Jesus Torres-Fernandez of Nice, Calif., was arrested on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, for attempted robbery at the Lucerne Pharmacy. Lake County Jail photo.

NICE, Calif. – A rapid response by sheriff’s deputies to an attempted robbery of the Lucerne Pharmacy on Wednesday afternoon has led to the arrest of a 41-year-old Nice man.

Jesus Torres-Fernandez, 41, of Nice was arrested and booked on charges of felony attempted robbery, first degree burglary, false imprisonment and making criminal threats, and misdemeanor battery and unlawful possession of a hypodermic syringe, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

On Wednesday, March 30, at approximately 3:30 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported robbery in progress at the Lucerne Pharmacy on Highway 20, Bauman said.

A 911 call to sheriff’s dispatch reported that a man was terrorizing employees and customers by demanding that they “get down on the floor and that they would be shot if he didn’t get some medication,” according to Bauman's report.

As deputies were responding, Bauman said they were updated that the suspect had ransacked medication cabinets and tried to force his way into a secured area where employees were hiding before eventually fleeing from the business on foot.

Deputies assigned to the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail were working the Lucerne area at the time the robbery was being reported. Bauman said the first deputy arrived at the scene within two minutes of the call and he immediately located a man matching the suspect description sitting in a vehicle next to the pharmacy.

The suspect, later identified as Torres-Fernandez, was detained without incident, Bauman said.

Bauman said the investigation into the incident revealed that Torres-Fernandez had come to the pharmacy to have a prescription for methadone filled. While waiting for his medication, he suddenly became agitated, pushing customers out of his way and yelling at employees to get his medication.

Torres-Fernandez then stuck his hand in the pocket of his sweatshirt, simulated having a gun, and ordered everyone to get down on the floor or he would shoot them, Bauman said.

Convinced that Torres-Fernandez had a gun, customers ran out of the pharmacy and the employees fled into a secured pharmaceutical area of the business, according to Bauman.

Bauman said Torres-Fernandez jumped over a counter and tried to get into the secured area through a window and a side door. After failing to get in, he started throwing items of merchandise at the window while yelling at employees to give him drugs. He eventually gave up and ran out of the business.

Torres-Fernandez was arrested and transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility. Bauman said a hypodermic syringe was found in his pants pocket during a prebooking search.

Torres-Fernandez remained in custody at the Lake County Correctional facility Thursday night in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to jail records.

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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – In a continuing effort to establish a partnership with the community and further develop community policing in the city of Clearlake, the Clearlake Police Department has established a Facebook page.

Sgt. Tim Cell said the new page will offer another way to learn more about the police department and provide the public easier access to department forms as well as information on current events involving the police.

The page can be found at www.facebook.com/pages/Clearlake-Police-Department/151151848274397 .

Cell said the Facebook page will be regularly updated with new information and progress updates for the five established community policing beats in the city.

There also will be access to department forms such as alcohol permits, noise permits, park event permits, mail out police reports and many others, he said.

The page includes a map outlining the five community oriented policing beats and information about the officers working to solve problems in those areas, Celli said.

According to Celli, the Clearlake Police Department is working to improve the city of Clearlake through compassion, professionalism and trust by working in partnership with the community to deliver quality police service while promoting a mutual respect.

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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – One of Clearlake's finest has been nominated as an “America's Most Wanted All Star,” and he needs the community's support to win the contest, which wraps up next month.

Miller said the competition includes 50 officers, firefighters and paramedics from around the United States.

He called his nomination “quite an honor.”

The public votes once a day until April 10 when a winner will be chosen, and with Miller competing with many nominees from big cities, he said he'll need all the voting help he can get.

According to his biography, Miller left a 20-year career in the construction business to follow his dream and become a police officer in 2001.

He graduated from the Napa Valley College Police Academy in 2001 and the following year started his law enforcement career with the Clearlake Police Department.

During his time with Clearlake Police, Miller – who has a passion for working with children and young adults – has served as a school resource officer.

He also donates a lot of time off-duty to worthy causes, including volunteering for numerous events including reading to preschool children, donating his time to youth sports and to the twice yearly “Tip A Cop” fundraisers for Special Olympics.

Last year was his first experience being a “Secret Santa” for a local family. He secretly provided gifts for the family to open Christmas morning.

During the past four years, Miller has been a field training officer. His biography notes that, in 2008, Miller was selected by his peers as Officer of the Year. He served as the department's watch commander from 2009 to 2010.

