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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A federal grand jury has handed down indictments against two Lake County men and two men from Sonoma County in the latest development in a case alleging that the four committed a home invasion robbery dressed as law enforcement officers.
US Attorney Melinda Haag’s office said Thursday that Eric Mendonca, 43, of Middletown and Jack David Pollack, 54, of Hidden Valley Lake made their initial appearances on the new indictment on Wednesday, as did Terry Jackson, 46, of Petaluma.
Mendonca – a former Petaluma Police officer and Lake County Sheriff’s deputy – along with Pollack and Jacksen were arrested Dec. 19 during a raid by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, as Lake County News has reported.
A fourth suspect, 54-year-old Petaluma resident Michael Puckett – who was arrested on Wednesday evening – made his initial appearance in federal court on Thursday morning, the US Attorney’s Office reported. He is next scheduled to appear in court Friday for identification of counsel.
Mendonca has been released on a $50,000 bond, while Jacksen, Pollack and Puckett all remain in custody, according to officials.
The federal grand jury in San Francisco has charged the four men with robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, possession of a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, impersonating an officer and making a search or arrest while impersonating an officer, Haag’s office announced.
All four of the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco at 2 p.m. Jan. 22 before United States District Court Judge William Alsup.
The men conspired to commit a home invasion robbery in Hidden Valley Lake last Oct. 4, taking 48 marijuana plants valued at $96,000 and a variety of other items, according to court documents.
Pollack, who has a well pump business, is alleged to have cased the home, telling the owner he was responding to a call for water well maintenance, case documents stated.
Later, Jacksen – dressed up as a Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy carrying a holstered revolver and wearing a white cowboy hat – is alleged to have knocked on the door and informed the occupants that he was working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was there to conduct a search.
The investigation revealed that Jacksen then handcuffed and zip-tied the occupants before searching the house and stealing the marijuana plants.
It’s alleged that Mendonca provided Jacksen with the police uniforms.
During a search of Mendonca and Jacksen’s property in Middletown on Dec. 19 law-enforcement authorities located a holstered revolver, a set of Lake County Sheriff’s Office handcuffs, a white cowboy hat, various firearms and a cellular telephone containing images of Jacksen and Puckett posing in Lake County Sheriff’s Office uniforms with firearms hours before the robbery, officials reported.
Officials said that a search of Pollack’s residence uncovered approximately 20 pounds of marijuana.
The charges and the possible prison sentence each defendant faces are as follows:
Terry Jacksen
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of felon in possession of a firearm: 10 years.
Eric Mendonca
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years.
Jack Pollack
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of felon in possession of a firearm: 10 years;
- One count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine: 40 years, with a five year mandatory minimum;
- One count of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years.
Puckett
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years.
Assistant United States Attorney Randy Luskey from Haag’s office is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Daniel Charlier-Smith.
The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Santa Rosa Resident Agency, Haag’s office said.
Investigators believe that the men may have committed several other similar robberies and are seeking additional victims.
Anyone with information on unreported home invasion robberies in Lake County is encouraged to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at 707-262-4200.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
010813 Mendonca, Jacksen, Pollack and Puckett federal indictment by LakeCoNews
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A series of small earthquakes that occurred in the Soda Bay area earlier this week caused some county residents to wonder about what triggered them.
Lake County residents are familiar with earthquakes, especially due to the numerous small and moderately sized quakes that are reported on a regular basis in The Geysers geothermal steamfield in the Cobb area.
However, the quakes near Kelseyville – peaking with a 2.8-magnitude quake that occurred on Tuesday afternoon – don’t fit into the normal local earthquake pattern, and Lake County News received a number of comments and inquiries from readers about the reasons for the quakes.
David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, offered some explanations.
“At this point we're just seeing a little flurry of earthquakes,” said Oppenheimer.
The quakes have been centered to the southeast of Mt. Konocti. “There's a whole bunch of mapped faults in the area that are active faults,” Oppenheimer said.
In particular, Oppenheimer said the Konocti Bay fault zone runs right through the area where the quakes occurred.
