Detectives arrest suspect in Richmond after two North Bay gas station robberies

A man suspected of robbing a gas station Saturday in Petaluma was arrested Wednesday moments after he allegedly robbed a second station in San Rafael, Petaluma police said.

A news release from police alleges that a 43-year-old Petaluma man robbed two gas stations.

The first incident was at a gas station in the 2600 block of Lakeville Highway in Petaluma of cash and lottery tickets. Investigators used images from the station’s surveillance cameras to identify the suspect, whose identity was confirmed by California’s Division of Adult Parole Operations.

As police tried Wednesday at about 2:45 p.m. to contact the man at his job in San Rafael, a report came in of a similar robbery nearby. Petaluma detectives went to the scene at a gas station on Second Street and saw a vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle, police said.

Detectives followed the vehicle to Richmond, where it pulled into a gas station on Cutting Boulevard. They arrested the identified man, who was driving the vehicle, on suspicion of robbery and found a large amount of lottery tickets in the vehicle.