Sacto 9-1-1

Sacramento police announced Tuesday the arrest of a 28-year-old man in connection with a robbery that occurred at a church in Sacramento's Southside Park neighborhood on Good Friday.

The robbery occurred in the early morning hours of April 22 at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in the 700 block of T Street.

The victim, who had arrived at church for the early service and was carrying $2,000 to give to a friend who needed to buy a car, was robbed at gunpoint as he exited a church restroom, The Bee reported.

On April 27, at 1:36 a.m., a Sacramento police officer stopped a suspicious subject in the area of 28th and C streets after responding to an activated alarm in the area, according to a Sacramento Police Department news release.

A 27-year-old Davis man was arrested early today after he was reported lurking around an apartment with a camera.

Davis police officers responded at 2:40 a.m. to a report of a suspicious man at 707 Sycamore Lane. A resident of the complex reported that a man was lurking around a specific apartment with a camera. It was determined that the apartment was occupied by a 20-year-old woman.

When officers arrived, they detained Chad Jones. Jones initially tried to flee but was pulled over in his vehicle leaving the scene, according to a Police Department news release. Police said camera equipment found in Jones' car contained images suggesting that he was videotaping and taking photographs of the 20-year-old woman.

A Loomis woman is in Placer County Jail accused of poisoning her husband.

Rachel Melody Bettencourt (left), 53, was booked early today on suspicion of willful poisoning and inflicting corporal punishment on a spouse. She is being held on $100,000 bail.

Placer County Sheriff's deputies were called to Sutter Roseville Medical Center at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the request of South Placer Fire Department officials. Firefighters had responded to Bettencourt's Tudsbury Road home and found the situation suspicious, according to Sheriff's Department news release.

The Sacramento Police Department is looking for a 33-year-old Bobby John (below), who is wanted in connection with a burglary in which he allegedly used a ruse to get the victim out of the targeted house.

From March through May, the Police Department investigated 12 burglaries in which suspects posing as plumbers or contractors approached elderly victims in their homes. The suspects used a ruse to get the victims to go into their backyard. While the resident was outside the house, accomplices went inside and burglarized the home.

On April 15, John allegedly contacted the victim at a home in the 6000 block of Tahoe Way posing as a contractor, according to a Police Department news release. The victim went with the suspect into the backyard to look at a water leak.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies detained and later released three people after locating a vehicle stolen in a burglary earlier today.

Deputies early this afternoon set up a perimeter near the 8400 block of Sutter Buttes Way in the Florin area after they tracked down the stolen vehicle, which was equipped with a LoJack device.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said no one was in the vehicle, but three people were standing nearby. One person was immediately detained, but the other two fled, jumping fences in the neighborhood.

Sheriff's units searched the neighborhood. One of the two individuals was caught and the third was identified. Because deputies could not confirm that the three people had been in the vehicle, no arrests were made Ramos said.

A fight between two Redding brothers ended in an arrest and a hospitalization Monday evening.

Redding police arrested Joseph Kenney, 18, on suspicion of beating his brother Garrett, 20, in what police say was a dispute over medical marijuana. The fight occurred on Southgate Drive in Redding's Westwood Village neighborhood.

By Matt Weiser
mweiser@sacbee.com

Two suspects in a high-profile wildlife poaching case in Colusa County recently pleaded not guilty to multiple felony and misdemeanor charges. Meanwhile, an investigation continues into a related case of witness intimidation.

The case reached a nationwide audience on the National Geographic television program "Wild Justice," which profiles the work of California Fish and Game wardens. A Jan. 26 featured the program's most gruesome poaching case yet, and showed wardens interviewing an informant.

The informant's identity was not obscured, and the footage hinted that he provided the wardens with names.

A firefighter was injured while putting out a garage fire in Carmichael near Dewey Drive this morning.

Firefighters responded at 8:05 a.m. after neighbors informed the owners of the home in the 6700 block of Ellsworth Circle that their garage was burning. The fire started in the garage and spread to the attic.

Firefighter Jeffery Wells was on the roof of the garage when it gave way. He fell through, sustaining injuries to his knees and burns on his neck and face. He was taken to the UC Davis Medical Center.

