The council will meet for a workshop on the 2011-12 budget at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 7, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

The regular meeting will convene at 6 p.m.

At the beginning of the meeting, the council will be introduced to the city's newest police officer, Gary Basor, formerly a sergeant with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, along with Jerry Wilson, formerly a county Office of Emergency Services staffer and the department's newest volunteer.

City Clerk Janel Chapman will take to the council a proposed amendment to Application No. 2010-25 to allow commercial vendors in Library Park for the June 25 Lake County Home Wine Makers Festival.

City Manager Margaret Silveira also will ask the council to consider a variance from Section 9.08.030 of the Citys Municipal Code to provide an opportunity for a vendor located at the city's boat ramp.

In other business, the council will hold a public hearing and adopt a revised Community Development Block Grant Program Income Reuse Plan and consider revisions to the CDBG Housing Rehabilitation Program Guidelines.

The city also will hold a closed session to discuss property negotiations for Green Ranch and a property at 902 Bevins Court and employee, and negotiations with unrepresented employee groups.

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One case involved a drive-by shooting, while in the second a woman said a man shot a gun in the air after confronting her, according to Sgt. Rodd Joseph.

At 8:30 p.m. Wednesday Clearlake Police dispatch received a call of several shots seen being fired from a moving vehicle on Dam Road near the intersection with Lake Street, Joseph said.

The reporting party stated the vehicle was a small 1990s maroon two-door coupe. Joseph said the suspect vehicle was not a hatchback and had square-shaped rear tail lights. It was last seen traveling south on Lake Street towards Lower Lake from Dam Road.

A short while later a person, wishing to remain anonymous, told police that a vehicle had been shot at near the intersection of Dam Road and Lake Street only a short time earlier, Joseph said. The person also told police where the victim vehicle could be located.

Joseph said officers located the vehicle parked in an apartment complex in the 3800 block of Old Highway 53. The vehicle had two undisclosed caliber bullets holes in the passenger side of the vehicle.

He said officers learned that the two occupants, an adult female driver and a 17-year-old passenger, both of Clearlake, had been shot at while driving on Dam Road from another vehicle, believed to be the same two-door maroon coupe identified by a witness.

Neither of the victim vehicle’s two occupants were injured in the shooting. Joseph said both occupants were uncooperative with police but have provided some information leading officers to believe that shooting was possibly gang-related and targeted towards the occupants of this particular vehicle.

Though the victims in this particular incident are unwilling to cooperate with the investigation, the Clearlake Police Department is committed to finding those responsible for this violent assault, Joseph said.

In the second case, Joseph said officers responded to the Burns Valley Shopping Mall on Olympic Drive on a report of another shooting incident.

He said a woman called Clearlake Police Dispatch and stated that she was driving in the parking lot of the shopping center when a male confronted her over her looking at him.

A short argument ensued and the woman began driving away from the male suspect. Joseph said the male suspect then allegedly pulled a gun and fired approximately two shots up into the air. The woman and her adult male passenger were not injured.

The woman was frightened and called 911. Joseph said three Clearlake police officers arrived on scene within minutes of the call.

The suspect was described as a white male adult about 18 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall with a slender to average sized build and short dirty blond colored hair.

Joseph said the suspect was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt over a black long-sleeved sweatshirt, dark-colored pants and a black-colored baseball cap. He was wearing a black cloth-type backpack and pushing a gray-colored BMX style bike.

The suspect was last seen heading west through the parking lot. Joseph said the suspect was with a white female adult, also about 18 years of age with brown shoulder length hair, who last was seen wearing dark colored clothing.

Clearlake Police officers immediately established a perimeter around the shopping center and the walnut tree orchard directly to the north of the shopping center, Joseph said.

Officers obtained Lakeshore Fire and Rescue’s Forward Looking Infra-Red video monitor and attempted to locate the suspects in the orchard, a possible area where the suspect had fled to, he said.

Joseph said that the suspect weren't located following a search than lasted between 45 minutes and one hour.

Anyone with information about these two incidents is urged to contact the Clearlake Police Department at (707) 994-8251. You may remain anonymous.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County's district attorney said Friday his office is investigating the circumstances behind a recent sheriff's undercover drug operation in Clearlake as well as the potential civil rights violations involved in a law enforcement response earlier this month to reports that Hells Angels were coming to the county.

District Attorney Don Anderson confirmed to Lake County News on Friday that the investigations are under way and that much of the work already is complete. He said he hopes that the inquiry will be complete within two weeks.

He said his investigators are reviewing police reports and 911 tapes, talking to witnesses and interviewing the law enforcement officers involved.

