In a recent crackdown by Santa Rosa police, an incidental investigation into a trailer theft spiraled into a major bust involving illegal firearms and drug manufacturing, culminating in the arrest of 37-year-old Tim Berman, a convicted felon. Santa Rosa Police disclosed that the stolen utility trailer, swiped from a local jobsite, was recovered in the 3500 block of Yale Drive.
The incident unfolded on Monday when company employees returned to work to find their trailer missing, but their tracking led to the recovery. Once the Santa Rosa Police Department officers arrived on the scene, they found items from the stolen trailer in the backyard of an adjacent residence; these discoveries prompted detectives from the Property Crimes Investigations Team to take over the case, initiating a series of events that led to Berman's residence on Candace Avenue. Surveillance footage and witness testimonials bolstered the case against Berman, culminating in a search warrant for his vehicle and home.
According to the Santa Rosa Police Department's social media post, an ensuing traffic stop on Hahman Drive and Montgomery Drive yesterday correlated with interviews of two subjects connected to the initial trailer theft, who turned out to be witnesses; although they denied involvement, their connection to the theft remains subject to ongoing inquiries.
Upon executing the search warrant at Berman's domicile later that afternoon, detectives encountered a horde of illegal paraphernalia spread throughout the living room, bedroom, and garage, it was here they unearthed evidence of a makeshift firearms lab and the illegal production of N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a Schedule I hallucinogen, alongside evidence of methamphetamine intended for sale, personal identifying information likely for identity theft, and a stolen motorcycle were also found nestled among children's toys and unsecured weapons. Berman now faces multiple charges, including felon in possession of a firearm and manufacture of a controlled substance. He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail, with a bail enhancement set by a county judge amounting to $500,000.
