate and transport him to SRPD yesterday for questioning. Vanzant was found to have been regularly loitering on the campus after hours, and he partly disclosed potential locations of the hidden stolen property during the interrogation.

Vanzant has been arrested and charged with burglary and vandalism tied to three reported burglaries. However, a diligent search by detectives and the SRPD Downtown Enforcement Team could not recover the stolen goods at the locations provided by Vanzant, including Youth Community Park, which he mentioned might serve to conceal the items.