Sonoma County Sheriffs detectives say they’ve caught a suspect in more than a dozen attempted roadside assaults of lone female drivers throughout the Santa Rosa area and along isolated spots of Petrified Forest Road near Calistoga.

Thomas Boccaleoni, 44, of Cotati, is being held without bail in Sonoma County Jail.

Boccaleoni — a line chef at an upscale Marin restaurant — was booked on two felony counts of suspected false imprisonment with violence, felony assault with intent to commit rape and felony threatening of a crime, plus other similar charges, detectives said. He could ultimately face charges in 13 cases, but so far has been only charged in two.

“We wanted to get him off of the streets as fast as we could,” said Sonoma County Sheriffs Lt. Chris Spallino. “We had been watching him for about a week or so, after we got a few phone calls from people saying he looked enough like a composite drawing we released to raise their interest. Investigations usually don’t flow very evenly. You’ll get a tip here, piece together some clues, then something else from the public will come in, and eventually, everything starts to add up.”

Spallino said there may also be DNA evidence.

Two of Boccaleoni’s alleged victims — including one who claims to have fought off a man on Sexton Road outside Sebastopol April 18 when he grabbed her by the neck to pull her from her car — positively identified him as the would-be assailant from his police photograph.

Like many of the other victims, the woman attacked on April 18 had pulled over because a driver had flashed his headlights and pulled alongside her to get her attention — this time saying some fluid was leaking from the back of her car. She managed to save herself after a struggle during which she was able to put the car in gear and escape.

Spallino said Boccaleoni had a record of sex offenses.

In December 2005 he was convicted of groping women after approaching them on the streets of San Francisco’s Marina District. Boccaleoni was also convicted in 1992 of violating a protective order in a domestic violence case.

Correction: In an earlier version of this article, Sonoma County Sheriffs Lt. Chris Spallino's first name was misspelled