Wells is in fair condition, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

No one else was injured.

Photo of firefighter Jeffery Wells courtesy of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

Tylar Marie Witt's much anticipated appearance as a prosecution witness against her teen lover was delayed another day this morning due to an illness of Witt's public defender.

Witt, 16, is expected to testify to details of the brutal stabbing of her mother, Joanne M. Witt, in their El Dorado Hills home in June 2009. Her then-19-year-old boyfriend, Steven Paul Colver, is charged with slaying Joanne Witt after she filed a statutory rape complaint against him over his relationship with her daughter.

One person has died in a head-on collision on South Watt Avenue near Tokay Lane.

Another person was hospitalized after the accident, which occurred when a white pickup truck collided with a green sedan south of Elder Creek Road around 5:45 a.m.

The deceased was a male in his 20s, according to the police department.

The Sacramento Police Department closed Watt Avenue during the investigation, but reopened the road to traffic about 10 a.m.

Photo courtesy of Sacramento Police Department.

Two Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies fatally shot a man in south Sacramento shortly after midnight this morning.

The deputies opened fire after the man pointed a handgun at them, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The deputies arrived on Pomegranate Avenue near Delta Pointe Way after dispatchers received several reports of an armed man in the area.

A fire at a vacant house in Rio Linda is under investigation after being quickly contained this evening by Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews.

Firefighters responded to 6027 Mio Court at 8:37 p.m. and arrived to find a fire in a bedroom and extending to the hallway and attic space. Neighbors reported that the home had been vacated Sunday, but people had been seen going in and out of the house today, according to a fire district news release.

The fire was contained within 7 minutes. The incident commander reported that the fire's origin appeared suspicious, and a fire investigator was en route.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

Placer County sheriff's deputies have arrested a Roseville man in connection with the deaths of three people in Loomis.

Jeremy Ray Baker (left), 36, was arrested today on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail in Placer County Jail in Auburn.

Deputies responded to a residence in the 6100 block of Rachel Lane in Loomis on Saturday morning and discovered the three victims - Lawrence Jeremiah Fay Jr., 48, Nanette Florance, 47, and John Camara, 46.

Sheriff's officials said Baker knew the victims, but they declined to release information on a motive at this time.

Autopsies were being performed late today on Fay and Florance. An autopsy on Camara, 46, the homeowner said to be Florance's boyfriend, is to be performed Tuesday.

Camara was found alive with a gunshot to the head, according to a family member, but he later died of his injuries after being transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Placer County Sheriff's Department at (530) 889-7849.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

Roseville police will continue their investigation Tuesday into the death of a 44-year-old man who was found shot in an office park on Industrial Avenue this afternoon.

Sgt. Daniel Wanamaker said police received a report of a disturbance at 3:19 p.m. While officers were en route they were told that gunshots had been heard coming from the offices of Skim X, an extreme sports company in the 8200 block of Industrial Avenue.

Wanamaker said officers established a perimeter around the building at the rear of the business park. Armed with shields and rifles, they entered the warehouse-style building at 3:55 p.m. and found Christopher Dale Northam dead with at least one gunshot wound.

By Darrell Smith

dvsmith@sacbee.com

Placer County investigators continued Monday to probe a triple homicide in a Loomis home over the weekend that shook the small Placer foothill community.

Autopsies were being performed Monday afternoon on two of the dead, Lawrence Jeremiah Fay, Jr., 48; and Nanette Florance, 47, with results due in hours, said Placer County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Alfredo Guitron.

An autopsy on the third victim, John Camara, 46, the homeowner said to be Florance's boyfriend, will be performed early Tuesday, Guitron said. Meanwhile, investigators are searching for a motive and suspects in the grisly deaths, Guitron said.

The bodies of Fay and Florance were discovered Saturday in Camara's home in the 6100 block of Rachel Lane. Camara was found alive with a gunshot to the head, according to a family member, but he later died of his injuries after being transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

Though Camara's neighbors said they heard what sounded like gunshots about 7 p.m. Friday, sheriff's deputies were not called and no shell casings or a weapon were found.

Anyone with information is asked to call Placer County Sheriff's Department at (530) 889-7849.