In 2008 and 2010 Miller participated with the “Senior Dreams” projects at a local assisted living community where retired law enforcement officers were “sworn in” for a day, his biography noted. They were given shirts and hats to wear on the riding along with Officer Miller during his normal course of duties.

To vote for Miller, go to www.amw.com/allstar/2011/nominee-index.cfm?r=5053887509799114 and use the search box to pull up his biography. You will then be able to vote for him, and can vote for him daily until April 10.

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THIS STORY HAS BEEN AN UPDATED AND EXTENDED WITH ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A legal battle is brewing between the county's correctional officers and the new sheriff over peace officer-related status, particularly the ability to carry firearms in certain situations.

Lake County Correctional Officers' Association representatives said the suit – which names Sheriff Frank Rivero and the county of Lake – will be filed Tuesday morning in Lake County Superior Court.

Rivero said in a Monday statement that the suit is attempting to force the county's recognition of correctional officers as peace officers.

David Mastagni of the Sacramento-based firm Mastagni, Holstedt, Amick, Miller & Johnsen, which represents the association, said Rivero unilaterally stripped the county's correctional officers of peace officer status already granted them under the state's penal code.

One of the central issues of concern for both sides is one of safety – Rivero alleges that having correctional officers armed at all times carries with it both risk and liability, while the association believes its 40 to 50 county members have now been placed in harm's way.

Rivero has changed association members' status to “custodial,” which means that they cannot carry firearms unless transporting prisoners to court, medical treatment or another facility, said association President Mike Silva said.

Previously, correctional officers were able to carry firearms with them while traveling to and from work or in other public situations, Silva said.

Now, with correctional officers in the same uniform as deputies but unarmed, they become “a target in the public,” according to Silva.

Rivero said he took the action because he believed having correctional officers carrying firearms in all situations “posed a substantial and unacceptable risk of liability to the county and its taxpayers.”

While preparing to issue new identification cards to his staff, Rivero said he noticed the identification cards that had been issued previously “erroneously identified the correctional officers as peace officers.”

After further research, Rivero said he discovered that correctional staff routinely carried side arms while on duty, to and from work, and in other settings.

“Should a Lake County correctional officer use their firearm on duty or engage in any actions reserved for peace officers, other than the process of transporting prisoners, they would be reliant solely on having been issued a sheriff’s office peace officer ID card to justify acting in the capacity of a peace officer,” Rivero said.

Said Mastagni, “He's not produced any evidence that there's ever been any accidents or misfires.”

Silva added that correctional officers undergo the same firearms training as deputies, including the PC 832 Arrest and Firearms course required by the Commission of Police Officer Standards and Training. The only difference in their training is that they have not attended a full law enforcement officers' academy.

In addition to alleging a violation of the correctional officers' peace officer status, Mastagni said the lawsuit is claiming unfair labor practices by Rivero and the county.

“In layman’s terms, when you're stripping these officers of their peace officer status unilaterally, that's an unfair labor practice because you have to negotiate over it,” he said.

Mastagni noted, “We feel very strongly about our case or we wouldn’t be filing it.”

Silva said the correctional officers still possess their firearms, which are kept in a locker unless they're involved in transporting prisoners. He said firearms are not carried at any time within the jail.

County Counsel Anita Grant said Monday that she hadn't yet seen the document, so couldn't comment on the suit.

However, she said, “This office represents the county and every office in it,” noting that the sheriff's office would be defended “appropriately” in the case.

County Deputy Administrative Officer Matt Perry, who has been involved with negotiations with the association, said the most recent memorandum of understanding between the association and the county – for fiscal year 2010-11 – doesn't directly reference a policy allowing correctional officers to carry firearms outside of transporting prisoners.

However, he noted, “There's a provision that the county provides the necessary ammunition for the standard duty weapon.”

Legislation established correctional officers' status

Mastagni said the county's correctional officers were made peace officers through state legislation supported by former Sheriff Rod Mitchell.

“In May of 2008, Sheriff Mitchell made the members of the Lake County Correctional Officers' Association peace officers under 830.1(c),” Mastagni explained.

Then-Assemblyman Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto) authored AB 2215, which passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May 2008, according to legislative records.

The bill's language added Lake, Mariposa and San Benito counties to the list of sheriffs' offices around the state that are permitted to classify their custodial officers as peace officers.

As a result of that legislation, today California Penal Code Section 830.1(c) states the following:

“Any deputy sheriff of the County of Los Angeles, and any deputy sheriff of the Counties of Butte, Calaveras, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, Riverside, San Benito, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, and Tuolumne who is employed to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial assignments with responsibilities for maintaining the operations of county custodial facilities, including the custody, care, supervision, security, movement, and transportation of inmates, is a peace officer whose authority extends to any place in the state only while engaged in the performance of the duties of his or her respective employment and for the purpose of carrying out the primary function of employment relating to his or her custodial assignments, or when performing other law enforcement duties directed by his or her employing agency during a local state of emergency.”

