Burglary Suspects Carrying a 40-Pound Safe Chased Down

A Novato man whose home was burglarized earlier this week decided to lock up valuables in a wall-mounted safe in his home — only to have the safe stolen a day later.

There's a happy ending to the story, though: said two suspects were arrested Wednesday afternoon shortly somebody reported seeing them carrying a safe in some undeveloped land in the Pointe Marin neighborhood of Ignacio.

After a 15-minute pursuit on in patrol cars and on foot, officers arrested 19-year-old Rahman Romero Merz and a 17-year-old boy, both from Novato, as suspects in a burglary from a home in the 1200 block of Highland Drive, Lt. Keith Heiden said.

Twelve officers were involved in the arrests, which culminated with the handcuffing of the suspects near the south end of Cambridge Street, near . Sgt. Sasha D'Amico said three of the responding patrol cars had an officer and a trainee resulting in a larger response than usual.

Heiden said the owner of the safe did not report the first burglary; it was not released what was taken during that incident. Wednesday morning, the man found that his safe was stolen and called police.

At about 1:45 p.m., a resident reported seeing two people carrying a safe in an open space area off Highland Drive, and an officer spotted them a few minutes later. They were later described as 5-foot-7 and 140 and 130 pounds, respectively, so they were sharing the load and carrying the safe together.

When the suspects saw the pursuing officer, they dropped the safe — roughly a 2-foot cube weighing an estimated 40 pounds — and fled through open space and the yards of private residences, Heiden said.

Officers flushed out the suspects near the church, about a quarter mile to the north of the burglarized home, Heiden said. The suspects were arrested shortly after 2 p.m. a few minutes apart, and the safe was recovered and kept as evidence. Detectives have since linked the two to other residential burglaries in Novato, Heiden said.

Merz, faces felony charges of burglary, conspiracy and receiving stolen property plus a misdemeanor of obstruction of justice/resisting arrest, according to the Marin County Jail booking log. The boy was taken to Marin County Juvenile Hall and faces similar charges.

D'Amico said the incident didn't affect traffic in the area or cause a major disturbance to the residents.