Anderson said it's also his intention to interview Sheriff Frank Rivero as part of the investigation.

Rivero responded with a statement accusing Anderson of “targeting” the sheriff's office.

Anderson, however, said he's not targeting the sheriff's office.

“We're not really investigating the sheriff or the sheriff's department,” Anderson said Friday. “We're on a fact-finding mission. We need to find out what the facts are and let the chips fall where they may.”

Anderson said his staff has been at work on the inquiry for about four or five days.

Specifically, Anderson said they are looking at two incidents – the response to the May 14 appearance of the Vagos motorcycle club and reports that the Hells Angels were coming to the county; and the May 19 undercover narcotics operation that the Sheriff's Narcotic Task Force carried out in the city of Clearlake, without notifying the Clearlake Police Department.

Regarding the May 14 incident involving the Vagos, Lakeport Police, accompanied by several agencies – including the sheriff's office and California Highway Patrol – shut down part of Main Street and staged in downtown in response to the appearance of between 70 and 100 Vagos, identified by police as an outlaw motorcycle gang.

The group's sergeant-at-arms said they had come for an annual meeting, but Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said his agency had information that the group actually was putting on a show of force in response to one of its members being beaten up by two Hells Angels prospects weeks before.

After many of the Vagos left Lakeport that day, Rivero ordered deputies to the Middletown area. He said he had received information that a large group of Hells Angels was heading towards the south end of the county, and he ordered deputies to stage at the county line and turn them around if they attempted to enter the county.

Luckily, said Anderson, no Hells Angels arrived. Even so, “There's a big time civil rights issue there.”

He said the Hells Angels are known for suing government entities in response to civil rights violations.

“We have to watch out for civil rights for Hells Angels or anyone else,” said Anderson. “They are citizens.”

In his Friday statement, Rivero said he found it “curious” that Anderson was undertaking the investigation, “since he is charged with prosecuting criminal matters, not filing or defending civil lawsuits.”

He added, “I wonder what crime I have committed by the action of preparing my deputies to meet an imminent threat to the safety of the people of Lake County by stopping two outlaw motorcycle gangs from warring in our county?”

Rivero also said that Anderson's claim that lawsuits may have resulted had the Hells Angels arrived “is speculative at best.”

The sheriff said he was “confident that Mr. Anderson’s investigation will prove he is also misinformed concerning the purported 'officer safety' issues and the number of officers deployed” to the May 14 incident.

Apart from the sheriff’s deputies, CHP officers, Clearlake Police and Lakeport Police officers, Fish and Game wardens and Anderson's own investigators were involved in the response, Rivero said, pointing out those agencies also had been deployed to meet the Vagos in Lakeport earlier that day.

Problems with cases arising from undercover drug operation

The second incident Anderson and his investigators are exploring occurred just last week, when the Sheriff's Narcotics Task Force went undercover in an operation that led from the county jurisdiction into the city of Clearlake.

As part of the May 19 operation, Rivero reportedly refused to notify the Clearlake Police Department, despite the operation's supervisor urging him to do so.

Rivero claimed the operation was developing too quickly and he needed to maintain the element of surprise.

However, he's come under criticism for failing to take that step.

That's because the Clearlake Police Department received 911 calls about the operation after it moved to the 19^th Avenue house of 25-year-old Michael Tremell Mitchell.

Both Mitchell's girlfriend and his sister called to report subjects, dressed in black, coming into the house with Mitchell in handcuffs, according to audio recordings of the calls that Lake County News obtained through a Public Records Act request.

The women said they feared Mitchell was going to be harmed, and didn't identify the subjects with Mitchell as law enforcement.

Nor did they describe the undercover deputies as having worn marked “raid” jackets, which Rivero claimed they were wearing in a statement earlier this week.

Four Clearlake Police officers responded to the scene, where they believed a hostage situation was taking place, according to police reports.

With guns drawn the four officers approached the home. Two officers had firearms – a handgun and an assault rifle – trained on a deputy they could see silhouetted in the window.

After one officer approached the door and announced the police presence, a deputy opened the door, said, “It's the f***'in sheriff's department” and closed the door, diffusing the situation.

Clearlake Police Sgt. Rodd Joseph said in his report on the incident that, had any of the deputies pointed their weapons at the officers, the officers would have begun firing.

Likewise, interim Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen told Lake County News that the confrontation between his officers and the deputies had given rise to concerns for officer safety.

Facts about operation not clear

In his Friday statement, Rivero said it was “out of the ordinary” for Anderson to investigate the sheriff's office for conducting what Rivero called “a highly successful narcotics operation” in Clearlake.