Silva said Mitchell took the action in the interest of public safety.

Mastagni said not only are there “massive” safety concerns but growing workload concerns as well, because correctional officers are now not able to do as many duties as before.

Under the former status, correctional officers were able, when needed, to do bailiff duty in the courts, could assist in drunk driving checkpoints and sex offender sweeps, act as peace officers during times of disaster and write criminal reports for jail-related matters, such as fights between inmates or other incidents, Silva said.

All of those abilities are now gone, he said.

Mastagni argued that there are no cost savings, and no benefit to the public in hindering the tasks correctional officers were formerly able to carry out.

He said many other law enforcement agencies around the state are seeking such authority for their correctional officers. “I've never heard of a sheriff trying to go the other way,” he said calling Rivero's decision “strange.”

Rivero said he notified Silva that he would be issuing new ID cards to correctional staff that properly identified them as correctional officers.

He said he also instructed the jail commander to inform correctional staff that they were not “peace officers” as defined in Penal Code Section 830.1

Rivero said his notifications were met with a cease and desist letter from one of the association's attorneys.

Jeffrey Edwards, another attorney with Mastagni, Holstedt, Amick, Miller & Johnsen, who is working on the case, in fact sent Rivero two cease and desist letters, dated March 15 and March 17.

In the first letter, Edwards requested a meet and confer over the “unilateral” change to peace officer status, noting, “This change adversely affects the wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment for the LCCOA members. Accordingly, this policy is a mandatory subject of bargaining.”

He also cited government code that requires advance notice to the association “of any proposed policy change which alters working conditions,” and stated he would file an unfair practice charge with the Public Employment Relations Board and pursue remedies with the superior court.

In the March 17 letter, Edwards demanded that Rivero stop violating Government Code Section 26605.1, which provides that “no deputy sheriff shall be required to become a custodial or other officer voluntarily.”

Edwards gave Rivero a March 21 deadline to rescind his order. “If I do not hear from you or you refuse to comply with the law, I will petition the Superior Court to order you to do so,” Edwards wrote.

Grant issued the county's two-page, strongly worded reply to Edwards, dated March 18, noting, “By this response, I wish to quickly disabuse you of any notion that efforts have been taken or are underway to change the current status of our correctional officers.”

She maintained that the county's correctional officers did not become peace officers under Penal Code Section 830.1(c), pointing out that an appellate court upheld a Santa Clara trial court's determination that correctional officers there didn't become deputy sheriffs. The court reached that conclusion because the sheriff in that county did not provide correctional officers with deputy sheriff's badges and correctional officers were not sworn as sheriff's deputies.

Likewise, since local correctional officers received no badges and were not sworn in, Grant argued that they were not deputy sheriffs under 830.1(c).

“Sheriff Rivero has simply sought to correct any misunderstanding as to the purpose and effect of the above-referenced provision,” Grant wrote. “There has been no change in policy and there is no change in working conditions.”

She added, “Sheriff Rivero is very well aware of the obligation to meet and confer in good faith when any proposed change in policy affects working conditions and he will meet that obligation when the need to do so arises.”

Grant told Edwards that she and Rivero would be happy to meet to discuss the matter.

Rivero said they made the offer while being confident the county's position in the matter “is prudent and reasonable.”

Mastagni said the association wasn't interested in meeting after the fact. “The outcome is already predetermined.”

Once the case is filed and moves forward at the superior court level, Mastagni said the county will have to come to court to argue its case. The association is seeking to compel the sheriff to maintain the status quo.

He said that, whatever the decision is, it could come in “a matter of weeks, not months.”

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 .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Clearlake Police officers have seized a large amount of illicit drugs while serving a felony arrest warrant.

Sgt. Tim Hobbs reported that on Friday at approximately 2:30 p.m. Clearlake Police Officers responded to a residence on Alvita Avenue to serve a felony arrest warrant for Marcus Matrice Ellis, 32.

Hobbs said officers found Ellis inside the residence and arrested him for the warrant.

During the arrest Ellis was found to be in possession of a large quantity of Ecstasy and cocaine, as well as $500, Hobbs said.

The currency was seized for asset forfeiture, as Hobbs said it appeared to be from the illegal sales of narcotics.

