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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Mitchell Lancaster, 51, and fellow Ukiah residents Dameon Lancaster, 27, and 31-year-old Melanie Foster were taken into custody and charged with marijuana cultivation and sales, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Shortly before 8:30 a.m. Thursday the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received information that Lancaster was driving his pickup truck and hauling numerous marijuana plants in the back of his trailer, Smallcomb said.
Deputies proceeded to the area of Linda Vista when they observed Mitchell driving and Lancaster as a passenger in the described pickup pulling trailer. Smallcomb said they stopped the vehicle and found several marijuana plants in the back of the pickup and in the trailer.
The vehicle stop initiated a search warrant which was obtained and served at Mitchell's home as well as that of Dameon, who Smallcomb said resided with Foster.
More than 600 marijuana plants were seized between both residences and the initial vehicle stop, Smallcomb reported.
In addition, approximately $49,000 in cash was seized between the vehicle stop and the search of the two residences, according to Smallcomb.
He said the three suspects were transported and booked into the Mendocino County Jail, with bail for each set at $20,000.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
On Tuesday, California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Director John Wagner urged all the IHSS providers to visit their county IHSS office to re-enroll.
The process is required by California's 2009 Budget Act passed by the Legislature. Wagner said the legislation included “a significant anti-fraud initiative” that had as one of its requirements a new IHSS provider enrollment process. State officials said the legislation is meant to “ensure the integrity of the program and protect client safety.”
Starting last Nov. 1, all new IHSS provider applicants were required to complete all four elements of a new process before being eligible to receive payment for services provided to IHSS recipients, the state reported.
Due to the large number of existing providers, state officials said the law allows any providers that were already working or applying to work prior to Nov. 1, 2009, through this June 30 to re-enroll in order to continue to receive payment from the IHSS program.
Tristan Brown, political director for California United Homecare Workers – the union that represents many IHSS workers, including those in Lake County – said the enrollment requirements are a concern for both clients and their providers alike.
“Providers have always had difficulties and concerns with the new anti-fraud enrollment measures because of the cost that have been associated with them,” he said, with the background checks costing $50 and higher depending on location.
He said those kinds of costs prove to be significant blocks for households already dealing with large medical costs, and also are limiting for clients because it potentially infringes on their caregiver choices.
“It can become a very intimate relationship, from a provider to a consumer,” he said, with clients wanting to have the freedom to choose who they want.
Brown suggested that the requirements were the product of “some overzealous district attorneys” and the Republican Caucus.
“We're not seeing this rampant fraud that they suspected,” he said, suggesting it was a “far-fetched idea” from the beginning, and a tactic to use IHSS as a bargaining chip to get other political concessions, which may become apparent in the upcoming budget process.
“It's a shame that our state's elderly and disabled are used in that fashion,” he said.
Steve Citron, manager of adult and housing services for the Lake County Department of Social Services, said the four-step process begins with providers filling out an enrollment form. They are then fingerprinted with the automated Livescan system.
From there, the prints are sent to the California Department of Justice, which then conducts a criminal background check on the individuals, he explained.
Citron said providers must then go through an orientation and sign another form – which the state said acknowledges the IHSS program requirements – to complete the process.
The California Department of Social Services reported that the level of enrollments under the new process has increased exponentially in recent months due to the action steps and outreach by the state, the counties, the public authorities and provider representative organizations.
As of June 9, approximately 330,000 providers have begun the reenrollment process, including more than 225,000 who have completed the process, including fingerprinting and a background check, according to the California Department of Social Services. Approximately 20,000 have taken no steps to re-enroll and risk losing their provider status.
In Lake County, 1,189 IHSS providers had completed the enrollment process as of June 9, according to numbers provided by the state. That number includes 941 existing IHSS providers and 248 who are new.
Approximately 360 local IHSS providers have pending enrollment status – 300 of which are current and 60 new providers, the state reported.
Under the process, eight local IHSS providers – six who already had been in the system and two others who were signing up for the first time – were deemed ineligible, according to the state.
Citron said Lake County's IHSS Public Authority started the reenrollment process for local providers last December, and has been sending out notices every month both to providers and service recipients alike reminding them of the state mandate.
Since then, the county has been doing about 200 reenrollments a month, Citron said.
As for completing the process, “I don't think it's going to be a problem in Lake County,” he added.
On Wednesday, the California Department of Social Services posted on its Web site a notice letter to counties extending the deadline for the reenrollments under certain circumstances.
