Shawn Naputi faced 56 felony theft charges for more than 80 crimes from October 2023 to May 2025; arrested 16 times since 2021 for violent crimes, multiple counts of theft
By Allen D. Payton
According to the Sonoma County Office of the District Attorney, on May 8, 2024, Shawn Andre Naputi walked into the Friedman’s Home Improvement store on Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa, filled a trash can with more than $2,400 worth of Friedman’s merchandise, and headed for the exit. A sharp-eyed Friedman’s employee recognized Mr. Naputi and his vehicle from prior Friedman’s thefts and called the police. When employees started observing Mr. Naputi inside the store and Sonoma County Sheriff deputies arrived outside, Mr. Naputi abandoned the trashcan full of merchandise and walked out of the store. Sheriff Deputies spoke to the Friedman’s employees and connected Mr. Naputi to seven (7) other Friedman’s thefts, dating back to January 2024.
Once the case was referred to the District Attorney’s Office, it was forwarded to the Organized Retail Theft Unit. The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office has been awarded grant funding from the State of California’s Organized Retail Theft Grant Program, administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), to combat organized retail theft. The grant funds are used by the office to establish a dedicated prosecutor and investigator focused on ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable by identifying gaps in the system and improving cooperation with retail operators and local law enforcement.
When the District Attorney’s Organized Retail Theft Unit started looking into prior Sonoma County thefts and speaking to counterparts in nearby counties, only then did the true breadth of Mr. Naputi’s criminal conduct become clear. Between October 6, 2023, and May 22, 2025, Mr. Naputi committed more than eighty (80) separate instances of theft from Bay Area retailers. The combined loss to these retailers, including Best Buy, Boot Barn, REI, Friedman’s Home Improvement, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kohls, Lowes, and The Home Depot, was more than $80,000. The crimes occurred in Contra Costa County, Alameda County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Sacramento County, Solano County, Placer County, San Francisco County, Yolo County, Marin County, and Sonoma County.
Without naming Naputi, the Vallejo Police Department reported that on May 21, 2025, a repeat thief was arrested after burglarizing a business. Officers assigned to the Vallejo Police Department Patrol Division responded to a call regarding a suspect wanted in connection with a burglary on the 1300 block of Tennessee Street.
The property owner reported having surveillance footage from May 20 showing a male suspect breaking into the business, ransacking the location, and leaving with multiple items, including professionally graded equipment. The suspect also caused approximately $500 in damage to the business.
The following morning, the business owner was alerted by her surveillance system that the thief had returned to the property. She drove to the location and confronted him. The thief was still in possession of her stolen equipment bag. She took her bag back and the thief fled on foot.
Later that day, the thief was observed loitering near a business on the 400 block of Broadway Street. Officers quickly detained the thief without incident. A records check revealed he was on felony probation out of Solano County for vehicle theft. He also had two outstanding arrest warrants related to stealing a dog, stealing another vehicle and initiating a pursuit in Vallejo.
A probation search revealed he had a glass-shattering tool commonly used to commit burglaries. After being Mirandized, the suspect admitted to the burglary, stating he needed to get out of the sun.
The thief was subsequently booked into the Solano County Jail on multiple charges, including burglary, probation violations and outstanding warrants.
About the sentencing, Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez stated, “This case exemplifies the very reason that Proposition 36 was passed by the voters, to stop prolific thieves that repeatedly victimize our communities’ businesses which previously, under Proposition 47, provided little accountability and few consequences for retail theft.” The Naputi case “further highlights the impact of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Organized Retail Theft Unit whose primary mission is to change expectations of criminal defendants, the public, and the criminal justice system by ensuring that there will be significant consequences if these crimes are committed in Sonoma County.”
Taking advantage of legislation passed under the recent Proposition 36 and designed to combat organized retail theft, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office assumed jurisdiction from the affected counties to prosecute all crimes under one criminal complaint. With jurisdictional approval in hand, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office filed an amended felony complaint charging Mr. Naputi with fifty-six (56) felony theft charges capturing his crime spree between October 2023 and May 2025.
On November 12, 2025, Defendant Naputi plead no-contest to six (6) felony theft charges in exchange for a prison term of 5 years and 4 months. Two years of that term will be served in actual custody, with the balance on Mandatory Supervision. On January 7, 2026, Defendant was sentenced to that term and agreed to several Organized Retail Theft Restraining Orders under the new Penal Code section 490.8. Defendant Naputi also agreed to $83,093.64 in restitution.
According to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, he is 43 years old, was booked on May 28, 2025, and is being held in the Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa.
According to localcrimenews.com, the five-foot, nine-inch tall, 200-pound Naputi is Hispanic and has been arrested 16 times since 2021 by multiple agencies including Richmond PD, El Cerrito PD, Emeryville PD, Vallejo PD, San Rafael PD, Daly City PD, Sunnyvale PD, Contra Costa CHP, and the Contra Costa County and Solano County Sheriff’s Departments. He was charged with crimes including Assault with a Deadly Weapon or Assault with Force Likely to Produce Great Bodily Harm, Inflicting Corporal Injury on a Spouse/Cohabitant, Organized Retail Theft, Grand Theft, Burglary, Petty Theft, Obtaining property by theft where value exceeds $950, Shoplifting Not to Exceed $950, Taking a Vehicle without Owner’s Consent, Receiving/Etc. Known Stolen Property Over $200, Vandalism, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Narcotic Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
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