Sonora PD press release re: Homicide

16 February 2014, at approx. 11:13 am, officers and medical personnel responded to a business located at 280 Mono Way regarding a report of a man down inside the business, who was bleeding. When officers arrived, they located the business owner, Rick Roberts, 49 of Sonora, deceased inside the business.

The California Department of Justice was requested to assist with the investigation and the collection of evidence, as well as the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office. The cause of death appears to be from a gunshot wound. The case is still under investigation and no further information is being released.

Roberts was a volunteer with the Sonora Police Department. He was a member of the department’s Police Associate Citizen’s Team (PACT). He was an advisor for the police department’s Police Explorer program; helping train Explorers for competitions and chaperoning them on different activates and events. Roberts also assisted the department at its firearms range.
The last homicide in the City of Sonora was 28 February 2001.
Anyone with any information regarding this crime is asked to call the Sonora Police Department at 209-532-8141.