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- Written by: Lake County News reports
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – An undercover operation conducted by detectives with the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit has led to the arrest of a Clearlake man who is alleged to have sent texts and Facebook messages in an effort to solicit sex from a teenage girl.
Jason James Russell, 29, was arrested Thursday afternoon on felony charges of lewd act on a child under 16 years of age, contact a minor with the intent to commit a sex offense, arrange meeting with a minor to commit a sex offense, go to the arranged meeting to commit a sex offense, annoy or molest a child, solicit prostitution and probation violation.
Sgt. Steve Brooks said a concerned parent contacted the Lake County Sheriff’s Office after learning that Russell had contacted his 15-year-old daughter on Facebook.
Russell is alleged to have texted the minor, telling her that he wanted to have sex with her. She sent a text message to the suspect, informing him that she was only 15 years old and did not wish to have any contact with him. The suspect attempted to contact her again after she told him to stop, Brooks said.
Brooks said detectives launched an investigation and were able to monitor the text messages being sent from the suspect, who they identified as Russell.
On Thursday detectives conducted an undercover operation, Brooks said.
Posing as the female minor, detectives continued texting with the suspect and agreed to meet with Russell at Austin Park in Clearlake. Brooks said Russell allegedly intended to have sex with the minor and had offered to pay for the sexual services.
At 2:45 p.m. Thursday Russell arrived at Austin Park in Clearlake and was arrested after a short foot pursuit, Brooks said.
Russell provided a statement that he would look for underage females on Facebook, Brooks said. Using explicit language he would then sexually proposition them.
Russell admitted that he had propositioned several other female juveniles while using Facebook, according to Brooks.
Russell was booked at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility on the charges, and is being held without bail due to a probation violation, according to jail records.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office encourages parents to monitor social networking sites their children frequent. Sexual predators often use these sites to target their victims.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The members have requested a meeting with the president to discuss policies that would reduce foreclosures and provide relief to homeowners.
“Our economy will continue to suffer and consumer confidence will never return if we do not help hard working families navigate through this housing nightmare,” said Thompson. “Nothing the Administration has tried is working and Californians are the ones suffering, living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to keep roofs over their heads. That is why we are calling on the President to meet with us so we can work together and fix this housing mess.”
“For over a year-and-a-half, we’ve corresponded with the President and met with Secretaries Donovan and Geithner and FHFA Acting Director DeMarco, urging swift and immediate action to help our constituents. There still seems to be no bold or effective action taken by the Administration. We have asked to meet with the President as soon as possible to discuss ways to advance meaningful relief and effective solutions for the housing market,” said Lofgren.
"The California Democratic Congressional Delegation has spent the last year meeting with one Administration official after another to present our legislative ideas, and the actions the Executive Branch can take to mitigate the foreclosure crisis", said Eshoo. "The time has come for the delegation to speak directly to the President on behalf of our constituents whose lives have been upended, and present to him our bold and workable proposals to address this crisis."
In California, more than 34 percent of homeowners with mortgages are considered “underwater” because they owe more on their homes than their homes are worth.
In a letter to President Obama, Thompson, Lofgren, Eshoo and other California Members of Congress wrote, “We have also offered several specific recommendations to reduce preventable foreclosures and provide relief to aggrieved homeowners, including a principal paydown plan to reduce negative home equity which is necessary as the remedy for the housing woes in America. Despite our efforts, we have concluded that efforts by both the government and the private sector have not addressed our nation’s foreclosure crisis with sufficient urgency. We therefore request a meeting with you at the earliest opportunity to discuss additional actions your Administration can take to tackle the foreclosure crisis that is hurting so many of our constituents and slowing our economic recovery.”
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear President Obama:
As Members of Congress from California, a center of the nation’s foreclosure catastrophe, we’ve written to you and your Administration regularly for a year-and-a-half, requesting more aggressive action to prevent foreclosures and resuscitate the ailing housing market.
We have repeatedly met with Secretaries Donovan and Geithner during this time and have presented numerous constituent cases to them demonstrating the questionable, possibly fraudulent, and irresponsible practices of the mortgage servicing industry. We have also offered several specific recommendations to reduce preventable foreclosures and provide relief to aggrieved homeowners, including a principal paydown plan to reduce negative home equity which is necessary as the remedy for the housing woes in America. Despite our efforts, we have concluded that efforts by both the government and the private sector have not addressed our nation’s foreclosure crisis with sufficient urgency. We therefore request a meeting with you at the earliest opportunity to discuss additional actions your Administration can take to tackle the foreclosure crisis that is hurting so many of our constituents and slowing our economic recovery.
