Car Thieves Get Stuck In Muddy Healdsburg Field: Sheriff's Office

HEALDSBURG, CA — Two suspected car thieves failed to make a clean getaway when they got stuck in the mud in Sonoma County wine country, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said.

The scene played out early Wednesday morning in northern Healdsburg when deputies responded to a report of trespassing at a property along Alexander Valley Road and found a Chevrolet SUV stuck in a mucky field.

"Along with the SUV were a pair of very muddy and wet people who had spent all night trying to dig the car out of the field," the sheriff's office said.

The couple told deputies they were heading from Bakersfield to Crescent City and pulled off the road during a rainstorm.

Deputies dug a little deeper and learned one of the suspects was on state parole for burglary. They also learned the car had been reported stolen out of Bakersfield.

The sheriff's office thanked Vino Farms for using its tractor to help deputies bring the stolen car to more solid ground.

When deputies searched the car and found multiple burglary tools, Kenneth James Johnson, 36, and Tyler Christine Kennedy, 27, both of Bakersfield, were arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail, the sheriff's office said.

Johnson was booked on suspicion of possession of burglary tools, car theft and violating his parole. He remained in custody as of Friday, according to Sonoma County jail records.

Kennedy has since been released from custody, jail records showed.