Would-be car thieves, take heed: If you’re planning on pilfering a vehicle, you might not want to target one that turns heads, tops out at 70 mph on the open road — or belongs to the U.S. military.
A California Army National Guard Humvee that was stolen in July was recovered Tuesday and returned to the government after a long pursuit through Sonoma County.
About 7 a.m., Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office deputies were sent to the 28000 block of State Highway 116 near Jenner to investigate reports of a man in a camouflage Humvee shooting into an unoccupied utility truck.
California Highway Patrol Officers soon found the military vehicle, which was taken from the armory in Santa Rosa, heading east on Bodega Highway just outside of Sebastopol and attempted to pull it over in the 900 block of Highway 116.
The driver, identified by the CHP as 34-year-old transient Anthony Stabile, allegedly refused to stop and led law enforcement on a chase that eventually ended on Old Redwood Highway near Hatchery Road after Petaluma police used spike strips to puncture the Humvee’s tires, according to the CHP.
Yes, despite their tough-as-nails reputation, Humvees still get around on good old-fashioned vulnerable rubber wheels.
Stabile was arrested on two outstanding misdemeanor warrants, driving on a suspended license and driving without an interlock device, and on suspicion of several felonies, including carrying a loaded firearm in public, shooting at an unoccupied vehicle, firing a gun from a vehicle, vandalism, unlawful possession of a gun, having a loaded unregistered gun, vehicle theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and evading.
He is being held on a roughly $1 million bail.
