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Sheriff's office recovers stolen property, looks for theft victims
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Local authorities are working to identify the owners of stolen property recovered during an ongoing investigation into the activities of three local men, two of whom are in custody with the third being actively sought by law enforcement.
During the past two months the Lake County Sheriff’s Office became aware of several subjects in Lake County who were suspected of committing thefts, burglaries and drug sales in the county, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
Since becoming aware of these subjects, Brooks said the sheriff’s office has been conducting an extensive investigation that is a combined effort involving the agency's patrol, narcotics and investigations divisions.
As a result, Brooks said the sheriff’s office identified three suspects related to these crimes: 44-year-old Lonnie Ray Scott of Kelseyville; Michael Sean Shaffer, 31, of Upper Lake; and 28-year-old Jose Manuel Rodriguez Jr. of Kelseyville.
On Nov. 3 Scott was arrested by sheriff’s deputies following a vehicle pursuit that occurred on Sylar Lane in Kelseyville, where Scott rammed a sheriff’s vehicle, Brooks said.
Brooks said Scott was found in possession of 12 pounds of marijuana, a loaded handgun and several items of stolen property. Detectives were able to link the stolen property to two thefts reported in the Kelseyville area.
Scott remains in custody at the Lake County Jail, on a no-bail hold due to a felony bench warrant, according to jail records.
On Nov. 10, Shaffer was arrested by narcotics detectives during a probation search at a residence located on Riviera Heights Drive in Kelseyville, Brooks said.
Brooks said Shaffer was found in possession of a stolen vehicle, several items of stolen property and half an ounce of methamphetamine.
Detectives were able to link the stolen property to four separate thefts that were reported in the Nice and Upper Lake area, Brooks said.
Shaffer was released on bail related to these charges. Brooks said Shaffer is currently on active Post Release Community Supervision probation and has a no bail arrest warrant for violating conditions of that probation.
Shaffer was spotted by sheriff’s detectives in the Upper Lake area on Nov. 17 while conducting follow up regarding these cases. Brooks said Shaffer fled the area on a motorcycle and was not able to be located.
Anyone with information on Shaffer’s location is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 707-263-2690.
On Nov. 17, Rodriguez was arrested by the Lakeport Police Department following a vehicle pursuit with police officers, as Lake County News has reported.
Brooks said sheriff’s detectives had identified Rodriguez as a suspect in several thefts prior to him being arrested.
Detectives linked Rodriguez to several items of stolen property that have been recovered. Brooks said the stolen property has been identified as having been stolen from four separate thefts reported in the Kelseyville area and one reported in Clearlake Oaks.
Rodriguez remains in custody at the Lake County Jail, according to jail records.
Sheriff’s detectives have recovered items that are believed to be stolen, but have not been able to link these items to any reported thefts, Brooks said.
Anyone who has had a recent theft and not reported it is urged to contact the sheriff’s office at 707-262-4200 to make a report.
In addition, Brooks said anyone who has made a report, but has not provided a detailed list of items stolen, is urged to contact the deputy they made the report to and provide the list.
Sheriff's office encourages residents to sign up for emergency notification service
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office is urging county residents to sign up for emergency notifications in order to be prepared for situations such as wildfires, floods and other similar disasters.
Undersheriff Chris Macedo said the sheriff's office utilizes the CityWatch Emergency Notification System to contact the community if there has been a community wide or area-specific disaster.
The CityWatch Emergency Notification System can be used to notify you via telephone calls, email and text messages, Macedo said.
He explained that the sheriff’s office uses white page telephone data to place the calls.
If you wish to be called on a number not listed in the telephone book, or you want to be notified via cell phone or email, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office urges you to access the sheriff’s office Web site to add additional contact numbers.
“We also ask that you spread the word by mentioning the system to family, friends and neighbors,” Macedo said.
“All individuals and businesses should take the time to visit our Web site and add contact information to include cellular phones and other nontraditional phones as well as email and text addresses,” said Sheriff Brian Martin. “If your contact information is not in the database you will not receive a call when an urgent message is sent.”
In particular, businesses should register, as well as individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number recently and those who use a cellular phone exclusively or have VoIP phones – such as Vonage or Mediacom – as their primary numbers, officials said.
Martin urged citizens to log onto the sheriff’s office Web site at www.lakesheriff.com and follow the CityWatch link on the left side of the Webpage.
Those without Internet access may call 707-262-4200 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Required information includes a street address – physical address, no P.O. boxes – for location purposes and a primary phone number. Additional phone numbers, email and text addresses may also be entered.
The Lake County Sheriff’s also is asking residents to sign-up to receive local alerts. Lake County residents can now receive real time public safety messages through Nixle.
