LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Kelseyville man believed to have been responsible for burglarizing a Lakeport home last week and then holding the resident at gunpoint was arrested on Sunday morning after he led police on a chase that included him ramming a detective's vehicle.

Jose Manuel Rodriguez, 28, was arrested on Sunday evening, according to a report from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

On the evening of Thursday, Nov. 12, the Lakeport Police Department issued a community alert and possible suspect sketch seeking information to identify an armed robbery/burglary suspect from an incident that occurred earlier that day on Fifth Street, as Lake County News has reported.

Over the next several days, Lakeport Police continued to conduct a followup investigation on the case and received numerous leads from the community, Rasmussen said.

On Sunday morning, Lakeport Police received information which led to a vacant residence in the city of Lakeport where property stolen from the Fifth Street residence was located, according to Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said a further followup investigation led to the identification of Rodriguez as the individual responsible for the robbery and burglary.

He said officers also determined that Rodriguez had brought a beat up black Honda sedan to the vacant residence. They located a California license plate from a 1993 Honda at the residence and found that the three plate letters matched what was provided by the victim. 

Police further determined that Rodriguez had attempted to spray paint the Honda gold but that the effort did not cover all of the black paint, Rasmussen said.

A short time later, with the assistance of Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies, the suspect vehicle was located at a residence in north Lakeport outside of the city limits, and Rasmussen said Lakeport Police officers and deputies set up surveillance on the vehicle for several hours.

At approximately 5:10 p.m. Sunday, a Lakeport Police detective saw the vehicle start moving and followed it to the area of Crystal Lake Way in north Lakeport while calling for marked police units to get into a position to stop the vehicle, Rasmussen said.

As Lakeport Police officers were getting into position to make a felony vehicle stop, Rasmussen said the driver of the Honda, identified as Rodriguez, accelerated at a high rate of speed in a reckless manner.

The officers began pursuing Rodriguez who, after a short time into the pursuit, turned the Honda toward a Lakeport Police detective's vehicle that was displaying emergency lights, and intentionally rammed it on the right front passenger side, causing moderate damage, according to Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said the detective was not injured. 

Rodriguez then continued to flee for a short distance before crashing into a utility pole at which point a Lakeport Police officer used his patrol unit to pin the vehicle in so that Rodriguez could not make another attempt to flee or harm officers, Rasmussen said.

Rodriguez was taken into custody and officers located approximately one eighth of an ounce of suspected methamphetamine on his person, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said Rodriguez was arrested for misdemeanor charges of an outstanding warrant, driving without a license and possession of methamphetamine, and felony charges of resisting an officer with force or violence, fleeing from an officer with disregard for public safety and assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer.

Due to injuries received in the accident, Rodriguez was taken by ambulance to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment for approximately eight hours before being transported to the Lake County jail where he was booked and remained in custody late Tuesday.

The Honda was seized as evidence and a Lakeport Police detective obtained a search warrant for it which was served Tuesday morning. Rasmussen said items of evidence tying the vehicle to the Fifth Street robbery and burglary were recovered.

Rasmussen said his agency is working with the Lake County District Attorney's Office to also file robbery and burglary charges against Rodriguez. 

“We want to thank the community for the valuable leads that were provided to help get a dangerous individual off the streets of our community,” Rasmussen said.