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- Written by: Lake County News reports
SANTA ROSA, Calif. – A Santa Rosa man convicted of a string of burglaries that stretched across four counties, including Lake, has been sentenced to 31 years in prison by a Sonoma County judge.
Monty Allen Mullins, 46, received the sentence this week from Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Dana Simonds, according to a report from the office of Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch.
On Oct. 27, 2011, Mullins entered guilty pleas to five residential burglaries, possession of stolen property, and possession of a stolen vehicle.
In addition, Mullins admitted that he had a prior conviction for residential burglary, which is a strike offense, and also admitted that he committed two of the residential burglaries while out on bail in four pending cases.
“This defendant has proven that imprisonment is the only way to keep him from victimizing people and burglarizing their homes,” Ravitch said. “Numerous victims have had to cope with the violation of the sanctity of their homes. Particularly striking is the impact on elder victims who lost a lifetime’s worth of sentimental personal belongings. I commend the cooperative investigative efforts by multiple law enforcement agencies that lead to this defendant’s apprehension and significant sentence.”
This case was investigated by the Santa Rosa Police Department, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, the Calistoga Police Department and the Novato Police Department.
The crimes in this matter spanned from Sonoma County into Napa, Lake and Marin counties, Ravitch's office reported.
In late 2009, Mullins was linked by fingerprint evidence to a residential burglary of a home owned by an elderly couple and located in the Oakmont retirement community, just outside of Santa Rosa.
When he was arrested for the Oakmont burglary, Mullins was in possession of stolen property and a window-punch burglary tool, which stolen property had been removed from a window-smash car burglary hours before Mullins’ arrest.
Ravitch's office reported that Mullins posted bail on the Oakmont residential burglary case and, on Sept. 3, 2010, while out on bail, was arrested after found fleeing from a residential burglary in Windsor, in a vehicle which had been stolen from a residential burglary in Novato days before, according to the district attorney's report.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Mullins’ home that evening and found Mullins’ girlfriend allegedly wearing jewelry from the Novato residential burglary.
In addition, Mullins’ girlfriend was arrested days later at a pawn shop in Santa Rosa while allegedly carrying a bag full of coins, also stolen from the residential burglary in Novato.
Further investigation revealed that Mullins and his co-defendant, Joseph Greathouse, had attempted to burglarize a residence in Sonoma on the evening of Aug. 29, 2010, but fled once contact was made with one of the occupants living at the residence.
Another occupant of the home was able to provide a license plate number of the getaway vehicle, which was found to be registered to Mullins’ daughter.
Video surveillance taken earlier that day at the Twin Pine Casino in Middletown showed Mullins and Greathouse leaving the casino in that same car, after attempting to use an elderly couple’s credit card that had been stolen during a residential burglary of the elderly couple’s Calistoga home earlier that same day.
He again posted bail and, on Feb. 8, 2011, was arrested after he was caught burglarizing two more homes in the Rincon Valley area of Santa Rosa.
Mullins, who was caught in the act by the elderly homeowner’s adult sons, ran from the first residence into another residence, where he committed another residential burglary before being apprehended by the Santa Rosa Police Department.
Officials said Mullins has been in custody since Feb. 8, 2011, with bail specially set at $2 million.
The lead investigators in this case were Sonoma County Sheriff’s Detective Perry Sparkman and Santa Rosa Police Detective Brett Siwy. Deputy District Attorney Robin Hammond was the prosecutor assigned to the case.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – An investigation earlier this week in Mendocino County resulted in the arrests of numerous suspects from Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma counties, and the seizure of large amounts of cash and illicit drugs.
The County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team (COMMET) operation, which took place on the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 6, resulted in the arrests of Megan Champion, 27, of Redwood Valley; Karen Johnanna Spencer, 39, of Ukiah; Dakota Michael Nesbitt, 19, of Kelseyville; James Kelby Shook, 30, of Kelseyville; Bogdan Gabriel Cristea, 27, of Santa Rosa; Jordan Anthony Williams, 21, of Santa Rosa; and Mia Miller, 47, of Ukiah.
Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb said COMMET went to 2310 Road K in Redwood Valley just before 1 p.m. Monday to conduct followup on an ongoing investigation.
