Jantha Silverhame, 54, of Clearlake was arrested for assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon and evading a peace officer with reckless driving, said Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann.

At 3:30 p.m. Monday Clearlake Police officers were dispatched to the report of a female visitor who was acting strangely at Orchard Park Retirement Center on Burns Valley Road, Hermann reported.

According to witnesses at the location, Silverhame was a visitor who was talking incoherently while harassing residents whom she did not know, Hermann said.

Hermann said officers arrived at the location as Silverhame was seen driving erratically out of the parking lot in a 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander.

Officer Carl Miller initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and upon contact with Silverhame, asked her to turn the vehicle off, Hermann said. Ignoring his request, Silverhame immediately rolled up her windows and locked the doors.

Hermann said Officer Reghan Stuller arrived to assist and both he and Miller made numerous attempts to get Silverhame out of the vehicle. She then began fumbling with the gear shifter while trying to place the vehicle in drive.

At that time, Stuller broke out the passenger side window in an attempt to stop Silverhame from leaving, said Hermann. However, Silverhame quickly drove off before he could get the door opened.

Hermann said a pursuit was initiated and Silverhame continued her erratic driving that included driving both on and off road.

During the pursuit, Silverhame took officers onto Rumsey Road and up Smith Lane before coming back out onto Burns Valley Road via Reed Lane. She then drove into town via Olympic Drive after driving around a partial road block, and then drove around another police vehicle and was finally boxed in by police near the Austin Beach parking lot, Hermann said.

After police boxed her in, Silverhame is alleged to have intentionally driven forward and backward several times into the police vehicles causing moderate damage to all four, said Hermann.

Hermann said Silverhame continued her attempts to free her vehicle until she was successfully struck with a Taser and incapacitated. The vehicle was placed into park and Silverhame was taken into custody without further problems.

No major injuries were reported as a result of the incident, said Hermann.

Silverhame was transported to the hospital where she was medically cleared for incarceration. Hermann said she was then transported to the Lake County Jail and booked. Jail booking records show her bail totals $25,000.

Hermann said the case will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office for complaint and review of additional charges.

Police arrested Lakeport residents Joseph Paul Horst, 22; Michael James Pommier, 33; and Edward Aloysius Mahan, 31, for the afternoon incident.

The men were taken into custody within about 15 minutes of officers being dispatched to the USA Gas Station in the 900 block of S. Main Street.

A man was reported to have been assaulted and robbed outside the gas station by three assailants.

Police cruisers sped through town to the scene, and while interviews with witnesses continued at the gas station other Lakeport officers moved on to an apartment complex in the 600 block of Martin Street, accompanied by a Lake County Sheriff's deputy.

Officers quickly found the three suspects in that area. Lakeport Police transported the victim – whose name was not released – to the apartments to have him identify the suspects, who were then arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail.

During the investigation the victim's wallet and money allegedly were recovered from the suspects.

Lakeport Police Sgt. Jason Ferguson said police didn't find a weapon.

Ferguson didn't have information about the extent of the victim's injuries, and couldn't say if the victim knew the assailants.

He said the incident is being investigated as a case of strong armed robbery, using force and intimidation by threat of bodily harm.

The three men were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and first-degree robbery.

Bail totaled $125,000 each for Mahan and Pommier, while Horst's total bail amount was $200,000.

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Jimmy Lee Clevidence, 45, died April 21, 2009, apparently from injuries he suffered in a fall. Lake County Jail photo.

LUCERNE – The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Thursday that they've been unable to substantiate reports of an assault on a man who died earlier this month.

Sheriff's office spokesman Capt. James Bauman said that investigators have been unable to tie the death of 45-year-old Jimmy Lee Clevidence of Lucerne to an alleged assault.

Bauman explained that on April 10 shortly before 10:30 p.m. sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of 14th Avenue and Highway 20 in Lucerne on a report of a possible physical disturbance involving two men.

He said it was initially reported that one man was on top of another; however, while deputies were still responding, further information came in that one of the men had actually passed out and the other was apparently trying to help him up. Medics from the Northshore Fire Protection District were then dispatched at the request of one of the responding deputies.

When deputies arrived, they located Clevidence lying on the sidewalk. Bauman said Clevidence was extremely intoxicated and unable to stand on his own.

A friend of Clevidence’s, identified as 29-year-old Antonio Lewis Avelos, also of Lucerne, was with Clevidence when deputies arrived. Bauman said Avelos told deputies he was in the area when he saw Clevidence fall and hit the sidewalk due to his intoxication. Avelos was in the process of helping Clevidence when deputies arrived.

Northshore medics evaluated Clevidence at the scene of the fall and released him to the deputies, said Bauman. He was then arrested for public intoxication as he was unable to care for his own safety and transported to the Lake County Jail.

Upon his arrival at the jail, medical staff there determined Clevidence would have to be medically cleared prior to booking due to his level of intoxication. Bauman said Clevidence was then transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where he was examined and cleared for booking.

Clevidence was subsequently booked for misdemeanor public intoxication and was to be released when sober enough to care for his own safety, Bauman said.

