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Lakeport man, accomplice charged in Windsor bank robbery, shooting; authorities connect them to other crimes
NORTH COAST, Calif. – On Thursday, two men – one of them from Lake County – made their first court appearance for a bank robbery and shooting earlier this week, with authorities on the same day saying one or both likely were responsible for other violent crimes around the state, including a June 2015 homicide.
Ivan Morales, 23, of Lakeport and Sergey Gutsu, 24, of Antelope were arraigned on Thursday afternoon in Sonoma County Superior Court, according to Deputy District Attorney Chris Honigsberg.
Authorities say the men were responsible for the Tuesday armed robbery of Windsor's Chase Bank and the shooting of a Loomis armored vehicle guard.
They were captured near Calistoga following a pursuit with a police officer and a manhunt involving numerous law enforcement agencies, as Lake County News has reported.
Both are being held in the Sonoma County Jail in Santa Rosa without bail, according to booking records.
Honigsberg said it was Morales who shot a the armored vehicle guard with a rifle during the robbery.
The guard survived and while authorities have been in contact with his family, on Thursday Honigsberg said he did not have a specific update on the man's condition.
Morales is charged with attempted murder with a firearm and two counts of robbery, one each for the two armored vehicle guards present, Honigsberg said. Each of those three charges also carries a special enhancement of personal use of a firearm causing great bodily injury.
Honigsberg said Gutsu also is charged with attempted murder and two counts of robbery, as well as a special enhancement on each of the charges for possession of a handgun during a crime.
As for reports that the men were driving a vehicle that they had stolen during a carjacking, Honigsberg said they're not facing any such charges in Sonoma County.
On Thursday, Honigsberg couldn't yet say what the connection was between the men, explaining that the investigation is still under way.
Honigsberg said Morales and Gutsu are due to return to court on July 29.
A search of Lake County Superior Court records revealed no criminal cases against Morales.
Additionally, Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office told Lake County News that the agency has not had any contacts with him.
However, on Thursday evening, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office released new details about the men that have come to light during their investigation into the bank robbery and shooting.
Sgt. Cecile Focha said the agency's detectives have developed information that Gutsu and Morales were likely involved in other crimes in Southern California.
“Although we cannot divulge specific details of the investigations, we are confident that one or both are responsible for an armored car robbery in Granada Hills and a robbery/homicide in San Dimas,” Focha said.
Focha said the armored car robbery took place in Granada Hills this past March 29, while the robbery and homicide occurred in San Dimas on June 2, 2015.
In the case of the armored car robbery, a masked male subject wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and jeans robbed a Brinks armored truck making a delivery at a CVS store, based on media reports.
The robber reportedly demanded money and the guard's gun before fleeing the scene.
The robbery and homicide in San Dimas claimed the life of 62-year-old Pravin Patel.
Patel, the owner of a Quiznos restaurant, was robbed at gunpoint that afternoon by a man wearing dark clothing and carrying a semiautomatic handgun, according to media reports.
After getting a bag of cash from Patel, the robber left the store. Patel followed him, they struggled in the parking lot and Patel was shot, dying later that night.
The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors later approved a $20,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
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American Red Cross updates supervisors on Valley fire-related work
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The American Red Cross gave an update to the Board of Supervisors this week regarding its fundraising and recovery activities related to the Valley fire.
Board of Supervisors Chair Rob Brown asked for the presentation. In response, Trevor Riggen, the regional chief executive officer for the American Red Cross' Northern California Coastal Region, appeared before the board.
Also present at the meeting were American Red Cross California Northwest Executive Director Jeff Baumgartner and Melanie Garrett, the organization's Valley fire disaster recovery manager.
Riggen apologized to the board for not coming sooner to give an update.
He said the organization gets a lot of questions about what it does. “After a disaster our biggest focus is shelter and feeding. That's usually the biggest push right after a disaster.”
That quickly moves into health and mental health support, all of which is done in partnership with community agencies, organizations and schools, he said.
The Red Cross did recovery planning with families as part of its initial assistance, matching them with resources, he said.
That work then moves into long-term recovery, which the Red Cross is still in the midst of now, Riggen said.
To date, the Red Cross has raised $4.5 million for its 2015 California wildfires response, which covered not just the Valley fire but the Butte fire in Calaveras and Amador counties. Of that amount, $2.8 million went toward food, shelter and relief items, Riggen said.
Brown asked about the numbers specific to the Valley fire. Riggen said the numbers he had primarily were part of a combined effort, and it was difficult to separate them out because of the shared management and logistical infrastructure for both incidents.
While the Red Cross has raised $4.5 million to help with the fire response, Riggen said it intends to spend $5.5 million, and has already spent or committed $4.7 million.
Riggen said he estimated that 65 percent of the Red Cross' expenditures from those wildland-fire related funds were for the Valley fire, with the remainder for the Butte fire.