However, Anderson had a different assessment of the situation.

The operation had resulted in the seizure of two handguns – one of them stolen – as well as marijuana and about an ounce of methamphetamine, according to a previous sheriff's office report.

Deputies also had arrested Mitchell; Cebram Lawrence Roston, 29, of Clearlake; Edgar Agustin Castellanos, 30, of Las Vegas; and Fernando Flores-Nunez, 25of Clearlake.

“There are just so many problems with the arrests right now,” Anderson said.

“That's one of the reasons why I'm doing the investigation, is to see if there's any evidence against them,” Anderson said.

Mitchell posted bail and was released not long after the May 19 arrest, while on Friday jail records showed that Roston remained in custody.

Castellanos and Flores-Nunez both are alleged to be in the United States illegally and had immigration holds put on them, however, jail records showed that, of the two, only Flores-Nunez was still in custody on Friday.

Anderson said his office hadn't seen important evidence in the case, including the ounce of methamphetamine Rivero had said his deputies had seized.

“It hasn't been turned over to our office yet,” said Anderson.

On top of that, with the differing versions of the operation coming from the Clearlake Police Department and the sheriff's office, Anderson said his staff can't tell what's true and what isn't as it approaches attempting to prosecute the case involving the four arrests.

“We still don't know what happened,” he said. “I'm obligated to find out.”

He said that, as a result, investigators are looking at the records, and talking to witnesses and the law enforcement personnel involved, including Clearlake Police.

“We're going to look at every discrepancy there is,” he said. “We need to find out what the truth is on all the issues.”

He said if his office can't get to the bottom of it, they can't charge the case.

Rivero said Friday that the different versions of the incident by the Sheriff Narcotics Task Force and the Clearlake Police Officers regarding their encounter “is of grave concern” to him.

Rivero, who was on duty that night but not at the 19^th Avenue home, has himself made conflicting statements about the situation, denying that a “confrontation” – the word Clearlake Police used to describe it – took place.

He said that on Tuesday he initiated his own investigation into the May 19 incident, using an independent investigator.

According to Rivero, he spoke to Clausen on Tuesday and asked him to join in the investigation.

Rivero said Clausen stated he would discuss the request with interim Clearlake City Administrator Steve Albright and legal counsel and get back to the sheriff.

The statement by Rivero was released Friday evening, after the close of business, so Lake County News could not contact Clausen to ask for a response to that statement.

In recent days, reports also have begun to circulate that Rivero has attempted to prevent deputies from speaking out about the incident.

Anderson, who acknowledged having heard those reports, said if any laws or deputies' civil rights turn out to have been violated, “We may take a look at it.”

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf , on Tumblr at http://lakeconews.tumblr.com/ and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

Under state guidelines local jurisdictions were at the least notified when the task force was conducting a law enforcement action.

You could forgo telling the agency the actual address and give the area of operation. This at least would save you a lot of heartache.

An operation plan was mandatory and required to be given to the dispatcher in the jurisdiction.

Could you imagine if you shot another cop – someone's husband, father or son? Such a terrible event that could have been avoided would end up being litigated.

Shame on the sheriff for such selfish thinking in not notifying the Clearlake Police Department of an undercover drug operation in its jurisdiction. No ounce of dope is worth that.

Keith Krampitz is retired from the Department of Justice. He lives in Oroville, Calif.

Sheriff Frank Rivero has defended his actions in not notifying Clearlake Police as part of the undercover drug operation, which took place Thursday, May 19, and lasted into the following day.

Rivero's statement said six felony arrests resulted from the operation, but the following four individuals are the only ones listed as arrested by the Sheriff's Narcotics Task Force: 25-year-old Michael Tremell Mitchell of Clearlake; Cebram Lawrence Roston, 29, of Clearlake; and Edgar Agustin Castellanos, 30, of Las Vegas and Fernando Flores-Nunez, 25of Clearlake, both of whom are allegedly in the United States illegally.

The task force also reportedly seized methamphetamine, marijuana and two handguns, one of which Rivero said was stolen out of the Clearlake.

Rivero's statement said that on the afternoon of May 19 Sheriff's Narcotic Task Force detectives developed information from a case that originated in the county that a narcotics transaction involving a large amount of methamphetamine was going to occur that evening on the grounds of the Yuba College in Clearlake.

The detectives established surveillance on the campus just before 6 p.m. that day, with uniformed sheriff’s deputies and two narcotics detection K-9 teams were also staged in the area, the sheriff's office said.

