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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A Monday morning crash involving a semi truck resulted in minor injuries for the driver and blocked a portion of Highway 20 for several hours.
The crash occurred at Mid Lake Road near Blue Lakes just before 8:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Pat Brown said the semi truck driver tried to dodge an animal on the highway and went into the embankment.
The CHP reported that the crash blocked the eastbound lane, with the westbound lane later reported to be blocked as well.
Brown said about 70 gallons of diesel was spilled as a result of the crash.
“We captured some of it but not all of it,” he said.
None of the diesel went into Blue Lakes; Brown said it stayed in a culvert area.
Brown said he and Northshore Fire Chief Jim Robbins responded to the scene, along with two medics and an engine.
Also responding were CHP and the Lake County Sheriff's Office, and Lake County Environmental Health, the CHP said.
Brown said Environmental Health actually took control of the scene along with CHP.
CHP said the roadway was fully reopened at 12:20 p.m.
Later in the day, at about 2 p.m., a FedEx truck carrying two people reportedly overturned on New Long Valley Road near Clearlake Oaks.
Brown said there were no injuries in that incident.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – An Oakland man has been arrested in connection with an alleged kidnap and rape of a 22-year-old Clearlake woman.
Luis Antonio Calvillo, 22, faces felony charges of kidnapping, rape and other sexual assault charges, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman said the sheriff's office responded to the alleged victim’s home in Clearlake late Saturday night, where she told deputies she had just been returned from a labor camp in Kelseyville where she had been held against her will and sexually assaulted.
The alleged victim reported that on Nov. 19 at about 4:30 p.m., a friend of hers – 32-year-old Julio Cesar Lopez of Clearlake – asked her to accompany him to Kelseyville to pick up a car he had bought so she could drive the car back to Clearlake for him, Bauman said.
Bauman said the woman said she agreed to go and left with Lopez to get the car at what was referred to as a “labor camp” on Sylar Lane in Kelseyville.
After arriving at the labor camp, Lopez told the woman he had to drive to Lakeport and he left her there with several other unidentified men, Bauman said.
The woman said she voluntarily went into a dwelling on the property to smoke some marijuana with the three men while waiting for Lopez to return, according to Bauman's report.
Bauman said that at least one of the men in the dwelling began asking the victim for sexual favors and when she attempted to leave the room, the men stood in the only doorway out and blocked her from exiting.
The alleged victim was reportedly held at the camp against her will throughout the night and into the next day, Bauman said.
During her alleged captivity, she was allegedly molested by one or more of the men and raped by at least one of them, according to Bauman.
Bauman said one of the men drove her to a Kelseyville gas station the following day and from there, she managed to get a ride to her home in Clearlake, where she then notified the sheriff’s department.
Deputies worked the case throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning, when detectives were called in to assist with the investigation and secure a search warrant for the labor camp, Bauman said.
During the search warrant service, Calvillo was found at the camp and identified as one of the suspects, Bauman said. Calvillo was booked at the Lake County Jail with a $250,000 bail and an immigration hold.
Bauman said the identities and anticipated arrests of other suspects in the case are pending further investigation.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Two cases of stranded travelers were reported on Sunday.
Just after noon on Sunday, three people were reported to be suffering from exposure to the new-fallen snow in the forest area above Upper Lake, according to radio reports.
Ken and Karen Petz of Northshore Fire Protection District tried to make their way up to assist.
“We could not reach them,” Karen Petz said Monday, noting, “We got as far as we could.”
However, Petz said that U.S. Forest Service personnel were able to assist the three individuals.
Lake County News left a message for a forest spokesperson at the headquarters office in Willows which was not returned before the end of business Monday.
On the Mendocino County side of the forest, 12 people had to be rescued after becoming stuck in the snow, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was advised that 12 people had traveled from the Willits and North County area to the Anthony Peak Range, located on the Mendocino National Forest east of Covelo, Smallcomb said.
Once in the Anthony Peak Range area, the dozen individuals became stuck in the snow and called for help from their cell phones, according to Smallcomb. Mendocino County Search and Rescue were dispatched to the location.
At 11 p.m. Sunday four of the stranded subjects were able to walk to the location where Search and Rescue group was staged, but Smallcomb said the weather and road conditions were such that the remaining eight couldn't be reached safely until it was daylight and there was a break in the weather.
He said the stranded subjects were advised to stay inside of their vehicle until help reached their location.
At 7:30 a.m. Monday deputies, along with Ross Liberty, utilized Mendocino County Sheriff's Office snowmobiles and were able to access the remaining eight individuals who had remained at their vehicles, he said.
Smallcomb said all 12 travelers were safely returned to their families.
With winter weather conditions able to change quickly, Smallcomb advised area residents and travelers to take the necessary precautions when visiting the Mendocino National Forest in the winter time.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The fire was reported at the Lucerne on the Lake Park, located at 5877 Lake Street, shortly before 11 p.m.
Smoke initially was reported, and Northshore Fire Protection District responded to the scene.
Battalion Chief Steve Hart said the fire was confined to a bed and a wall in a bedroom.
“The cause was water leaking into an electrical outlet from the storm,” Hart said, with the water causing a short in the outlet, which threw a spark into the mattress.
The fire took about 30 minutes to contain and clean up, he said.
Hart said there were no injuries, and he estimated total damages at about $500.
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