After approximately four hours of being detained and checked every 15 minutes in a sobering cell at the jail, custody officers were conducting their observation check on Clevidence at 4:20 a.m. and could not get him to respond verbally, according to Bauman.

Jail medical staff were called to the cell and it was determined Clevidence needed to go back to the hospital. Bauman said medics from the Lakeport Fire Protection District responded and transported Clevidence back to Sutter Lakeside accompanied by custody staff.

At about 7:40 a.m., Clevidence was released in terms of his custody status with the jail pursuant to the penal code. But Bauman said Clevidence apparently took a turn for the worse later that morning while still admitted at Sutter Lakeside and was flown via air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Bauman said Clevidence remained in Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital’s Critical Care Unit since being admitted on April 11 and on April 21 at about 5 p.m. Clevidence died.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office began receiving unverified information that Clevidence may have been assaulted prior to being arrested on April 11, Bauman said.

Pending further investigation into those claims, Bauman said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office requested jurisdiction over coroner’s investigation to determine his cause of death and on Thursday morning, an autopsy was performed at the Napa County Coroner’s Office.

Bauman said the resulting cause of Clevidence's death has been determined to be acute respiratory failure due to a blunt force injury to the head. The manner of death is currently believed to be accidental due to a mechanical fall.

Sheriff’s detectives have interviewed as many as eight Lucerne residents since Wednesday morning and thus far, no one has been able to verify any assault occurred, said Bauman.

Bauman said the case remains under investigation.

CHP Officer Efrain Cortez Jr. with Cheryl Resh at the crash scene on Sunday, April 19, 2009. She was later arrested on several charges, including making a false police report in order to avoid getting in trouble for speeding. Photo by Harold LaBonte.

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.

Barbara LaForge's 2002 murder remains unsolved, but Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke will ask the Lakeport City Council to give him extra funds to hire a dedicated investigator to help solve the case. Lake County News file photo.

LAKEPORT – The effort to close the book on Lakeport's only unsolved murder may soon get an infusion of much-needed resources.

At the Lakeport City Council's April 21 meeting, Police Chief Kevin Burke – who also is Lakeport's interim city manager – will ask that the council waive the city's hiring freeze to allow him to hire a part-time investigator to devote to the case.

“The case continues to cast a shadow over the entire community and the Lakeport Police Department,” Burke's report to the council states. “There is a moral obligation to secure whatever resources are necessary to bring this case to a resolution, for the benefit of the victim, her family and friends, the entire community and the police department.”

This coming October will mark the seventh anniversary of Barbara LaForge's murder in her downtown frame shop on the morning of Oct. 8, 2002.

The 43-year-old LaForge was shot four times – once through the heart – with a .22-caliber weapon by a killer who them walked out into broad daylight, leaving seemingly few clues to their identity or motives.

But police have continued to work the case, and believe the killer remains in the community's midst.

Burke, who has been chief for three years, told Lake County News on Thursday that his department began bringing in outside help a few years ago.

Around the time of the fifth anniversary of the murder, the department sent the case for review to Inside the Tape, a homicide and crime management training company that also reviews cold cases.

Inside the Tape came up with a lot of suggestions and pointed to information Lakeport Police already had, said Burke.

“I would say within the last six months is when it began to be apparent to me that, despite our best efforts to do it with our existing staff, we wouldn't be able to do it,” Burke said.

His report to the council outlines the challenges a small department – which rarely encounters homicides – has in addressing a case like LaForge's murder, and moving the investigation forward “at the pace such a serious case deserves.”

The main factor, he said, is the lack of a seasoned homicide investigator who can focus on the case with no other responsibilities. The department hasn't been able to let its investigator work the case exclusively because of other investigations arising. Its sworn officer strength also has been reduced from 14 to 12 with the hiring freeze.

“In addition, I have concluded that one investigator, who has not had the opportunity to work homicide cases in the past will not be able to generate and keep the momentum needed to solve this complex murder case on his own, despite our best efforts to make it happen,” Burke's report states.

So they began actively looking for a retired investigator with the skills to lead the investigation. Burke's report suggests hiring the investigator on a 960-hour annual basis, and paying an hourly salary only of $30 with no fringe benefits.

Burke is asking the council to grant an exemption from the hiring freeze and to authorize spending approximately $35,104 for the investigator over a year's time.

They've found qualified candidates, and Burke told Lake County News he has a person in mind to take the job, but he isn't going to make a formal announcement until after the council makes its decision.

The investigator candidate would then have to go through the mandatory background, and psychological and medical evaluations. Once those hurdles are cleared, Burke said he'll announce the hire.

The investigator won't be micromanaged from the top, said Burke. “We are going to turn over the reins of the investigation to that person,” he said. The expectation is that the investigator will make the appropriate recommendations on how to pursue the case.

A key element will be the investigator's ability to take over the case and run with it, said Burke.

He said the new investigator would be assigned to work side-by-side with the department's current investigator, with both directed to focus only on the LaForge case.

“The ultimate goal would be to bring the case to closure by way of an arrest and prosecution,” Burke tells the council in his report. “Although this outcome cannot be assured, at the very least we will know what best efforts have been made to bring the case to closure.”

The Governor's Office has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of LaForge's killer. The award remains in effect.

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