Mitchell, the subject of about a dozen active court cases and a recent Clearlake Police arrest, allegedly rode onto the campus on a dirt bike at about 6:15 p.m., stopped near a parked vehicle and got into it. That's where the sheriff's office said detectives detained Mitchell, who is on probation.

Because of his probation status, detectives were able to search Mitchell and found an ounce of methamphetamine in the car, the sheriff's office reported.

Following Mitchell's arrest, Rivero said detectives developed more information that another sales transaction involving an even larger amount of methamphetamine that was to occur within 20 minutes at Mitchell’s home on 19th Avenue in Clearlake.

“With a very short time frame to work in, detectives quickly went to Mitchell’s home to insert detectives, conduct surveillance and intercept the unidentified drug traffickers,” the statement said.

After they arrived at Mitchell's home, the detectives arrested Roston, who showed up as they were waiting for the other suspects, the sheriff's office said.

Roston, who had multiple arrest warrants for narcotics and other charges, was taken into custody while the detectives waited for the drug traffickers they told were to arrive, the report noted.

After the detectives arrived at Mitchell's home the Clearlake Police Department received two 911 calls from Mitchell's girlfriend, who stated that three large male subjects dressed in dark clothing had her boyfriend in handcuffs at the home and that she had been told to take her baby and leave.

Based on that information, as well as a 911 call from Mitchell's sister, the Clearlake Police believed there was a hostage situation under way.

“Shortly after Roston was taken into custody, Clearlake Police officers arrived at the home as someone had reportedly witnessed undercover detectives, who were wearing sheriff’s raid jackets, handcuffing him and taking him into the home,” according to Rivero's report.

But the statement about raid jackets doesn't match Mitchell's girlfriend's statements about the men's dark clothing. The police dispatcher had asked her if the men were law enforcement and the woman did not identify them as such.

The sheriff's report also conflicts with statements by Clearlake Police Sgt. Rodd Joseph, who wrote in his report that one of the undercover deputies was wearing a light-colored shirt and another a red shirt.

Rivero's report also stated that “one of the detectives inserted in the home saw the uniformed Clearlake Officers approach. The detective called out to the uniformed officers announcing there were sheriff narcotics officers inside. He then opened the front door, announcing Sheriff’s Office presence again and presenting his badge. The Clearlake officers immediately recognized the undercover narcotics detective and then left without incident.”

That statement conflicts with the reports of Joseph and Ray, who said they had their weapons trained on a figure they saw in the window, and it was only after Officer Alan Collier knocked on the door and announced the police presence that Deputy Steve Herdt opened the door, said, “It's the f***in' sheriff's department,” and then closed the door.

The police reports said Herdt had a badge around his neck, but that he did not present it before closing the door on them. They did not recount any sheriff's detective calling out to police to warn them of the narcotics detectives' presence.

Not long after the four Clearlake Police officers cleared the scene, a gold pickup truck reportedly arrived at the home and as two suspects – later identified as Castellanos and Flores-Nunez – got out and approached the front of the house, multiple detectives and uniformed deputies moved in and detained them, according to the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office reported that narcotics detection K-9 teams checked the truck and the dogs “hit” on several areas of the vehicle, but no drugs were located.

“Detectives believe that the suspects intended to collect payment for the intended transaction before actually delivering the drugs, as is common practice with drug dealers,” the sheriff's office said.

The investigation would take the detectives to two other homes in Clearlake where they believed Castellanos had resided.

The sheriff's statement said detectives worked into the early morning hours of Friday to “freeze” homes located on 33rd Avenue and Vista Street, and search warrants were written and secured for both locations.

Shortly after 4 a.m. May 20, sheriff's detectives served the search warrants at both homes, the sheriff's office reported.

At the 33^rd Avenue home detectives seized a total of 351 marijuana plants from an illegal grow in the backyard, according to the sheriff's report.

It also was there that the sheriff's office reported that it seized two firearms – a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol and a .45 caliber revolver – the former later being determined to have been stolen out of Clearlake.

Mitchell, Roston, Castellanos, and Flores-Nunez were all transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked, the sheriff's office reported.

Mitchell was charged with possession of a controlled substance for sales and transportation of a controlled substance, with bail set at $15,000. Jail records showed he later posted bail and was released.

Roston was booked on a total of six warrants for his arrest for narcotics offenses and other charges. His bail was set at $20,000. He remained in custody on Tuesday, according to jail records.

Castellanos was booked for conspiracy to sell methamphetamine, cultivation of marijuana, grand theft of a firearm and an immigration hold. Flores-Nunez was booked for conspiracy to sell methamphetamine and an immigration hold. Jail records showed that both men also remained in custody on Tuesday.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .