March 27--A 27-year-old Santa Rosa man with a history of theft is suspected of stealing a truck last weekend with a sleeping toddler inside, police said Tuesday.
Adam Paoli was arrested Sunday on unrelated parole violations one day after the truck was driven away from a Santa Rosa apartment complex.
Paoli hasn't yet been arrested in connection with the case, Sgt. Mike Lazzarini said. Sonoma County District Attorney's Office prosecutors will decide whether to charge him.
"They'll take all facts into consideration, all the way from auto theft to potential kidnapping charges," Lazzarini said.
The truck had been left running by its owner, who had just strapped his 2-year-old son into a car seat and briefly stepped away from the vehicle. The thief abandoned the truck several blocks away outside an apartment complex on Tachevah Drive near Bethards Drive.
Police withheld the name of the father. Lazzarini said it would not be released until charges are filed in the case.
Two days earlier, Paoli led sheriff's deputies on a short foot chase in Penngrove and was arrested, Lt. Glenn Lawrence said. He was booked into Sonoma County Jail late Thursday on suspicion of parole violations and was later released.
Paoli was on parole for a prior conviction of evading police. In 2004, Rohnert Park police arrested Paoli after he blew through a stop sign in a vehicle without license plates, crashed the car into an apartment building and led police on a chase before being apprehended at gunpoint.
On Sunday, as Santa Rosa detectives worked to link him to the stolen pickup, sheriff's deputies arrested him again after Paoli encountered law enforcement on Chester Drive off Petaluma Hill Road, Lawrence said. Paoli, who as a parolee can be searched without cause, had a clear glass pipe in his possession and was arrested on suspicion of parole violations, Lawrence said.
This time, he's being held without bail.
Paoli also is awaiting trial for driving a stolen Honda and other theft-related charges after he led police on a dramatic chase around the Sonoma Plaza last November.
Paoli is accused of driving recklessly around the plaza and tossing purses and other reportedly stolen items from the car windows as he was being pursued. His trial is set to begin May 11.
Copyright 2012 - The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
