How to resolve AdBlock issue? Police: Information leads to tentative identification of man found dead March 20
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Police Department officials believe they have tentatively identified a man found dead last week.
Sgt. Nick Bennett said a positive identification of the man is pending the results of fingerprint analysis, and as a result a name has not yet been released.
At approximately 5:50 a.m. last Thursday, March 20, Clearlake Police officers were notified that a person was lying in the street on the 3000 block of Green Street, as Lake County News has reported.
On arrival officers located a male at that location and he was unresponsive. Lake County Fire Protection Department medics responded and determined the male was deceased, police reported.
Clearlake Police Department requested assistance from the public in identifying the person and subsequently received information that led to a tentative identification, Bennett said.
Bennett said the cause of the man's death is pending the results of an autopsy.
The Clearlake Police Department thanked those individuals who came forward with information leading to the probable identification of the young man.
Anyone with any information on this incident is encouraged to contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
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Police seek help in identifying man found dead Thursday
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department is asking for the community's help in identifying a man who was found dead in a city street early Thursday morning.
Sgt. Nick Bennett said officers were notified at 5:50 a.m. Thursday that a person was lying in the street on the 3000 block of Green Street.
On arrival officers located a male at that location and unresponsive. Lake County Fire Protection District medics responded and determined the male was deceased, Bennett said.
The individual had no identification on him and was not recognized by officers on the scene, Bennett said.
The Clearlake Police Department is asking assistance from the community in identifying the man, who is described as a white male adult, 25 to 35 years in age, approximately 5 feet 8 eight in height and 180 pounds, with short brown hair, brown hair and had a nipple ring.
He was wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans, burgundy Nike tennis shoes with red shoe laces and a red and yellow bracelet that reads in part “keepitchronic” on his right wrist, Bennett said.
Anyone with any information on this unidentified individual is encouraged to contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
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Appeals court upholds Lakeport man's conviction for murdering neighbor listed on Megan's Law Web site
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The First Appellate District Court of Appeals has upheld a Lakeport man's conviction for the November 2007 murder of a neighbor who he believed, wrongly, was a child molester based on information he got from the state's Megan's Law Web site.
The appellate court handed down the seven-page decision in the case of Ivan Garcia Oliver, 36, on Thursday.
The three-judge panel unanimously affirmed, in its entirely, Oliver's August 2012 conviction for the murder of 67-year-old Michael Dodele at the Western Hills Mobile Home Park outside the Lakeport city limits.
Oliver – the first person to be convicted of using information from California's Megan's Law Web site in the commission of a crime – received a sentence of 32 years to life, which he is serving at San Quentin State Prison.
Concerned because he claimed to have witnessed a strange car come up to the mobile home park, Oliver spoke to the park manager, who helped him use the Megan's Law Web site to look up information about sex offenders in his neighborhood, according to on trial testimony.
Dodele, who it was stated in court had only moved into the mobile home park a short time earlier after being released from prison for the rape of an adult female in the late 1980s, appeared on the Web site because he was required to register as a sex offender.
The park manager printed out information about Dodele and told Oliver that Dodele was a child molester, a misinterpretation that apparently resulted from the Web site having reported his crimes as being “rape by force” and “oral copulation with person under 14/etc. or by force/etc.,” according to testimony at trial and court documents.
After getting the Web site information, Oliver became increasingly irate and tried to get other tenants to join him in getting Dodele evicted, the appellate documents state.
About two to three days after meeting with the park manager to review the Web site, Oliver confronted Dodele in his home on Nov. 20, 2007, stabbing him some 65 times, according to the autopsy report presented at Oliver's trial.
In his appeal, Oliver argued that the five-year sentencing enhancement finding for the use of Megan's Law had to be reversed due to “instructional error and insufficient evidence,” but the appellate court disagreed.
“Oliver argues that a defendant must personally access the Megan’s Law Web site and acquire the information in order to be liable for the enhancement because 'the plain intent of the statute is to deter persons from going to the Web site to acquire information about sex offenders that can then be used to harm them. There would be no deterrent effect if the defendant did not personally acquire the information from the Web site, but gained his knowledge from an independent source. To hold a defendant criminally responsible for using information he did not acquire, and may not have known the source of, is not the legislative intent, and would be an absurd and unjust result,'” the decision explained.
The justices continued, “The People counter that the objective of the statute is to punish anyone who
misuses information from the Web site, including those who acquire the information from another source,” adding that there was no instructional error, with evidence showing that Oliver “personally and knowingly” obtained information from the Megan's Law Web site.
Even if the court had erred in failing to instruct the jury that Oliver had to personally acquire information from the Web site, “the error would have been harmless under any standard,” the justices found.
“It is sufficient here that Oliver’s belief about what the Web site disclosed could reasonably be found to have influenced his decision to murder Dodele,” the appellate court concluded.
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Sheriff's detectives investigate Tuesday night Clearlake Oaks stabbing
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Clearlake Oaks man was the victim of a Tuesday night stabbing, with sheriff's detectives seeking leads on the identity of the responsible subjects.
Sheriff's Lt. Steve Brooks said that the male victim was transported to the hospital for treatment of a stab wound to his neck and arm.
At approximately 8:53 p.m. Tuesday deputies were dispatched to Firehouse Pizza in Clearlake Oaks on the report of approximately 20 people arguing in front of the restaurant, Brooks said.
As deputies were responding, Central Dispatch advised that the confrontation had become physical with multiple gunshots heard, Brooks said. Just prior to the deputies arriving on scene, Central Dispatch provided information that all of the subjects had fled the area in different directions.
Upon their arrival, deputies located a white male adult who appeared to have been stabbed in the neck and the arm. Brooks said medical personnel from Station 75 treated the victim’s injuries and then transported him to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake for additional medical attention.
