KELSEYVILLE – A Kelseyville woman who is alleged to have caused a Sunday vehicle crash has been arrested on a battery of charges, including making a false police report that led to a major search for her son, possessions of drugs and drug paraphernalia and possession of tear gas.
Cheryl Ann Resh – who reported her last name as Hergert to the California Highway Patrol – was arrested Sunday afternoon, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Resh allegedly caused a collision with a Kelseyville couple on Soda Bay Road near Gaddy Lane on Sunday afternoon shortly before 2 p.m., as Lake County News has reported.
She had told Kelseyville Fire medics and CHP officers at the scene that she was speeding home because her 14-year-old son had been bitten by a rattlesnake.
Bauman said that, since no one at the collision scene required medical attention, medics left the scene and responded to Resh's residence on Glebe Road to help locate her son, but couldn't find the boy.
The medics started inquiring with neighboring residents as to the boy’s whereabouts and it became apparent that the boy may be wandering somewhere in the hills, Bauman said.
Acting on Resh’s report that her son could be in imminent danger, the Kelseyville Fire medics requested Sheriff’s Search and Rescue personnel to assist with locating the boy. Bauman said a CalStar helicopter was dispatched from Ukiah to assist and while medics and neighborhood residents combed the area for the boy, volunteers with K-Corps and Search and Rescue were called out to respond.
After nearly an hour of searching for the teenager, the boy’s father showed up after hearing his son was in danger and told one of the Search and Rescue coordinators that he had not been bitten by a snake and was not even in the area, according to Bauman.
The father told deputies that the boy had actually gone to the movies in Lakeport with a friend of his mother’s. Bauman said the father’s information was verified when a deputy was dispatched to the Lakeport Cinema 5 where the boy was located unharmed.
Despite the account Resh provided at the accident scene, she never showed up to the area of the search for her son, Bauman said. When deputies located her son at the movie theater, they learned she may be at a friend’s home in Soda Bay.
After checking several different homes in Soda Bay, Resh was located and confronted about the apparent hoax she created. Bauman said she then admitted to lying to medics and CHP about her son being bitten by a snake to avoid getting in trouble for speeding.
During her detention, deputies found Resh to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana, some methamphetamine, a canister of pepper spray and a “crank” pipe, Bauman said.
Bauman said deputies arrested Resh and transported her to the Lake County Jail. During the booking process, Resh further told deputies she had actually fabricated the story about her son being bitten by a snake to avoid being found in possession of the drugs.
Resh, an In-Home Supportive Services employee, was booked on a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor possession of tear gas, and misdemeanor false report of an emergency to a peace officer. Bauman said she has since been released on a $10,000 bond.
Bauman told Lake County News that authorities could pursue legal action against Resh to recover the costs for Sunday's efforts by Search and Rescue and CalStar.
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