By Darrell Smith

dvsmith@sacbee.com

A woman and her family escaped their burning North Highlands home early Monday, but one of the family dogs was lost in the fire.

The 2:20 a.m. fire broke out in the rear of the small home on Karl Drive, said Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department officials, bringing two-dozen firefighters to the scene to fight the blaze.

The unidentified woman was sleeping when she was awakened by a loud noise outside and the glow of flames, said fire officials. The fire spread quickly, causing an estimated $130,000 damage to the home and property. Firefighters were able to control the blaze in a matter of minutes, officials said.

The home's three residents and a second dog were not injured, fire officials said. Investigators are calling the blaze accidental.

A California Highway Patrol officer responding to a call of a loose dog on U.S. Highway 50 was struck by a motorist and injured on the freeway near Howe Avenue late Sunday.

The incident happened about 10:35 p.m.

Officers tried to capture the animal after spotting it running across freeway lanes. The dog fled again, into the path of motorist Abigail Pelegrino of Sacramento, CHP officials said.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

A burglary suspect remains in a Roseville hospital today after being shot Sunday by an off-duty sheriff's deputy who had intercepted the man as he was being chased by Rocklin police.

The Roseville Police Department, which is investigating the incident, said Sergey Pautov, 22, of Rancho Cordova was listed in fair condition today.

The burglary suspect was admitted to Sutter Roseville Medical Center after the shooting. Rockin police said he will be arrested on suspicion of felony burglary, reckless evading and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Authorities and family members spent Sunday trying to piece together the events leading to three grisly killings on a quiet Loomis street this weekend.

On Saturday morning, the three victims were discovered in a home on the 6100 block of Rachel Lane.

The Placer County Sheriff's Department identified them Sunday as John Camara, 46, the owner of the home; Nanette Florance, 47, and Lawrence Jeremiah Fay Jr., 48.

A family member, Kristy Harlan, described Fay as longtime friend of Camara who lived occasionally at the home. Harlan said Florance suffered from Parkinson's disease and was cared for by Camara while living at the house.

By Tony Bizjak

tbizjak@sacbee.com

An off-duty Placer County sheriff's deputy shot and wounded a man believed to be fleeing police after robbing a Rocklin convenience store Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

The shooting took place at Cambria Park in Roseville, Lt. Jamie Knox of the Rocklin Police Department said.

Sacramento County Coroner's officials identified the man killed in a collision early Sunday in Elk Grove that closed a portion of Power Inn Road for several hours.

Ivan Oscar Camero, 20, of Elk Grove, was pronounced dead 5 a.m. Sunday, coroner's officials said.

Elk Grove police said the 4:30 a.m. crash happened when a car driven by Heile Gantan of Elk Grove crossed the center divider on Power Inn Road south of Blue Maiden Way, struck a tree, then rolled onto its roof. Gantan and a second woman, LaDonna Torres, were able to escape with what police said were minor injuries.

Camero was trapped inside.

Gantan was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. Torres was arrested on suspicion of felony conspiracy and hit and run with death or injury.

- Darrell Smith

Woodland police say they arrested a 40-year-old man suspected of stabbing his brother in a fight Saturday night, sending him to the hospital with a "large cut to his abdomen."

The suspect, Khalid Hussain, was booked into the Yolo County Jail for assault with a deadly weapon, and bail was set at $25,000.

Police said they investigated a report of a fight shortly before 10 p.m. in the 1100 block of Matmore Road in front of an apartment. There they found Abid Hussain, 34, lying on the ground suffering from a stab wound.

Police said Khalid Hussain is suspected of pulling a knife and slashing his brother in the stomach during a fight.

- Bee Metro staff

Yolo County law enforcement officers have made "a significant number of DUI arrests" over the Memorial Day weekend as part of routine traffic enforcement and special anti-drunk driving deployments, officials said.

Davis Police Sgt. Rod A. Rifredi said that from midnight Friday through midnight Saturday seven motorists were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Eight county police agencies are participating in the DUI enforcement effort.

Today, extra DUI patrols will be in Woodland, West Sacramento, Davis, Winters and unincorporated Yolo County.