Detectives and crime scene investigators were called out and assisted the patrol deputies with multiple interviews and the collection of evidence. Brooks said a detective responded to the hospital and was told by medical staff that the victims injuries were not life threatening and that he would be treated and later released.
A detective contacted the victim in the emergency room as he was receiving medical attention, Brooks reported.
Brooks said the victim said he stepped outside his residence when he noticed a group of people fighting in his driveway. The victim said the group consisted of approximately 15 people who were described as being Caucasian males, between the ages of 18 to 24.
The victim said he felt someone strike his head a couple of times and then suddenly felt blood running down his neck. He told the detective that he did not think he would be able to identify any of the people involved, according to Brooks' report.
This investigation is ongoing and detectives are pursuing all leads to identify the person responsible for the stabbing, Brooks said.
If anyone has information pertinent to this case, please contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.
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Mendocino County Sheriff's deputy killed by armed robbery, carjacking suspect; suspect found dead of apparent suicide
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Mendocino County Sheriff's deputy was fatally shot Wednesday morning after confronting an armed robbery and carjacking suspect who law enforcement said later committed suicide.
Deputy Ricky Del Fiorentino, 48, a 26-year law enforcement veteran, was killed shortly before noon near Fort Bragg, according to Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, who held a news conference on the shooting early Wednesday evening.
The man who shot Del Fiorentino, 32-year-old Ricardo Antonio Chaney, was later found dead near the scene of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Allman said.
Allman said that Chaney was the suspect in an early morning armed robbery involving a shotgun, carjacking and kidnapping in Eugene, Ore.
Chaney stole a black 2006 BMW 330, forced the owners into the trunk and headed south. Allman said he did not have information about the people who had been forced into the trunk, but that they were not in the vehicle at the time of the shooting in Fort Bragg.
A “be on the lookout” about the armed robbery, kidnapping and carjacking was issued to Mendocino County, but Allman's staff didn't have it for their Wednesday morning briefing.
Just after 10:30 a.m. a business owner at Confusion Hill, nine miles south of the Humboldt County line, found Chaney urinating outside of his business, confronted him and told him it was inappropriate, and escorted Chaney off the property, according to Allman.
The business owner told law enforcement that Chaney, wearing a hoodie, returned a short time later with a double-barreled shotgun. The man armed himself with a baseball bat and locked himself inside the business, with Chaney shooting at him through the door. As Chaney sped from the scene, the business owner shot at him with a handgun, Allman said.
Allman said that Mendocino County Sheriff's Dispatch received a 911 call about the incident at 10:34 a.m., just after it occurred.
Chaney fled southbound on Highway 1, with Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt. Greg Stefani spotting the BMW at 11:38 a.m., Allman said.
Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies pursued Chaney, with Allman reporting that the pursuit reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, with Chaney passing on double-yellow lines and blind corners.
About three miles out of Fort Bragg the deputies lost sight of the stolen BMW, and Allman said deputies made contact with Fort Bragg Police to let them know the suspect was headed their way but hadn't yet entered the city.
Allman said the deputies then began searching dirt roads in the area.
Del Fiorentino turned down Park Drive – located three and a half miles north of Fort Bragg, on the west side of Highway 1 – at around 11:50 a.m. and came face to face with Chaney and the stolen BMW, Allman said.
Allman said Chaney – who had two AK-47-type assault rifles, in addition to the double-barreled shotgun he had used at Confusion Hill – riddled Del Fiorentino's patrol car with bullets, blowing out both the windshield and rear window.
Arriving Fort Bragg Police officers found Del Fiorentino dead in the front seat of his vehicle, with Chaney going through the car. Allman said Chaney had taken Del Fiorentino's sidearm from its holster.
What followed, said Allman, was a firefight between Chaney and Fort Bragg Police Lt. John Naulty, who also was armed with an assault rifle.
Allman said Chaney shot six to seven rounds at Naulty, with Naulty returning fire with less than five rounds.
Naulty was able to retreat to safety, with Chaney going into nearby brush, Allman said.
Law enforcement from around Mendocino County – including California Highway Patrol, State Parks and Cal Fire – joined sheriff's and Fort Bragg Police personnel at the scene, creating a sealed perimeter. Allman said that the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office also sent personnel as well as its helicopter to assist with the search for Chaney.
Chaney would later be found in the area, with a gunshot wound in the leg, which it's believed he received during the firefight with Naulty. Allman said Chaney appeared to have committed suicide.
Allman said there was no indication of a second suspect in the shooting, although a second person had been detained at the scene earlier Wednesday.
He said the investigation is continuing, and the CHP and the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office are in charge of processing the scene of the shooting. Investigators from Eugene, Oreg., also are traveling to Mendocino County.
“There's many details that we don't know,” Allman said.
All of the firearms were recovered, including Del Fiorentino's sidearm, which was found near the BMW, Allman said.
Allman said early Wednesday evening that Highway 1 was in the process of being reopened.
Del Fiorentino was “a very, very brave man,” who Allman said he had known for years. They had worked cases together in their early days in the department, and he had last spoken to Del Fiorentino two weeks ago.
Allman said Del Fiorentino worked as a sheriff's deputy from 1988 to 1990, went to work for the Fort Bragg Police Department from 1990 to 2000, and then returned to the sheriff's office in 2000, working there these past 14 years.
A wrestling coach, father and husband, Del Fiorentino lived in Fort Bragg and was assigned to the north coast area, Allman said.
Gov. Jerry Brown, Congressman Jared Huffman, California Attorney General Kamala Harris and CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow had all called Allman on Wednesday in the wake of the shooting, he said.
Allman asked the community for prayers and sympathy for Del Fiorentino's family.
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