The agency has partnered with Nixle to implement its community notification system to alert residents in real-time for localized emergency situations and relevant community advisories.
As a resident, there are simple ways to register, including texting your zip code to 888777 from your mobile phone or visiting the sheriff's office Web site at www.lakesheriff.com and signing up via the Nixle widget.
Once registered, residents will receive a confirmation text to their mobile device. Residents may also customize their alert settings by going to www.nixle.com and creating a user profile.
All alerts will be targeted geographically, allowing residents to receive localized, relevant alerts from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Nixle Alerts can be sent via text, email, Web, and the Nixle mobile app in an instant. Nixle is partnered with NLETS for unmatched data security, as well as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Blue Alert Network and Google for unmatched reach and two-way information exchange.
Today, more than 7,200 agencies around the United States rely on Nixle for community engagement and emergency communications. Nixle’s exclusive partnerships with NLETS, Google and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children allows local police departments nationwide to send immediate alerts and advisories. For more information, visit www.nixle.com .
More information about the CityWatch and the Nixle system is can be found at www.lakesheriff.com . More information about community alerts should be directed to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-262-4200.
Lakeport Police Department to upgrade emergency alert system
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department's chief this week got the go ahead from the city council to improve the agency's emergency notification system.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen went to the council on Tuesday with the request to upgrade his department's Nixle account in an effort to reach more people in the case of emergency situations.
Nixle is a communication platform used by law enforcement and other public agencies to issue public service announcements and alerts.
The Lakeport Police Department has been using the service as its primary emergency alert system for the last four years, according to the written report to the council on the request completed by Lt. Jason Ferguson. The Lake County Sheriff's Office also has been using the system for about that length of time.
Rasmussen said his department has been using the most basic level Nixle offers. That service costs $1,750 annually.
He asked the council to upgrade to the Nixle 360 system, which would allow police to integrate an emergency telephone notification system to contact the approximately 4,722 hard line telephone numbers in the city limits as well as all cell phones registered by individuals to receive Nixle alerts.
Rasmussen said the Lakeport Police Department currently has to ask to use the Lake County Sheriff's Office emergency call system in case of emergencies.
“That's not something I want to rely on,” said Rasmussen, as there is no guarantee that his department could use that system when needed.
Rasmussen said there is an additional cost of $238.78 per use to make the emergency telephone calls through AT&T. He suggested going with that cost per use rather than an ongoing $131 monthly charge, anticipating the call service would not be used often enough to justify that increased cost.
Rasmussen said the upgraded Nixle account also will allow them to integrate the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning system, or IPAWS, which sends emergency alerts to all persons within a specified geographic area, he said.
There is no cost to use the IPAWS program through FEMA, but Rasmussen said there is the need for software to run it, which Nixle will do.
He said the department already has been preapproved for an IPAWS account, but they will need to do a memorandum of understanding and take some tests to get certified to use it, because there are specific parameters on what situations in which it can be used.
In addition, if the Lakeport Police Department needed to use the IPAWS system and a telephone notification system in an extreme emergency, Rasmussen said it would not only go to all of the city's landlines and cell phones registered with Nixle, but it also would send emergency alerts to anyone with a smartphone who has not already signed up for the Nixle program, as long as the emergency notification settings on the phone are enabled.
Another benefit of upgrading is that the new system would allow people to reply to certain police announcements – such as one sent out last week seeking information on a man wanted for an armed robbery and burglary – with tips and leads, Rasmussen said.
“The biggest benefit is, we have one program that's easy to use that will get every notification system if that's necessary,” he said.
Rasmussen said he didn't budget for the upgraded system, but anticipates his department will have savings at the end of the year that will cover it. He said he planned to include it in the upcoming fiscal year budget.
The anticipated cost of the upgrade, Rasmussen said, is approximately $1,530.78 for the remainder of the year, adding there will be an 3-percent increase written into each year's contract if the city continue using the service.
Councilman Marc Spillman asked if the emergency system upgrades went along with plans by local fire officials to begin using sirens once again for emergency notifications.
Rasmussen said the siren issue has been discussed among local agencies, but indicated his effort is separate.
“I've been wanting to do this for some time,” said Rasmussen, who added that with storms coming, “I'd rather have the maximum level of notification possible.”
Mayor Martin Scheel said he thought the system was a great asset and tool.
The council approved the request 5-0.
To sign up for Nixle, visit https://local.nixle.com/register/ and register for an account. After signing up, settings can be adjusted to specify which agencies will send messages through home and cell phones, or both.
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Armed robbery and burglary suspect arrested for felony assault on a police officer
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.