In addition to the outstanding felony warrant, Ellis was booked into the Lake County Jail for possession of a controlled substance for sales and possession of a narcotic controlled substance, according to Hobbs.

Jail records indicated Ellis’ bail was set at $10,000. He later posted the bail and was released.

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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH A STATEMENT FROM THE INVESTIGATOR WHO CONDUCTED AN INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Clearlake's acting police chief is facing charges that he battered a Lakeport woman in an April 2010 confrontation, allegations his attorney said he was cleared of during separate internal affairs and district attorney investigations completed last year.

District Attorney Don Anderson told Lake County News that misdemeanor assault and battery charges were going to be filed this week against Craig Clausen, 40, acting as interim Clearlake Police chief since December.

Clausen is alleged to have had a confrontation with a 65-year-old female neighbor who he accused of calling his son a name.

The confrontation is reported to have turned physical when Clausen allegedly poked the woman in the face, twisted her arm behind her back and pushed her into the side of another neighbor's house.

Anderson – concerned about potential conflicts of interest – said the case will not be handled by his staff.

Instead, the case will be prosecuted in Lake County Superior Court by Mendocino County District Attorney C. David Eyster's staff under the supervision of the California Attorney General's Office, according to Anderson.

A message was left with Eyster's office Wednesday morning.

When Lake County News contacted him on Wednesday, Clausen said, “I can't respond.”

Interim Clearlake City Administrator Steve Albright said he also couldn't say much about the case either, since it was a pending investigation.

However, Clausen's attorney, Matt Pavone, said he was surprised in the renewed interest in a case that was thoroughly investigated and declined by the previous district attorney last year.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office originally submitted the case, alleging misdemeanor assault and battery and a misdemeanor count of making an arrest without authority, to the Lake County District Attorney's Office last spring. Former District Attorney Jon Hopkins considered the case and rejected it, according to case documents.

Pavone said Clausen also was cleared by an independent internal affairs investigation – conducted by an outside investigator – that former Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain ordered be completed last year.

The internal affairs investigation included an interview of Clausen witnessed by Hopkins who, after a full review, declined to prosecute, said Pavone.

Likewise, Pavone said the internal affairs investigator made his own recommendations last September that no discipline be imposed on Clausen.

“This matter was all over and done with and I'm totally baffled as to why it's resurfacing,” Pavone said, noting that the case refiling was not being initiated by the alleged victim but rather by local officials.

“I'm wondering why a new sheriff or a new DA would be reviving a case that was fully investigated and rejected prior to these new people assuming office,” Pavone said.

Although Pavone said that the internal affairs investigation included a suggestion to not discipline Clausen in the case, the investigator who did the work said he made no such recommendation – or any recommendation at all, for that matter.

Gary Hill, a retired chief investigator for the Lake County District Attorney's Office, conducted the internal affairs investigation.

While Hill said it may have appeared to Pavone – for whom he said he has the highest regard – that he had recommended the case be rejected, he told Lake County News that the report he submitted to McClain “included neither a written nor verbal recommendation as to a final disposition.”

Sheriff Frank Rivero said he found out about the case after taking office earlier this year. He reviewed it and, believing it should have been charged to begin with, directed staff to send it to Anderson for review. He had a third charge added to the original two, assault by a police officer, which Anderson did not mention as being part of the charged case.

“I'm confident that it needs to be sent up for prosecution and that's why I did it,” Rivero said late Tuesday, adding, “My feeling about the investigation we conducted was that it was complete.”

Anderson said no additional investigation was done either by the sheriff's office or his staff. “We received a request from the sheriff's department to reconsider the case, and that was the first time we even heard about the incident.”

When he reviewed the case, Anderson said it raised a lot of concerns for him, so he handed it over to Eyster.

Rivero said he contacted Clausen on Tuesday afternoon to notify him that the case was going to be charged.

Also on Tuesday, Rivero notified interim Clearlake City Administrator Steve Albright, Clearlake City Council members Joey Luiz and Jeri Spittler, and members of the Board of Supervisors, along with County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox and County Counsel Anita Grant.

The sheriff said time is of the essence, as the statute of limitations runs out at the one year mark, which is coming up at the start of next month.

Case documents obtained by Lake County News stated that the incident for which Clausen will be charged occurred on the afternoon of April 5, 2010.

Rivero said his promise during last year's campaign for sheriff was to treat everyone equally.

“The guy's innocent until proven guilty and we should allow the system to work,” he said.

Questioning the motives behind the case, Pavone said, “I wonder if there may be some other agenda going on here,” pointing out that Clausen is a candidate to permanently hold the Clearlake Police chief's job, and wondering if the case is being used against Clausen by political forces within the city and county.

