Sacramento Couple Arrested for Stealing 85 Bottles of Liquor from Bay Area Safeway Stores

The Sonoma Police Department Sunday arrested two Sacramento residents on suspicion of stealing 85 bottles of liquor worth $6,000 from four Safeway stores in the North Bay. Loss prevention officers from a Novato Safeway followed the theft suspects in their vehicle to Sonoma Sunday evening, Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett said.

The Novato store employees followed a male suspect as he entered the Safeway store in Sonoma and placed several liquor bottles in a backpack while a female suspect waited in the vehicle, Sackett said. The male suspect left without paying for the liquor and the couple drove away. They were followed by the loss prevention employees, who called Sonoma police around 6:30 p.m., Sackett said.

When Sonoma police deputies stopped the vehicle on Napa Road in east Napa, the suspects admitted they were in the Safeway, and a deputy saw the backpack on the floor of the car, Sackett said.
The deputy also smelled a strong odor of alcohol from a bottle that broke and leaked inside the backpack and on the male suspect's pants, Sackett said.

Deputies found 15 bottles of liquor in the backpack and 70 bottles of high-end liquor, some with electronic sensors still attached, in the trunk of the vehicle, Sackett said.

The liquor stolen from the Sonoma Safeway was worth $1,300. Liquor also was stolen from Safeway stores in Windsor and Petaluma, but 57 bottles could not be linked to a specific Safeway store, Sackett said. The total loss was $6,000 Sackett said.

Police arrested Matthew Robert Moore, 28, and Frankie D. Nicholls, 24, both of Sacramento. They were booked in the Sonoma County Jail for burglary, possession of stolen property and conspiracy. Moore also was booked for violating his Post Release Community Supervision. Sackett said the Safeway loss prevention officers were instrumental in solving the crime.

By Bay City News

Photo courtesy Renee Schiavone/ Patch