Shawn Naputi Sentenced to More Than Five Years for Theft Spree Across Eleven Bay Area Counties

On May 8, 2024, Shawn Naputi walked into the Friedman's Home Improvement store on Santa Rosa Avenue, filled a trash can with more than $2400 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 San Mateo County, Alameda County, Santa Clara County, Sacramento County, Solano County, Placer County, Contra Costa County, San Francisco County, Yolo County, Marin County, and Sonoma County.

District Attorney 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.