As of the end of the third quarter in 2011, 10.7 million homeowners nationwide owed more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. In California alone, more than 34% of homeowners with mortgages faced negative equity or were very close to being underwater. These homeowners confront the highest risk of foreclosure, and could most benefit from meaningful mortgage principal reductions.
Though the Administration has adopted the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) as its signature housing initiative, the overwhelming feedback from our constituents is that HAMP has not helped them. We believe additional and more effective approaches are necessary. One idea we proposed in previous correspondence to you is a temporary reduction in the interest rates of certain homeowners who file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, so that the entirety of their monthly payments would be dedicated to paying down their principal balances for five years. We discussed this proposal with Secretaries Donovan and Geithner, and also with Ed DeMarco, the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, all of whom expressed an interest in the idea. However, we have yet to receive a decision from your Administration. Why not?
Our constituents and the health of our economy are dependent on swift and immediate action on ideas like this to prevent more foreclosures. We, as Members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, look forward to meeting with you so we can discuss ways to advance meaningful and effective solutions to address a foreclosure crisis that is ravaging communities and hurting families. We stand ready to work with you to help the people we serve.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Charles Peter Lamb, 30, was arrested on Jan. 2 by Lakeport Police Officer Joe Eastham following an investigation in which the alleged victim, a local woman in her 20s, identified Lamb as the suspect, as Lake County News has reported.
Lamb is charged with one count of rape and one count of sodomy by force, according to Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg.
While Borg said he doesn’t like to discuss case details early on, he said this particular case falls into the category of a “date rape” because Lamb and the victim were previously acquainted.
Lamb was arraigned on Jan. 9, at which time his public defender, Barry Melton, entered not guilty pleas to both counts.
On Wednesday Lamb was in Lake County Superior Court Department 2 for a preliminary hearing, Borg said.
Judge Richard Martin found there was probable cause sufficient to order Lamb to stand trial on the charges, according to Borg.
Borg said Lamb is due to appear for arraignment before Judge Andrew Blum in Department 3 on Monday, Jan. 30.
Lamb remains in the Lake County Jail, with bail set at $100,000, according to jail records.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The National Weather Service had predicted a hard freeze on Wednesday.
County Road Superintendent Steve Stangland said his road crews are on the job at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. every day to get ahead of commuter traffic and make sure arterial and major collector roads are clear.
Such was the case on Wednesday. With the hard freeze in the forecast, county sand trucks checked the Cobb area at 3 a.m. and again at 4:30 a.m., and reported there was no ice, with road temperatures at about 36 degrees Fahrenheit, Stangland said.
“They came down off the hill and went on the rest of their routes for the rest of that morning,” said Stangland.
And then, at around 6 a.m., the hard freeze hit, he said.
“It was just one of those freak things,” Stangland added.
Between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. a number of crashes were reported in the Cobb area, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Greg Buchholz.
“You couldn’t move, even on foot, it was so icy,” Buchholz said.
Buchholz said there were at least three crashes on Bottle Rock Road, with one rollover and another vehicle sliding into that first crash, and still another vehicle high-centered on the road shoulder.
County road crews had to wait for CHP to clear the road in order to be able to put down more sand, which was difficult for CHP “because we couldn’t move, either,” said Buchholz.
A tow truck driver was able to remove all three vehicles so that officials could finish clearing and reopening the roadway, he said.
Buchholz said they then proceeded down Highway 175 to Wildcat Road, where Caltrans assisted with a road closure while another overturned vehicle was put back on its wheels. That road was then reopened at around 9:30 a.m.
Even at slow speeds, the icy conditions proved particularly difficult and dangerous, said Buchholz.
The good news: He had no reports of any injuries.
Stangland said Caltrans also was caught off guard by the freeze, with Highway 175 to Hopland experiencing issues Wednesday morning due to ice.
The CHP reported that a crash in front of Granite Construction on Highway 175 outside of Lakeport just before 7 a.m. blocked the roadway for more than an hour.
There were weather-related issues elsewhere, too: Shortly after 11 a.m. vehicles were reported off the road on Elk Mountain at Soda Creek, according to the CHP.
The National Weather Service is predicting no more hard freezes for the rest of the week, with the forecast instead calling for rain and daytime temperatures in the 40s, dipping into the mid to low 30s at night.
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