Smallcomb said deputies discovered that the residence was being used to process marijuana and the residence was secured and a search warrant was obtained.
While at the residence deputies located Spencer, Nesbitt, Shook, Cristea, Williams and Miller, Smallcomb said.
A subsequent search of the residence revealed approximately 144 pounds of marijuana drying in a detached garage, 89 pounds of processed bud marijuana packaged for sale, 17 pounds of untrimmed marijuana, scales, packaging material, records, less than a gram of MDMA – or Ecstasy – and $164,456 in US currency, according to Smallcomb's report.
Spencer was arrested for a misdemeanor probation violation and a felony probation violation, and felony charges of possession of marijuana for sale and marijuana cultivation, according to Mendocino County Jail records.
Nesbitt, Williams, Shook and Cristea all were arrested on felony counts of marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale and booked into the Mendocino County Jail, the report said.
Smallcomb said Miller was released and charges are being submitted to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office against her.
He said Megan Champion was determined to be the person living at and renting the property and charges are being submitted to the District Attorney's Office against her.
The investigation is continuing and additional arrests are expected, Smallcomb said.
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This week a Glenn County man convicted of selling false identification and immigration documents received a 27-month federal prison sentence.
On Friday United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. sentenced 38-year-old Camilo Reyes of Orland to prison time for transfer of false identification documents, according to a report from United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.
According to Reyes' plea agreement, he sold fraudulent identification documents to undercover agents at a store in Orland between Dec. 14, 2009, and Aug. 13, 2010.
On March 12, 2010, an undercover agent met with Reyes and paid him $300 in exchange for two fraudulent resident alien registration cards – or green cards – and two fraudulent social security cards, Wagner's office reported.
The report said the cards contained fictitious identifying information and photographs that the agent had provided.
During a search of Reyes’ home, agents found tools and materials used in manufacturing fraudulent documents such as printers, card stock and lamination devices, Wagner's office said.
Wagner said Judge Burrell immediately remanded Reyes into custody to begin his sentence.
The US Attorney's Office said this case was the product of an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Anderson prosecuted the case.
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More than 6,300 individuals applied to be a part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's next astronaut class, according to a report from the agency.
NASA said that's twice as many applicants as it typically receives and the second highest number of applications it has ever received.
“Historically, we’ve received between 2,500 and 3,500 applications for each class,” said Duane Ross, who leads NASA’s Astronaut Selection Office. “We were a bit surprised, but very pleased by the overwhelming response to our recent Astronaut Candidate vacancy announcement. To me, this demonstrates the fact that the public remains genuinely interested in continuing the exploration of space. As for my office, we will be busy for a while.”
Late last year, NASA sent out a call for a new astronaut class. Applications were accepted for two months, with the deadline set for Jan. 27.
NASA said the response to this latest recruitment announcement was “tremendous,” resulting in approximately 6,372 applications.
That's the largest number of applications since 1978, when NASA had more than 8,000 submissions from astronaut hopefuls.
“The Flight Crew Operations Directorate is very happy with the large number of applicants for the astronaut program,” said Janet Kavandi, director of Flight Crew Operations. “NASA feels strongly that an appropriate mix of skills, education, and background provide the office with a greater ability to successfully work a wide array of operational situations.”
During the next couple of months, Astronaut Selection Office staff will sort through the applications to compare them to a list of basic qualifications.
Those applications that meet the basic qualifications will then be reviewed by a selection committee to identify “highly qualified” applicants. The panel will determine which remaining applicants will be invited for an interview and medical evaluations.
The interview process will be a two-step process, NASA reported.
Initial interviews will be conducted by the Astronaut Selection Board beginning in August and will continue through October. Then, starting in November and running through January 2013, NASA said final interviews will be held along with medical evaluations of each applicant.
The Astronaut Selection Board is expected to make its final decision in the spring of 2013 with the new Astronauts Candidates reporting for training that summer. The new candidates will undergo two years of training before being eligible for mission assignments.
These new candidates will live and work aboard the International Space Station, help build the Orion spacecraft for exploration beyond low earth orbit and continue NASA’s partnership with companies that will supply commercial transportation services to the ISS.
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