Pavone called the case a waste of the county's resources, suggesting that officials should be working on other matter that have yet to be investigated.

Case documents describe confrontation

Normally, records of open investigations are not granted to the media.

However, Lake County News obtained the records of the investigation – after it had been rejected by Hopkins and was considered closed – through a Public Records Act request submitted in December to then-Sheriff Rod Mitchell.

According to documents Lake County News received at that time as part of the request, Hopkins and investigator Gary Hill looked at the case and subsequently rejected it.

Lake County News was notified late last month by Capt. Rob Howe that the sheriff's office had refiled the case with the District Attorney's Office at Rivero's direction.

A narrative written by Deputy Carla Hockett explained that she was dispatched to an address in Lakeport on April 6, 2010, to speak with a woman who reported that she had been assaulted.

The alleged victim was walking her dogs in the neighborhood when a 9-year-old boy, later identified as Clausen's son, told her to get off their property. Hockett reported that the woman told the boy she was not on his property, that she had permission to be where she was and that he needed to “get a hobby.”

Hockett's report when on to explain that the woman stopped to see a friend who she told about the incident with the boy, telling her that the “little s***” scared her to death.

The case documents explain that the woman and her two dogs were standing on her friend's porch – with the friends standing just inside the screen door – when Clausen is alleged to have come onto the porch to confront the woman about what he heard her call his son. The woman claimed he grabbed her right shoulder, spun her around and poked her in the face with his finger, according to the report.

When the woman attempted to put her hand up to stop him poking her in her left cheek, she alleged Clausen grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back as far as he could and slammed her against the side of her friend's house. He was reported to be so angry that he was spitting on her as he was yelling.

He then is alleged to have asked her if she wanted to go to jail that night, she said no and tried to apologize but he “said that was never going to happen,” and then held up a cell phone, claiming to have recorded the incident.

The neighbor who is alleged to have witnessed Clausen and the woman in the confrontation told Hockett that she heard Clausen yelling and screaming at her friend, and confirmed that he twisted the other woman's arm and that the woman had hit her head on the screen door.

When Hockett interviewed Clausen about the incident, he called the alleged victim in the incident the “crazy lady with the dogs,” and said he thought she was intoxicated.

Hockett's report stated that Clausen recounted telling the woman that “he does not want to bring work home and she knows what he does for a living.” He also reportedly stated that he grabbed her arm and she turned, causing her arm to go behind her back. Clausen stated that he asked her if she wanted to go to jail and “please don't make me bring work home.” He said the incident was the first time he had spoken to the female neighbor.

Hockett subsequently requested a complaint be filed against Clausen, and Det. Nicole Costanza followed up with the alleged victim on April 6, 2010, based on a request from the District Attorney's Office, according to case documents.

Costanza noted in her report that the woman said she didn't want to file charges against Clausen, although the woman alleged that he frightened and hurt her.

However, in a followup phone conversation on May 7, 2010, the woman told Costanza she wanted to go forward with charges but was waiting to speak to her doctor. On May 11, 2010, the woman told Hockett in a phone conversation that she wanted to press charges in the case.

Costanza also interviewed other neighbors, including one man who alleged that the woman at the center of the case had mental issues and tended to make up stories, and appeared to have been drinking that day.

The man said the alleged victim had called him claiming that Clausen had pushed, shoved and grabbed her, and that she would have his job over it. The man said he was in favor of Clausen “100 percent” and would go to court on his behalf.

The day after the confrontation the woman reported going to her doctor because of pain she was experiencing from injuries she said she sustained. She reported continuing to have muscle spasms in her upper back a month later.

Two days after the confrontation with Clausen, the woman said she was outside of her home loading items into her vehicle so she could go and stay with her son out of town. She told Costanza that Clausen was parked in the roadway behind her truck – which was in her driveway – and that he pointed at her with his index finger and drove off, which she said “terrified” her.

The woman also denied drinking or taking recreational drugs on the day of the incident, although she said she took a substance that was redacted from the report. The neighbor on whose porch the confrontation took place stated that she smelled alcohol on the alleged victim that day, and that the woman also was slurring her words and staggering.

Clausen, who also is president of the Clearlake Rotary Club, has been with the Clearlake Police Department for several years.

In December, as McClain was preparing to retire, the Clearlake City Council named Clausen, a lieutenant, interim chief. The vote was 4-1, with Spittler the lone dissenter, according to a report that came out of the closed session in which Clausen's appointment was discussed.

Clausen was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant in early 2007 by interim Police Chief Larry Todd.

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 .