Zachary Aaron Peterson, 20, of Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., was arrested along with several juvenile suspects for a series of south county thefts on Saturday, July 30, 2011. Lake County Jail photo.
ANDERSON SPRINGS, Calif. – An investigation into multiple thefts in the Anderson Springs area of Middletown over the weekend has resulted in the arrests of three juveniles and one adult.
The adult in the case is 20-year-old Zachary Aaron Peterson of Hidden Valley Lake, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman said several items of stolen property have been recovered and returned to their owners and many other items remain in safekeeping, pending the identification of additional theft victims.
On Saturday, July 30, at approximately 9:30 a.m., a sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a residence on Rose Anderson Road in Anderson Springs to investigate a theft from a vehicle, Bauman said.
He said the victim reported that several male juveniles had been seen going through her parked vehicle at approximately 3:30 a.m. and several items of property had been stolen, including an i-Pod, a cell phone and tools.
As the deputy was investigating that theft, another resident on Rose Anderson Road reported that he also had property stolen from his vehicle during the night. Bauman said a pair of binoculars and a pair of sunglasses were reportedly taken from his vehicle.
After talking with several neighboring residents, the investigation led the deputy to another home on Rose Anderson Road, where he contacted three male juveniles and a male adult, identified as Peterson, Bauman said.
Bauman said that during that contact, the deputy observed several items of property on the premises that matched the description of items stolen in the two thefts.
The i-Pod, cell phone, tools, binoculars and sunglasses previously reported as stolen were positively identified and all four suspects were arrested, Bauman said.
He said the suspects admitted to stealing property from at least six other parked vehicles during the night but they could not remember where the cars were located. Additional items of property were seized as suspected stolen property from those unreported thefts.
Peterson was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility where he was booked for receiving stolen property, with bail set at $10,000. Jail records indicated that Peterson remained in custody on Monday.
Bauman said the three juveniles were transported to the Lake County Juvenile Hall where they were all booked for receiving stolen property and petty theft.
The property stolen in the two initial thefts was returned to both victims, Bauman said.
Several other items of suspected stolen property are being held for safekeeping, pending the identification of additional theft victims. He said those items include numerous cell phone chargers, a deck of playing cards, a “Plantronics” blue-tooth earpiece, a “Scosche” remote control unit and a black knife.
Anyone who believes they may have had property stolen from their car over the weekend in the Anderson Springs area is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Investigations Division at 707-262-4200.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lake County Sheriff's sergeant who is suing both the sheriff and the county of Lake for allegedly violations of his peace officer rights will be in court later this month for a hearing in the case.
Sgt. Corey Paulich filed the lawsuit last month in Lake County Superior Court, alleging that his peace officer due process rights were violated repeatedly by Sheriff Francisco Rivero during a March internal affairs investigation about a high speed chase that involved deputies under Paulich's supervision, as Lake County News has reported.
The case made its first appearance before Lake County Superior Court Judge David Herrick on Thursday, July 21.
The suit alleges that Rivero accused Paulich of wrongdoing, failed to inform him of his statutory rights and threatened that he would be “held accountable” for the actions of others during a series of on- and off-duty interrogations following the incident.
Paulich's suit seeks $150,000 – or the maximum of $25,000 for each of the six alleged violations of his rights under the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act – along with attorney fees and other associated costs.
He's also seeking a court order setting aside the disciplinary investigation.
Rivero had said in a written statement released in the wake of the suit's filing that while his agency respected and honored procedural rights of those under investigation, “we are equally obligated to hold our law enforcement personnel strictly accountable for their actions.”
On July 21 Paulich and his attorney, Christopher Miller of the firm Mastagni, Holstedt, Amick, Miller & Johnsen – who represents Paulich as general counsel for the Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association – appeared, but no representatives of either the sheriff's office or the county were present, Miller said.
During the hearing Miller presented the court with proofs that both the county and sheriff's office had been served with the lawsuit, according to case documents.
Herrick ruled there was good cause to issue an order to show cause and an alternative writ.
The judge signed an alternative writ directing that the disciplinary investigation against Paulich is to immediately be set aside or, alternatively, that the county and the sheriff must appear before him on Monday, Aug. 22, to show cause for having not done so.
