The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) issued a Community Bulletin about the arrest of a 42-year-old Rio Nido man for a home burglary. Rio Nido is a small community west of Santa Rosa near Guerneville in the Russian River area of West County.
At approximately 3:00 pm on Tuesday, October 6, the SCSO River Substation Deputies were dispatched to a home on Rio Nido Road. An elderly couple has owned the property since the 1940s. They use the house as a vacation home, and have never had any crime related incidents over the seventy years they have had the property.
When the victims arrived at the house, they soon discovered that it had been burglarized. They found broken windows, damaged doors, and the house completely ransacked. Almost every room in the home was in complete disarray. Open food items were found strewn about and numerous empty bottles of alcoholic beverages were scattered all over the floors. Most anything of monetary and sentimental value was missing.
Rio Nido Road is a mostly one-lane road that winds through the redwood trees and properties in the Russian River area.
Most notably missing were dozens of boxes of unopened Star Wars collectables. The memorabilia was unique and of considerable value. The Patrol Deputies requested that Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) and Property Crimes Detectives respond to the scene.
When detectives arrived, CSI began to process the victims’ home for evidence. The Property Crimes Detectives canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. While the detectives were walking about the neighborhood they saw an empty Star Wars box in front of a home on Rio Nido Road, not very far from the victims’ home.
Detectives contacted Dennis Hickox at his residence and inquired about the empty box in his front yard. Detectives searched inside the house and found most of the victims’ stolen property.
Hickox cooperated with the detectives and assisted in the recovery of the victims’ stolen property, which included furniture, paintings, clothing, rugs, tools, records, and the impressive Star Wars collection. The property was inventoried, photographed and returned to the victims.
Hickox was arrested and transported to the Sonoma County jail where he was booked for burglary and possession of stolen property. His bail was set at $40,000 and is scheduled to appear on October 8th at 1:30.
Hickox’s past includes at least one other arrest for burglary, in July of 2010. He was also in possession of a dangerous weapon at the time. Since then, he has been arrested several times on drug charges and outstanding warrants.
