How to resolve AdBlock issue? Police seek information on car connected to hit-and-run
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department is asking for the community's help in locating a black Corvette believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run with a bicycle on Wednesday evening.
The agency said that at about 7 p.m. Wednesday officers were dispatched to contact a 16-year-old male juvenile at his north Lakeport residence.
The teen reported being hit by a vehicle at 6:20 p.m. that same evening while he was riding northbound in the bicycle lane in the 1800 block of N. High Street, the Lakeport Police Department reported.
Police said the juvenile told officers that a northbound Corvette – which he described as being all black with tinted windows – hit his left hand and arm as it passed.
It caused the teen only a very minor injury, but the driver did not stop and continued northbound on Lakeshore Boulevard, police said.
The juvenile reported that he stopped his bicycle and that a northbound motorist – who was traveling behind the Corvette and was believed to have witnessed the incident – stopped to check and see if he was OK, according to police.
The Lakeport Police Department is attempting to locate the Corvette or the witness.
Anyone who witnessed or has knowledge of the incident is asked to contact Sgt. Mike Sobieraj at 707-263-5491, Extension 14, by email at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Sheriff honors former reserve deputies with long-awaited retirement badges
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Let’s get this straight.
Reserve Lake County Sheriff’s deputies Bill Burnett and Roth Shilts did not quit or retire even though between them they had 56 years of law enforcement in Lake County and 69 years overall.
Apparently, for reasons known only to Francisco Rivero – the one-term sheriff defeated in the primary by Brian Martin last June – the services of Burnett, 62, and Shilts, 68, were determined to no longer be needed.
Never mind that often those services put them in harm’s way.
“Absolutely,” said Martin, who was sworn in as Lake County's new sheriff in January. “We put them out in a patrol car just like a (full-time) deputy. And they arrested bad guys. A lot of the functions they performed while they were in uniform with a badge and with a gun. They were on patrol.
“They backed up our deputies on the street,” Martin added. “Their uniforms provided an opportunity for full-time guys to be safer. They functioned as full-time deputy sheriffs.”
Burnett found the action of Rivero in his case “completely ludicrous.”
“We were two guys who were perfectly capable volunteers and we’re told ‘We don’t want your services.’ Why would you say that to someone who is volunteering their services?” he asked.
The issue became all the stranger when in the spring of 2011 the two seasoned lawmen – each with an admirable personnel record – received a phone call from a captain in Rivero’s employ that basically said they were fired.
“The captain told me that he had been asked to collect my gear,” said Shilts.
“'What does that mean?’ I said. ‘Does it mean I’m fired?’He hesitated a bit and then said, ‘It appears so.’ I said, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘That’s all I can tell you,'” Shilts recalled.
“Then we started raising a fuss about what was going on,” he added.
That’s what sheriff’s Sgt. Don McPherson wanted to know, too, when he returned to Lake County after serving with the U.S. Army.
“I was in the Middle East when it happened,” said McPherson. “When I came back and was told they’re gone, fired, I said, 'Holy crap!' It was the dumbest thing I’d ever seen anybody do.”
“It was an absolute waste of two wonderful resources when we were short-staffed and under-manned. They were in the same uniform, carrying a gun and everything and driving a patrol car,” McPherson said.
“We didn’t assign them a beat or ask them to go out and handle burglaries, answer emergency domestic violence calls, stuff like that. They were out to support sworn deputies, do prisoner transport and security checks,” McPherson explained.
The least Rivero’s regime could have done was issue retirement badge to the two retiring deputies. But it didn’t, leaving that show of appreciation to Martin at a department-wide meeting in January.
The Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association gave each of the men a plaque, as did the District Attorney’s Office.
“These guys have been around for quite some time. I was in middle school when they became officers. All we can do is give them our thanks, retire their badges and say goodbye in a way that is symbolic of their years of service,” said Martin.
“It would be nice if they were entitled to retirement pay,” the sheriff added.
“They got paid 60 minutes an hour,” quipped McPherson.
Both have experienced the dangerous side of law enforcement.
“I’ve had broken toes, sprained ankles and bruises,” said Shilts, who went into law enforcement after being mustered out of the Army with a 100-percent disability.
While serving in law enforcement in Antioch, Burnett was fired upon by a man with a rifle who has never been apprehended.
He has a son whose injuries forced him out of deputy work and another son who is a deputy in Butte County of 22 years' standing.
Burnett’s wife, Debbie, was a familiar face in the sheriff’s office until Rivero also eliminated her office assistant job.
The worst Shilts has seen, he said, is molestation that resulted in the death of infants.
“The worst for me is seeing kids being abused and involved in vehicle accidents because their parents were irresponsible enough to put them in that spot,” said Burnett.
Ultimately the two veterans and their function will fade into history – like dinosaurs, the last of a species, because of more stringent qualifications for reserve officers.
Both leave with regrets, Shilts because he wanted the distinction of a 30th year.
But short of another round at a police academy they cannot qualify. And both say they’ve had enough of academies.
Martin lauded the quality and spirit of volunteer deputies.
“It’s very demanding,” he said. Their hours are very rough and for somebody to do it for free is a difficult thing to ask. People of that caliber are few and far between.”
Email John Lindblom at
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Clearlake Police search for three men who carried out Saturday home invasion robbery
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department is seeking three men responsible for an early Saturday morning home invasion robbery during which they threatened to kill a child.
A Clearlake Police report said that at 3 a.m. officers responded to a reported home invasion robbery which had just occurred at a residence in the Lakeland Mobile Home Park at Old Highway 53. Officers arrived on scene within a few minutes to find the suspects had fled just prior to the 911 call.