If providers had started at least one of the four enrollment steps by the June 30 deadline that they will be allowed to complete the process by Dec. 31, the letter stated.
The reason for the extension appears to be one of workload. “Although the rate of enrollment completions has been rapidly increasing, the volume of provider enrollment forms, orientations, and criminal background checks are more than can be processed by June 30, 2010,” the letter explained.
What's still not entirely clear is the future of a state plan to fingerprint IHSS clients as well, which was contained in legislation the state passed last year, Citron said.
Noting that the plan “doesn't make a lot of sense,” Citron suggested it was “overkill” to prevent some kind of fraud that public authorities haven't seen.
The state put aside money and went out to bid for portable fingerprinting devices that could be taken to peoples' homes, Citron said.
The plan was going to require “a huge amount of money,” and the state Legislature has indicated that it doesn't plan to fund the fingerprinting program for the coming fiscal year, he said.
Last month, a Senate budget committee voted against spending $8.2 million this fiscal year to start that process, which is expected to cost $41.6 million over a seven-year contract, according to a May 10 Sacramento Bee report.
Because there is no funding for the fingerprinting devices and a great deal of uncertainty about the requirement, nobody has started fingerprinting clients, according to Citron.
“It doesn't make a lot of sense,” Citron concluded.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
HAMILTON CITY – A Glenn County woman rammed a man with her van on Tuesday in an effort to escape a violent physical attack on she and a friend, officials reported.
Deputies eventually arrested 43-year-old Pedro Sanchez of Hamilton City and booked him into the Glenn County Jail in Willows for investigation of inflicting corporal injury upon a spouse, threatening a crime which could result in great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm and false imprisonment, according to Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones.
Jones said his deputies were dispatched to a report of a large physical fight occurring at a home on County Road 24, just west of State Highway 45, south of Hamilton City.
Reports indicated a violent domestic situation was occurring with a suspect, later identified as Sanchez, discharging a firearm at two victims as they were attempting to flee the assault, Jones said.
Sanchez's significant other and 41-year-old Bridgette Dawn Walker, 41, both of whom had been residing at the address in the 8000 block of County Road 24, were able to flee the scene to Hamilton City were they awaited contact with the sheriff’s office, according to Jones.
Deputies, assisted by agents of the Glenn Inter-agency Narcotics Task Force, converged on the home in an effort to contain and locate Sanchez. Meanwhile, Jones met the two victims in Hamilton City.
Jones said the women were driving a Toyota van which had had its windshield on the driver’s side completely shattered by the impact of a shovel or similar type instrument. Both women were very upset, believing Sanchez had brandished a long gun, possibly a shotgun, and fired upon them as they were fleeing his attack.
Sanchez's girlfriend said she had gotten into a verbal argument with him and he held her against her will in their bedroom, threatening to disfigure her with a hammer if she attempted to leave him. Jones said she alleged that Sanchez became extremely violent throwing objects at her with one of the objects striking her behind the left ear, and he also took her cell phone.
The girlfriend claimed she needed to use the bathroom and used that to alert Walker before fleeing the house. Jones said Sanchez allegedly threw objects at them and stood in front of the driver’s side of the van, smashed out the windshield with impact of a shovel showering the occupants with shards of glass.
Walker told officials that she gunned the van and struck the suspect with the driver’s side front fender area, knocking him to the ground, in order to escape, Jones said.
Jones said both women stated they feared for their lives, and claimed that they saw Sanchez brandish a firearm and discharge it at them, although an initial inspection of the van found no projectile holes.
Though both women were slightly injured, they declined medical treatment and they declined the assistance of a domestic violence response team volunteer, Jones said.
Deputies found Sanchez near his home and requested an ambulance. Jones said a .22-caliber rifle was located; however the weapon’s involvement is yet to be determined. A metal claw hammer was located inside the victim’s bedroom.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit were called out to take over the investigation. The victim was cleared by ambulance personnel and transported by Deputy Jon Owens to Glenn Medical Center for an evidentiary blood draw. Jones said Sanchez was then booked into the Glenn County Jail, with bail set at $210,000.
Detectives transported the victims to Willows for detailed statements. The van the victims had been in was towed and stored for evidence, Jones said.
Detective Greg Felton contacted the on-call Glenn County Superior Court Judge and obtained an emergency protective order and served the suspect in the jail. Jones said the victim was provided with domestic violence support information.
Additional investigation and witness interviews will be conducted, Jones said.
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