County Counsel Anita Grant – whose office is representing both the county and the sheriff in the suit – said that while the county could have appeared at the hearing, “the order to show cause is where the meat of the hearing will be,” and that will take place on Aug. 22.
She said one of her staff members and a sheriff's office representative will be present at that hearing.
Asked if the disciplinary investigation against Paulich has been set aside according to the judge's order, Grant said she could not discuss anything of substance about the case at this point.
In a series of e-mails with Lake County News, Miller said he has received no response from the county regarding the suit and does not know if the disciplinary investigation has been halted.
In addition to Paulich's case, the county and the sheriff's office will appear in court this month for trial in the Lake County Correctional Officer's Association's suit against the sheriff, scheduled to start Aug. 16.
In that case, the association is alleging that Rivero unilaterally stripped correctional officers of peace officer status granted them by state legislation in 2008, changing them back to “custodial” officers and removing their ability to carry firearms unless transporting prisoners.
Rivero said this spring that the actions against the correctional officers were necessary due to potential liability arising from allowing them to carry firearms.
UKIAH, Calif. – At a special Friday event local, state and federal officials offered a glimpse into a multiagency operation to fight the escalating problem of illicit marijuana grows – and the accompanying violence and ecological destruction – on public lands.
Operation Full Court Press is taking place in Lake, Mendocino, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Trinity counties, with emphasis on the Mendocino National Forest, according to US Attorney Melinda Haag, who spoke at the Friday morning press conference at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Ukiah.
Many of the details surrounding Operation Full Court Press are still not being made public, as they're considered part of the investigation, according both to Haag and Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman – the lone sheriff of the six involved in Operation Full Court Press to appear at the Friday event.
Haag said drug traffickers are abusing the public lands and making them dangerous for visitors, possibly engaging in human trafficking to provide a labor force for the grows and using marijuana growing practices that pollute the environment.
Officials would not disclose the time frame for the operation as well as other specifics in order to protect the work of eradicating the grows.
However, the numbers they did share pointed to a large and aggressive attack on illegal growing on public lands that is believed to be controlled by criminal drug trafficking organizations, which have no qualms about using violence and which, law enforcement officials said, have made the threat to the public as great as it has ever been.
As of Friday morning, Operation Full Court Press had gone into 56 grow sites in the six counties and eradicated approximately 468,950 marijuana plants, with an estimated street value of more than $928 million, officials reported.
The operation also has netted 102 arrests – 89 of which were persons booked on various federal and state charges to include marijuana, firearm, and immigration violations, while 13 were foreign nationals detained on administrative immigration violations who will be processed for removal from the United States.
Altogether, the operation has seized 1,510 pounds of processed marijuana, 18 grams of methamphetamine, 22 Xanax pills, $15,981 U.S. currency, 32 weapons and 11 vehicles, according to statistics provided by the California Department of Justice on Friday.
Operation Full Court Press consists of more than 300 personnel from 27 local, state, and federal agencies.
Participating agencies include the sheriffs' and district attorneys' offices of each of the six focus area counties, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration US Fish and Wildlife, US Forest Services, the Northern California and Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, California National Guard, Civil Air Patrol, Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the US Attorney's Offices for the Northern and Eastern Districts.
Just as important as shutting down the criminal element is stopping the damage to the land itself, which has been heavily impacted by growing practices in the illicit gardens, officials said.
In the course of the operations 23 tons of trash, 22 miles of irrigation line, 2,171 pounds of fertilizer and 57 pounds of pesticides were removed from grow sites, officials reported. In addition, Haag said 13 diversion dams used as garden water sources have been taken.
Officials estimated that removing such nonnative material – the first stage of the restoration process – can cost up to $11,000 per acre.
In the vast Mendocino National Forest, which runs into all of the six participating counties and, at just over 900,000 acres, is roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island – the members of the public who want to use the forest and the animals that live in the wild have been heavily impacted, Haag said.
“This is an intolerable situation and it has to be stopped,” she said.
Among Friday's speakers was Congressman Mike Thompson, who addressed the group of about 40 people via conference call due to the need to stay in Washington, D.C. to vote on debt ceiling-related issues.
Thompson credited Allman's dedication to fighting the illicit grows. “He's lived and breathed this issue for quite some time.”
In 2008, Thompson hosted a meeting of local officials to consider how to respond to the impacts of the grows on public lands. Thompson said Allman took the ball and ran with it.
