Petaluma Man Receives 25 Year Prison Sentence for Domestic Abuse, Burglary, and Dissuading a Witness

Defendant David Charles Moon, 43 years old of Petaluma, was sentenced today by the Honorable Robert LaForge to serve 25 years in state prison for multiple offenses relating to domestic-abuse and witness intimidation.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez stated, “Mr. Moon has a well-documented history of terrorizing members of the community. His violent crimes against others, as well as his calculated efforts to avoid being held responsible for them, has officially come to an end, at least for the duration of the 25-year prison sentence.”

Mr. Moon’s crime spree began in November of 2022 when he assaulted a former girlfriend in her home. During the assault, Moon suffocated the victim with his hands and a pillow. Following the assault, Moon intimidated the victim by sending her threatening text messages.

On April 09, 2023, Moon vandalized the victim’s vehicle and used an encrypted messaging application called “Telegram” to threaten the victim with numerous messages warning her to not call the police, as well as threatening her life. Moon used the application’s self-destructing-messages feature, and various aliases, to terrorize the victim. In one text, Moon told the victim, “It’s going to be refreshing to put your lifeless body on the ground and your spirit in the sky.”  

Petaluma police located Moon’s vehicle later that night at his parent’s home in Petaluma. Moon fled in his vehicle and led police on a dangerous high-speed chase through the streets of downtown Petaluma. Although officers terminated the chase due to safety concerns, U.S. Marshal Agents located Moon 4 days later in Marin, and took him into custody. At the time of his arrest, Moon attempted to flee on foot from the agents, and he was armed with a loaded handgun and methamphetamine.

While Moon was confined at the Sonoma County jail, Petaluma police detectives monitored his jail calls and discovered a conspiracy by Moon with another male outside of custody to dispose of a large number of firearms and drugs that were being kept at a storage unit in Contra Costa. Petaluma detectives executed a search warrant at the storage unit before the evidence could be disposed of and located “ghost guns,” multiple fire-arm silencers, over 62 pounds of ammunition, an assault rifle, and over ten ounces of cocaine.

On January 12, of this year Moon entered-into a negotiated resolution of his case related to the offenses committed in Sonoma County. Moon pled guilty to residential burglary, two separate offenses for inflicting corporal injury upon another person with whom he had a domestic relationship, as well as dissuading a witness. Moon also admitted that he inflicted great bodily injury upon the victim during the residential burglary, and that he had a prior “strike” conviction for kidnapping. The kidnap conviction resulted from a 2007 incident in Marin in which Moon posed as an FBI agent and kidnapped a man for ransom. In exchange for Moon’s guilty pleas and admissions he received a sentence of 25 years in prison.

This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Robert Rasp. The investigation was led by the Petaluma Police Department.