He said the Red Cross provided 87,000 meals and 34,000 bulk items for Valley fire survivors.
Of the $4.7 million spent so far, $2 million was for individual recovery and assistance for survivors of both fires, according to Riggen.
He said the Red Cross opened cases on 1,200 families, or about 2,500 residents of Lake County impacted by the Valley fire, spent $255,000 for health and emotional support and made 6,400 contacts for the Valley fire. The Red Cross partnered with the Center for Independent Living to connect people to resources.
Riggen said the Red Cross policy is when there is money raised in excess of what is spent for response, it goes toward long-term recovery.
As part of that effort, he said the Red Cross began partnering with Team Lake County earlier this year on case management. That partnership offers survivors the ability to go through a process that offers them additional help rebuilding, locating additional housing or other emergency needs.
The process “has moved a bit slower than we had hoped,” he said, explaining that the Red Cross continues to open cases. The plan is to spend more than $435,000 as part of that recovery in Lake County.
Other aspects of the Red Cross recovery work includes offering some mental health assistance to the community through Cobb Mountain Elementary School and hiring Garrett for long-term recovery management, he said.
The case management process has started giving additional assistance and uses a coordinated assistance network. Riggen said they have opened 400 cases, with 400 families registered through Team Lake County.
They're working to establish a client service center in Cobb, have conducted disaster preparedness training and held a preparedness fair at the Hidden Valley Lake Campground, Riggen said.
Riggen said the one year anniversary of such an event tends to be very stressful, and with the anniversary just two months away, they want to make sure they have resources to help the community.
The first priority, Riggen added, is always to get more money in the hands of people who lost their homes.
The Red Cross also is taking additional actions to get ready for the upcoming fire season. “We realized we weren't quite where we wanted to be headed into last fire season,” said Riggen.
The money raised for the wildland fire response is not being used for that preparation, he added.
In addition to hiring Garrett on an 18-month assignment, Riggen said the Red Cross has identified several new Lake County volunteers. “The locals are the most powerful assets we have,” he said.
Riggen said the Red Cross also has placed an additional emergency response vehicle in Lake County and recruited additional drivers, while ramping up efforts to train locally in shelter operations. The local volunteers “know their neighbors best.”
The organization's preparedness has included confirming shelter locations in Middletown – specifically, Twin Pine Casino – as well as in Lakeport and Lower Lake. Riggen said the Red Cross continues to work with the county and emergency service agencies across the area to ensure they're ramped up and ready in the event of another disaster.
He noted that while Garrett's position is for 18 months initially, recovery is likely to take longer.
Based on his experience, “There is always a ragged edge to recovery.”
For some families, they may not be ready for assistance until a year after the fire. “We'll continue to be there” and have resources plugged in and waiting, Riggen said.
Brown asked if the organization had met all of its obligations to the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, which had sheltered hundreds of Valley fire evacuees.
Riggen said he was following up on reports that the fairgrounds had lost revenue – totaling about $57,000 – during the Red Cross sheltering operations. The Red Cross, he added, doesn't traditionally reimburse for lost revenue.
Supervisor Jeff Smith pointed out that the Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake – which was the location of a county-run Valley fire shelter – also lost revenue, primarily in the form of its main annual fundraiser that was scheduled for that time.
Brown said he believed there was insurance specifically to cover those kinds of losses.
He thanked Riggen for the update and added that he appreciated working with Garrett on recovery-related issues.
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Clearlake vice mayor submits resignation due to family move out of county
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Due to her family's decision to leave Lake County, Clearlake's vice mayor is resigning her seat on the city council.
Gina Fortino Dickson, whose term expires at the end of this year, handed in her resignation letter to the city clerk on Wednesday, according to City Manager Greg Folsom.
“It is with a heavy heart that I tender the resignation of my post as elected council member. My final date of service will be Aug. 12, 2016,” Dickson said.
“The news was very disappointing to hear because we have had such a wonderful council to work with since I started last year,” said Folsom. “Gina has been a great advocate for the community for many years and will leave some big shoes to fill.”
Fortino Dickson told Lake County News that her son has been accepted to a high tech high school focusing on science and math that is located at Sonoma State. He starts school a week after her resignation date.
Because of her son's educational opportunity, Fortino Dickson said her family moved to Sonoma County in April.
Since then, Fortino Dickson said she has been splitting her time between Clearlake – where she has to live more than 50 percent of the time to remain on the council – and Sonoma County.
She said her goal had been to finish out her term. However, the commuting back and forth and the attempt to manage her family's transition while continuing her council responsibilities has pulled her focus both from her work on the council and her family, she said.
“It's just become more and more difficult,” she said.
Fortino Dickson's resignation comes about four months after Denise Loustalot announced she was leaving the council because she had moved to a new home just outside of the city limits, as Lake County News has reported.