While the quakes that most people felt occurred on Tuesday, Oppenheimer said there has been a much larger group of the temblors.
Between 9:15 p.m. Monday and 12:19 a.m. Wednesday there were 14 quakes, Oppenheimer said, ranging from quakes of under 2.0 in magnitude up to the largest, 2.8.
The 2.8 and a 2.7 quake that preceded it received a total of 65 shake reports from around Lake County, with some coming in from the Bay Area and even Red Bluff, according to US Geological Survey data.
The quakes, Oppenheimer noted, tended to be shallow.
“They're not under the volcano, which is one of the first issues that would get our attention,” Oppenheimer said.
He was referring to the 300,000-year-old Mt. Konocti, the most prominent volcanic feature of the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, which includes a portion of Lake County and also is monitored by the US Geological Survey.
Oppenheimer said it's not uncommon to have more seismic activity in volcanic areas.
“We haven't seen anything that would lead us to believe that it's directly related to the volcanic system,” said Oppenheimer.
He said there have been other, similar instances of flurries of small quakes in that area.
Similar sequences were reported in 1975, 1983 and, most recently, in April of 2008, he said.
It’s likely the string of quakes will last a few days and then die off, he said. “We are aware of it and we're watching it.”
While there's no evidence of Mt. Konocti waking up, if the quakes start to take off, Oppenheimer said USGS will let the community know.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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Binge drinking – defined as consuming four or more drinks on an occasion – is a dangerous behavior that can lead to tragic circumstances.
It’s not often recognized as a women’s health problem but nearly 14 million U.S. women binge drink about three times a month, and consume an average of six drinks per binge, according to a Vital Signs report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Drinking too much, including binge drinking, causes about 23,000 deaths among women and girls in the United States each year, the agency reported.
“Binge drinking causes many health problems, and there are proven ways to prevent excessive drinking,” said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Effective community measures can support women and girls in making wise choices about whether to drink or how much to drink if they do.”
CDC scientists looked at the drinking behavior of approximately 278,000 U.S. women aged 18 and older for the past 30 days through data collected from the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and for approximately 7,500 U.S. high school girls from the 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
The report highlights how binge drinking puts women at increased risk for many health problems such as breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, heart disease, and unintended pregnancy.
Pregnant women who binge drink expose a developing baby to high levels of alcohol, which can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and sudden infant death syndrome.
In addition, the report finds that about 1 in 8 women and 1 in 5 high school girls report binge drinking.
Binge drinking was most common among women aged 18-34 and high school girls, whites and Hispanics, and women with household incomes of $75,000 or more. Half of all high school girls who drink alcohol report binge drinking.
Binge drinking is of particular concern in Lake County where, according to a 2010 report, “Indicators of Alcohol and Other Drug Risk and Consequences for California Counties – Lake County,” 34 percent of Lake County residents 18 years old and older participated in binge drinking in the study year of 2007, compared to the statewide average of 30 percent.
Of those surveyed, 49 percent of males took part in binge drinking while 20 percent of females did.
The CDC report highlights the Guide to Community Preventive Services, which recommends effective policies to prevent binge drinking.
“It is alarming to see that binge drinking is so common among women and girls, and that women and girls are drinking so much when they do,” said Robert Brewer, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Alcohol Program at CDC. “The good news is that the same scientifically proven strategies for communities and clinical settings that we know can prevent binge drinking in the overall population can also work to prevent binge drinking among women and girls.”
For more information about binge drinking, visit CDC’s Alcohol and Public Health Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol .
Individuals who are concerned about their own or someone else's binge drinking can call 1-800-662-HELP to receive assistance from the national Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter, @LakeCoNews , or on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604 .
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Crews are working to resolve a power outage in the Clearlake area that is affecting thousands of customers.
Pacific Gas and Electric spokesman JD Guidi said the outage occurred at 4:42 p.m. Wednesday and knocked out power to 2,580 customers.
He said the outage resulted from an equipment failure at PG&E's Highlands Substation.
Guidi said crews were on the scene and working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
He said power is expected to be fully restored between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesday.
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