On November 15, 2021, officers responded to a 911 call in the area of the Shamrock Shopping Center on Irwin Street in San Rafael.  Witnesses reported seeing a man forcibly take a woman’s purse and flee in a car toward Lincoln Avenue.  Officers located the victim, who suffered minor injuries during the incident. Officers interviewed additional witnesses and searched the area for surveillance cameras.  Later in the day, officers learned of fraudulent activity on the victim’s bank cards. 

Detectives worked diligently to obtain video surveillance from both the area where the crime occurred, and where transactions were made involving the victim’s bank cards.  Through a lengthy investigation, detectives traced the transactions and were able to identify a suspect through surveillance video as Luis Roberto Linarte, a 35-year-old resident of Sonoma, Ca. 

On February 22, 2022, Detectives served a search warrant at Linarte’s residence in the town of Sonoma, Ca.  Linarte was taken into custody and booked at the Marin County Jail for robbery, obtain credit/use other’s identification, and theft/using an access card without consent.  Linarte was also held on a violation of parole by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

This case was largely solved through investigative leads as well as witnesses who called 911 during the crime.  The SRPD would like to thank everyone who called 911 as well as the allied agencies who assisted with this investigation.