Thompson said efforts to restore salmon and steelhead are hampered by diverting water sources and the grows' resulting ecological damage. “Every time we take a step forward these guys push us us back two steps more.”
He added that the effort “was long overdue.”
Allman, who as sheriff of Mendocino County deals with many medical marijuana grows conducted in a legal fashion, said the rule is, “Thou shalt not grow on public lands.”
He also guaranteed that Operation Full Court Press is not a one-time event, and that it will continue into 2012 and 2013.
“Growers beware,” he said, reiterating that public lands are not the place to grow marijuana.
Attacking the problem
The problems with illicit marijuana grows have spread across the region over the last several years, according to those on the front lines.
In Glenn County, Sheriff Larry Jones – whose small department has been increasingly squeezed by that county's deep budget cuts – is trying, at the same time, to meet the increased challenges of illegal marijuana grows on public lands.
Many people in Glenn County hunt and recreate in the Mendocino National Forest. “Quite frankly, they're scared,” said Jones in a Friday afternoon interview.
The local rangeland association also is concerned, said Jones, noting that ranchers run cattle in the forest.
Jones said Operation Full Court Press – the planning stages for which began right after last Christmas – is much needed. “Last year was a record year for us as far as plants,” with close to 90,000 plants seized, he said.
During those early planning stages, Jones said he pointed out to other members of the effort that an illegal grower in one county is likely to have operations in other counties as well.
He believes the participating counties are all seeing substantial results.
“It takes a monumental amount of planning and cooperation among all agencies,” he said, adding that “everyone is bending over backwards” to make it work.
Regarding Allman's pledge to continue Operation Full Court Press beyond 2011, Jones said, “It's all going to depend on funding.”
He added, “I have no extra dollars whatsoever to put into this.”
Jones has some DEA and US Forest Service grant money for eradication. “Once that's expended there is no more,” he said.
“We've got to draw that money out as long as we can to combat that plague we face up here in our national forest,” Jones said.
That's a tougher proposition because eradicating illegal marijuana grows on public lands is now a year-round effort, said Jones.
“They still have time to get another crop in before winter sets in,” he said.
Lake County News asked Lake County Sheriff's Office public information officer Capt. James Bauman for information on Lake County Sheriff's resources being used in the effort.
The agency did not directly respond to Lake County News' inquiries, instead sending out a copy of a press release that had been distributed at the Ukiah event.
The other remaining sheriffs in the collaboration couldn't be reached by Lake County News on Friday.
Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson was not in Ukiah on Friday but said later that day, “Our part is going to be prosecution of cases that are not taken to the US Attorney's Office.”
He added, “As far as I know, nothing has been referred to us yet.”
On Friday, Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown lauded Allman's leadership in the effort. Brown has experienced firsthand the impact of illicit marijuana grows, when several years ago he discovered a grow hidden in brush on his Kelseyville property.
On Friday Allman recalled a Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting last year in Covelo during which he said several people stood up and told the board that while making trips into the forest they had been shot at by marijuana growers.
As he measures the success of efforts like Operation Full Court Press, Allman said he wants to hear that people can go back into the forest to enjoy it and not be in danger.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department is investigating an incident from last week in which someone shot at an unoccupied vehicle.
In a Thursday report, the agency said that at about 12:16 a.m. Friday, July 22, officers with the Clearlake Police Department were dispatched to the area of Halika Street for a report of shots fired.
Officers arrived on scene and located a parked vehicle in the area of the 3500 block of Halika Street with numerous apparent gunshots, according to the report. The vehicle was unoccupied at the time but was parked near several residences.
During the investigation it was discovered the home was associated with a known Sureno gang members. The agency said it is believed the shooting was possibly gang-related.
At this time there is minimal suspect information, police said.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Det. Peterson at the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
Marc Harry Halvorsen, 27, of Nice, Calif., was found limping down 14th Avenue in Lucerne early on Sunday, July 24, 2011. Halvorsen, who was found under the influence of alcohol, allegedly was trying to break into the home of an elderly woman when she shot him. Lake County Jail photo.
LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office issued a report on Monday concerning an early Sunday incident in which a 27-year-old man was shot by a 77-year-old Lucerne woman after he allegedly attempted to break into her home.