Funding is being provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

- Bee Metro staff

Related story:

Authorities step up efforts to curb DUIs for Memorial Day weekend

By Anita Creamer and Gina Kim

acreamer@sacbee.com

A man and a woman were found dead of head wounds in a Loomis home Saturday, and a second man was taken to a local trauma center in what could be a murder-suicide scenario, Placer County Sheriff's Department officials said.

"We think they all lived there," said Det. Sgt. Alfredo Guitron. "It didn't seem like anything was out of place in the house.

"We don't think they're related. I don't know if there was a dating relationship. These same people have been here a long time, from what I understand."

A Woodland High School student was taken into police custody Friday afternoon after being found in possession of an unloaded pistol on campus, according to a Woodland Police Department release.

School resource officers were called to the campus at about 12:45 p.m. Friday, after school administrators were told a juvenile student was on campus with a firearm, according to the release. Responding officers found the student in class and located an unloaded pistol in the student's backpack, the release states.

The student was taken into custody without incident. Though the investigation is ongoing, it does not appear that the student brought the pistol to campus with malicious intent, the release states.

The student was reportedly booked into the Yolo County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of possessing a firearm on school grounds.

UC Davis is asking the public to be wary of an apparent fundraising scam in which people are going door-to-door soliciting donations for the university's marching band and students in two of its academic departments, according to a university news release.

A similar warning was issued by Sacramento State earlier this week.

Several people have called UC Davis reporting they were asked for money to support a trip to London for either the university's marching band or students in the departments of Music or Theatre and Dance, the UC Davis release states. Neither the band nor the two departments are raising funds to support a trip to London, and they do not solicit money door-to-door, according to the release.

The Placer County Sheriff's Department is reporting that a Sacramento man was arrested Thursday in connection with a nationwide fraud case.

Michael Stephen Moynihan, left, was arrested by Placer County Sheriff's detectives and Sacramento Police Department officers after a short foot pursuit in Sacramento, according to a sheriff's department release. The sheriff's department had been seeking Moynihan, and he had fled from investigators on two prior occasions, the release states.

The release states that Placer County Sheriff's detectives were recently contacted by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Colorado Springs, Colo., which had been conducting an investigation involving Moynihan.

By Ed Fletcher
efletcher@sacbee.com

A North Highlands pair was killed as a result of an early morning solo motorcycle accident south of Lincoln on Thursday.

The accident killed Brandon Gomez, 39, of North Highlands, and passenger April Cochran, 23, of North Highlands, CHP officials said.

Around 3 a.m. Thursday, Gomez was riding northbound on Highland Boulevard at an unknown speed when he struck a raised curb south of Athens Avenue, authorities said.

Sacramento police arrested a man on suspicion of attempted kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl on her way home from school.

Rojelio Cuevas, 27, was booked in Sacramento County Jail.

Police said that on May 16 a girl was walking home from school near Belmar Street and Wissemann Drive when a man told the 12-year-old she was sexy. The girl ignored him and kept walking away in the neighborhood near Watt Avenue and Highway 50 .

The Yuba County Coroner's Office today released the name of the woman found floating in Marysville's Ellis Lake.

She was identified as Kimberly Diane Merritt, 35, of Linda. Her death is being treated as suspicious, a Marysville police news release states.

Marysville police, fire and medical personnel responded to the lake at about 5:20 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a report of a female floating in the water, the release states. They found that the woman had been taken to shore by citizens and appeared to be unconscious, the release states.

Medical personnel started life-saving procedures and transported the woman by ambulance to nearby Rideout Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the release states.

Autopsy results are pending, but police are treating the death as suspicious, according to the release. No other information has been released.

Anyone with information or who observed suspicious people or activity near Ellis Lake on Wednesday afternoon are asked to contact the Marysville Police Department at (530) 749-3900.

The Sacramento man investigators call the "Goatman Bandit" was sentenced to prison Thursday for a series of bank robberies.

Federal District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller sentenced John Raymond Porter, 42, to eight years, four months in prison.

Porter was convicted of four counts of bank robbery, though he admitted to committing nine bank robberies, a news release from the federal prosecutor states.