During the investigation officers found out that a 34-year-old male, his 33-year-old girlfriend and their 9-year-old daughter had been asleep inside the residence when they were awakened to the sound of three subjects banging on their front door while announcing “sheriff’s department, search warrant,” according to Sgt. Tim Hobbs.
The three subjects then forced open the front door. Hobbs said all three were wearing badges around their necks, had black bandannas over their lower faces and were holding black handguns.
The men forced the adult victims onto the floor in the living room and began demanding to know the whereabouts of marijuana and money, which the couple denied having, Hobbs said.
One of the men then went into a bedroom and brought the victims' 9-year-old daughter into the living room, according to Hobbs.
The subject pointed his handgun at the child's head and threatened to shoot her if her parents did not tell them where the marijuana and money was. Hobbs said the adult victims again denied having any marijuana or money, as they had none.
The three men ransacked the house and were unable to find marijuana or money. They began talking about being at the wrong house, then left the residence, Hobbs said.
Two of the men fled in a pickup truck headed south on Old Highway 53. The third subject, who did not make it to the vehicle in time, began running south on Old Highway 53, Hobbs reported.
Clearlake Police officers and several Lake County Sheriff's deputies searched the area for several hours, the report said.
During the search, Officer Travis Lenz and his K9 partner “Dex” located evidence related to the crime while tracking the suspect that had fled on foot, Hobbs said.
Police said they are not releasing information about what the recovered evidence is at this time.
All three subjects were described as white male adults who had the lower portions of their faces obscured by the bandannas, with each armed with a black handgun, Hobbs said.
The vehicle two of the men fled in is described as a dark-colored “lifted” Toyota pickup truck with loud exhaust, Hobbs said.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Officer Travis Lenz at 707-994-8251, Extension 508.
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Board of Supervisors, former sheriff reach final settlement on legal fees case
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The former sheriff's lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors over legal fees in his dispute with the district attorney has been settled.
On Jan. 27, the Board of Supervisors emerged from closed session to vote to accept a negotiated settlement with Frank Rivero regarding the fees to hire him outside counsel, according to County Administrative Officer Matt Perry.
The vote was 3-1, with Rob Brown voting no and Jim Steele recusing himself from the discussion, according to the meeting minutes.
Supervisor Jeff Smith moved to approve the settlement, and was joined in voting yes by colleagues Jim Comstock and Anthony Farrington.
Perry said the total settlement amount to be paid to the Jones and Mayer law firm is $75,000.
On Tuesday, County Counsel Anita Grant received a notice from Rivero's attorney, Paul Coble, that the case had been settled unconditionally.
She said the billing for Rivero's legal fees from Jones and Mayer totaled $87,684.63, more than $12,000 above the figure the board approved.
“Jones and Mayer agreed to a reduced amount,” she said.
Citing state law, in 2012 Rivero requested that the board hired him an outside attorney – due to a conflict of interest for the County Counsel's Office – in his legal issues with District Attorney Don Anderson over an investigation into allegations that Rivero had lied during a 2008 shooting investigation.
Government Code Section 31000.6 requires the Board of Supervisors hire outside legal counsel for the assessor or sheriff to assist “in the performance of his or her duties in any case where the county counsel or the district attorney would have a conflict of interest in representing the assessor or the sheriff.”
The Board of Supervisors had favored Grant using an “ethical wall” – a process for limiting disclosure in the office in order to avoid a conflict – in her office rather than hiring an outside attorney.
However, in 2012 visiting Mendocino County Judge Richard Henderson ordered the Board of Supervisors to hire the outside counsel for Rivero because of the conflict.
In February 2013 Anderson placed Rivero on the “Brady list,” after determining that he had lied about shooting at an unarmed man.
“Brady” refers to the 1963 US Supreme Court decision, Brady v. Maryland, which requires the prosecution to release to criminal defendants any potentially exculpatory evidence, including information about the credibility of peace officers involved in their cases.
Following his placement on the Brady list, Rivero was unsuccessful in his legal attempts to prevent Anderson from releasing the information as he's legally required to do.
In March 2013, the board sought clarification from Henderson about the limits of its requirement to provide Rivero legal counsel.
That May, Henderson clarified his ruling, explaining that he hadn't meant for the county to continue to pay for Rivero's legal fees past the Brady determination.
In July 2013, Rivero appealed the case to the First Appellate District, which in December overturned Henderson's ruling, finding that Rivero was entitled to a more extended period of legal representation in the matter. That decision, initially unpublished, later was published at Rivero's request.
The appellate court then sent the matter back to the trial court, ordering that a “new and different judgment” be entered regarding Rivero's right to the outside legal representation.
The matter had been set for a case management conference on Friday afternoon. Grant said she is not sure if it will remain on the calendar; however, even if it does, it will have no bearing on the case settlement.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Sheriff's office recruitment events begin Tuesday; outreach scheduled around the county
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office is conducting an outreach campaign to area residents in an effort to fill two dozen empty positions in the agency.
The first of the four “recruitment presentations” at locations throughout the county will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Middletown Library, 21256 Washington St.
The other presentations, which also will take place from 7 to 9 p.m., will be held on Tuesday, March 3, at the Brick Hall, 16374 Main St, Lower Lake; Tuesday, March 10, in the Lake County Board of Supervisors chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport; and Thursday, March 19, at Marymount California University, 3700 Country Club Drive in Lucerne.
Undersheriff Chris Macedo said the presentations will cover topics including job descriptions, minimum requirements, benefits, wages and the hiring process.
Macedo said the sheriff's office currently is recruiting for 24 positions.
Those include seven deputy sheriff vacancies, eight correctional officers, two correctional aides, five dispatchers and two law enforcement records technicians.
Keeping positions filled in the agency is an ongoing challenge. “The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has only been fully staffed one time in the last 25 years,” Macedo noted.
For more information, call Macedo at 707-262-4200.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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