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Lakeport Police logs: Saturday, Jan. 10
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026
00:00 EXTRA PATROL 2601100001
Occurred at Lake County Law Library on 3D....
First Clearlake Police Citizen Academy class completes training
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Citizen Academy has completed its first class and already is looking ahead to hosting more of the trainings.
For the last month the Clearlake Police Department has hosted the academy, which began Feb. 4, according to Lt. Tim Celli.
The class was made up of current volunteers as well as citizens from within the city of Clearlake and nearby areas of the county, Celli said.
During the course, citizens were exposed to information specific to the Clearlake Police Department as well as information universal to law enforcement in California, Celli said.
Celli said that citizens and current volunteers who attended the academy received at least 24 hours of training in various laws, procedures, report writing, crime scene investigation, radio communications, patrol procedures as well as information from Clearlake Animal Control.
Some participated in a ride-along with an officer and at least one attendee has completed a sit-along with a dispatcher, according to Celli.
At the completion of the training, Celli said four attendees have decided to join the Volunteers in Policing, or VIPs, program and continue on with additional training.
The department congratulated academy certificate recipients Elin Vonrekowski, Jim Hopkins, Bill Mcintyre, Fred Gaul, Ruth Gaul, Wanda Celli, Jeaneen Dean, Ross Bartoe, Melinda Wymer, Mark Burger, Tina Viramontes, Marie Weathers and Dorothy Turner.
Celli said this was the first citizen academy the Clearlake Police Department has done and staff believes it was a success.
“The feedback received from attendees was very positive and we look forward to doing more academies in the future,” Celli said.
Sheriff offers appreciation to tribe for assistance in murder investigation
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week Sheriff Brian Martin showed his appreciation to the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians and Konocti Vista Casino for their help in a murder case.
On Thursday Martin presented the tribe and its casino with a certificate of appreciation for its assistance in providing information which led to the arrest of Finley resident Salvador Guzman for the murder of his cousin, Manuel Guzman.
At 10:15 p.m. Feb. 8, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of Stone Drive near Scully Packing Co. in Finley for a report of a male – later identified as Manuel Guzman – lying outside of a vehicle, officials reported.
Detectives discovered that the victim had left Konocti Vista Casino in his vehicle at 9:15 p.m.
With the assistance of casino personnel, detectives were able to develop a suspect and the suspect’s vehicle description.
The suspect was identified as Salvador Guzman, Manuel Guzman's cousin, and arrested for murder on Feb. 9 at approximately 4:15 p.m.
“The assistance provided by Konocti Vista Casino security personnel enabled our investigators to quickly identify the suspect and gather pertinent information surrounding the circumstances of the crime,” Sheriff Martin said. “I very much appreciate their efforts in making our communities safer, and expect that our cooperative relationships will continue for years to come.”
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
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