Marc Harry Halvorsen of Nice later was arrested for felony attempted robbery and attempted burglary, as Lake County News has reported.
Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said that sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers responded to a residence on 14th Avenue in Lucerne on a report of an attempted home invasion with shots fired at 1:50 a.m. Sunday.
As deputies responded to the area, further reports from the victim and other callers indicated that a male suspect had been confronted by a neighbor after finding him in the victim’s yard and that the victim had fired several shots at the suspect, Bauman said.
Within minutes of arriving at the scene, deputies located a man limping away from the area of the victim’s house on 14th Avenue. Bauman said deputies detained the man and identified him as Halvorsen.
Halvorsen allegedly was under the influence of alcohol and had sustained a gunshot wound to his left leg, Bauman said. Medics from Northshore Fire Protection District were called in to tend to Halvorsen’s wound while deputies investigated the scene.
The victim, who is elderly and confined to a wheelchair, told deputies she was asleep in her living room when she was awakened by her barking dog, Bauman said.
Her dog was running back and forth in the house and just as it alerted to the sliding glass door in the living room, the victim heard a loud bang on the door. Bauman said the victim picked up her phone to call 911 and then retrieved her 9 millimeter handgun while she was dialing.
Despite her yelling at the intruder to get away from her house or she would shoot, the suspect continued to pound on her glass door. When the victim started to hear glass breaking, she fired a shot at the suspect, Bauman said.
The intruder continued to pound on the glass door and each time he pounded, the victim fired a shot at him. Bauman said it later was determined that the victim fired a total of five shots at the suspect before he ceased his attempts to get in the house.
A neighbor told deputies he was awakened to the sound of barking dogs. As he began exiting his house to investigate, he heard a gunshot, according to Bauman.
When the neighbor went outside, he saw Halvorsen in the victim’s yard. The neighbor confronted Halvorsen, telling him he didn’t belong there, but Halvorsen told him to go home and then commenced to kick and pound on the victims sliding glass door, Bauman said.
The neighbor then heard another shot come from the house and he saw Halvorsen “flinch,” presumably due to being hit, according to Bauman's report.
Halvorsen was arrested and transported under guard to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for further treatment of his gunshot wound, Bauman said.
Bauman said the 77-year-old victim was unharmed during the incident.
While at the hospital, Halvorsen allegedly told deputies that he had been drinking at his cousin’s house in Lucerne earlier in the evening. Bauman said Halvorsen said he did not remember anything after leaving his cousin’s house, including beating and kicking on the victim’s door or even being shot.
After several hours at the hospital, Halvorsen was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility where he was booked for attempted robbery and attempted burglary, Bauman said.
Jail records show that Halvorsen remains in custody with bail set at$50,000.
MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – A six-county effort to attack the problem of illegal marijuana growing on public lands is gaining strength, officials said Friday.
“Operation Full Court Press” is a multiagency, focused operation comprising federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that is working to identify and eradicate illegal marijuana cultivation sites on public lands in and near the Mendocino National Forest, and to conduct reclamation activities on the environmentally affected areas.
The operations are taking place in a six-county area – Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Trinity, according to a joint statement from the sheriff's office of those counties.
Officials said Proposition 215 medical marijuana grow sites are not being targeted, as such grows are not the focus of the eradication and reclamation effort on public lands.
Rather, Operation Full Court Press is taking aim at large scale illegal marijuana cultivation, which officials said leads to deforestation, damages wildlife habitats and induces hazardous chemical pollution.
The use of herbicides, pesticides and rodenticides can cause extensive and long term damage to ecosystems and impact public drinking water for hundreds of miles.
Reclaiming the devastated areas on public lands is a key component of the current operations, according to the participating agencies. Removing trash and infrastructure inherent in these sites helps to restore the land to its natural condition. Hundreds of pounds of hazardous debris and trash, including propane tanks and empty pesticide containers, are removed from these sites each year.
A major goal of Operation Full Court Press is making public lands available once again for current and future generations to safely enjoy recreating on public lands and benefiting from clean water and healthy natural resources.
The participating agencies said that while they can confirm that the operations are going on, due to officer safety and security reasons they cannot release any additional information relating to these activities.
The group also asked for the public’s patience and understanding as they conduct the operations and reclaim public lands.
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