To choose Loustalot's successor, the council went through a recruitment process that included advertising the position, vetting several applicants through an ad hoc committee and ultimately having the council select a new member during a regular meeting.
That led to the appointment of Nick Bennett, a retired Clearlake Police sergeant, in May.
As for how the council – which meets Thursday night – might approach filling this newest vacancy, Folsom said the council has several choices, including selecting one of the candidates who came forward for Loustalot's seat, holding a brand new recruitment or leaving the seat open until the November election.
The city will hold a municipal election in concert with the presidential election on Nov. 8. Along with Fortino Dickson's seat, the seats currently held by Bennett and Joyce Overton also will be on the ballot. The candidate filing period opens next week.
Fortino Dickson is a longtime resident of the city of Clearlake and a graduate of Lower Lake High School.
She had been a member of the Clearlake Planning Commission for five years prior to her election to the City Council in 2012. She is in the middle of her second term as vice mayor.
“Serving with Gina has been a pleasure and I am going to miss her knowledge and advice,” said Mayor Russ Perdock. “I know she has important family matters to attend to and I wish her all the best.”
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Supervisors put off accepting sunken crane abatement agreement to consider possible interest
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A decision on an agreement to repay the county for abating a sunken construction crane five years ago will wait another week due to the Board of Supervisors asking a county officials for additional information at Tuesday's meeting.
The board had held over since June 14 a decision on the agreement with Martin Scheel, who formerly worked as a contractor on the lake, and who now is a member of the Lakeport City Council and a candidate for the District 4 supervisorial seat.
The crane went into the lake during a storm in November 2010, and months later the board voted to have it abated after Scheel indicated he did not have the means to remove it himself, as Lake County News has reported.
The abatement cost the county $59,945.07. Scheel signed the crane over to the county, which recouped $4,039 by selling it for scrap.
Last month, the board held off on making a decision on the agreement – which calls for biannual installment payments of $2,795.30 over a 10-year period – in order to let Scheel try to get a loan to pay off the debt, something Scheel told Lake County News he already had tried.
Scheel was not present for Tuesday's meeting, but Board Chair Rob Brown said that Scheel submitted a letter on Monday regarding the matter.
In the brief letter, obtained by Lake County News, Scheel wrote to Brown: “I have exhausted all avenues in trying to secure private financing for repayment of the crane removal. As such, I am requesting that the agreement staff prepared for repaying of the crane removal be approved. I look forward to finalizing this matter and appreciate the assistance of staff in putting together an amicable agreement that will make Lake County tax payers whole.”
Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who Scheel is seeking to succeed on the board, has criticized Scheel for not paying off the debt sooner, despite the county not having taken formal action to send Scheel a bill after he said he repeatedly asked for one.
Brown said he had followed up with Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen, who confirmed that she cannot accept payments on debts until the Board of Supervisors takes action to collect them.
Scott De Leon, the county's Water Resources and Public Works director, said the agreement with Scheel is patterned after other agreements the county has had.
It does not include interest, as currently proposed, and De Leon explained that the county similarly doesn't charge interest to residents for road repairs in county service areas. “This agreement was patterned after that.”
“I guess it's better late than never,” said Farrington.
Farrington said the county doesn't create a promissory note for assessments and liens, adding it's a unique situation due to there being no real property at stake.
As such, he suggested pursuing a lien on Scheel's wife's property, a judgment through the courts or wage garnishment.
Supervisor Jim Steele wanted to see interest applied to the agreement.
Supervisor Jeff Smith said there are penalties if businesses are late in paying their transient occupancy tax, and he said the county should at least get the interest on the payments that it would get if the money was sitting in the bank.
Brown said a legal judgment was not an option due to the length of time that has passed. County Counsel Anita Grant followed up by saying that a three-year statute of limitations would apply. Farrington disagreed.
Smith also wanted the payments made monthly, not annually.
The matter of a possible interest rate ultimately held up a decision. The board wanted to have Ringen calculate the appropriate monthly rate.
Steele moved to amend the agreement to include a 2.5-percent annual percentage rate plus costs associated with managing the account, and make it a monthly rather than a biannual payments.
Grant cautioned that the interest rate should reflect an obligation, as the county is not entitled to make money on a transaction.
She said the board could approve the 2.5 percent interest rate in concept, subject to approval by the treasurer-tax collector regarding what the county earns on its investments.
Brown put the matter on hold in order to try to get an answer from Ringen that morning.
However, the board didn't hear back from Ringen by the end of the meeting, so the matter was put over to the July 19 meeting.
At its meeting next week the supervisors also will take up the matter – brought back to the board by Supervisor Jim Steele – regarding the proposed separation of the Water Resources and the Public Works departments.
Supervisor Jim Comstock was absent from Tuesday's meeting, and Brown said Comstock had asked for the matter to be held over so he could participate in the discussion.
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