The bank robberies Porter admitted to committing occurred in 2008 and 2009 in Roseville, Auburn, Citrus Heights, El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park.

Porter's sobriquet was bestowed by Sacramento Violent Crimes Task Force investigaors who noted the crook's goatee.

A Chico man pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of child pornography, the U.S. attorney general's office in Sacramento said.

Joshua Aaron Chadwick, 30, will be sentenced on Aug. 25. He faces a prison term of up to 10 years, a fine to $250,000 and lifetime supervision upon his release.

In addition to other sentencing, federal Judge Kimberly J. Mueller could order Chadwick to make restitution to his victims.

During a search of Chadwick's residence on May 26, 2009, law enforcement officers found more than 600 videos showing children being sexual molested and several thousand pornographic images on two computers and multiple hard drives, court documents show.

The case is the result of an investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a joint effort by federal, state, and local officials managed by the Sacramento Sheriff's Department.

- Max Ehrenfreund

Four more people have been arrested in the Marysville sting operation aimed at adults who purchase alcohol for minors.

Three Marysville residents and one Yuba City man were arrested Thursday.

In the so-called "Shoulder Tap" stings, decoys who are minors ask adults to buy them alcohol. The decoys tell adults that they are not old enough to buy alcohol themselves, a Marysville Police Department press release states, and show them real identification.

The arrests bring the number of people arrested in the undercover operation to 43 since it began in February.

- Max Ehrenfreund

The Sacramento Fire Department announced Thursday that it is providing "emergency medical treatment information sheets" for city residents to complete before they require emergency medical aid.

Officials hope that if citizens have the information sheet already filled out, it will help streamline the medical aid process in the event of an emergency, according to a fire department news release.

The sheet asks for details related to medical history, medication allergies, hospital preference for transportation and telephone numbers and names of family members to be notified, according to the release.

A registered sex offender arrested last week by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department on suspicion of failing to update his registration within five days of changing his address, was arrested again Thursday by South Lake Tahoe police on a federal warrant, the police department reported.

On May 16, South Lake Tahoe police responded to a report of a suspicious person at the city-owned Ice Arena, next to the City Recreation Center on Rufus Allen Boulevard. During their investigation, officers identified Joseph Scanio, a registered offender on federal probation for possession of child pornography, according to a police department release.

Scanio, above, was not arrested at the time, but an ensuing investigation determined he was in violation of his mandatory obligation to register his correct physical address with law enforcement, according to the release. On May 18, police arrested Scanio on suspicion of failing to comply with that obligation, a felony violation, the release states.

The death of a woman found floating in Ellis Lake in Marysville on Wednesday afternoon is being treated as suspicious, the Marysville Police Department reported.

Marysville police, fire and medical personnel responded to the lake at about 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, after receiving a report of a female seen floating in the water, according to a police department release. Upon arriving, they found the woman had been brought to shore by citizens and appeared to be unconscious, the release states.

Medical personnel started life-saving procedures and transported the woman by ambulance to nearby Rideout Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the release states.

Citrus Heights Police officers arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with a shooting at a residence Thursday morning that left another man with non-life-threatening arm injuries, according to a police department news release.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 7000 block of Oak Spring Way in Citrus Heights at 10:26 a.m. Thursday, according to the release. The caller advised police that she was the mother of a man who had been shot inside a residence, the release states.

Responding officers set up a perimeter around the residence and detained all occupants, according to the release. A 38-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the arm and was treated on the scene.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com
Jury deliberations got under way today in two separate Sacramento murder trials.
One panel received the case of Juan Carlos Carranco, 18, who is accused in the Oct. 31, 2009, shooting of Carlos Cervantes Jr., 23, at a party on Clover Manor Way in the south area.
Two other men also have been convicted in the party shooting. Christopher Jun Leong, 22, whom a jury found guilty of attempted murder earlier this year, was sentenced to 25 years to life.
Before the Carranco trial, co-defendant Manuel Miguel Sotelo, pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon. He will be sentenced June 24.
In the other murder trial that went to the jury today, Zang Her, 30, is accused in the strangulation killing of John Lone Eagle, 65, whose body was discovered Aug. 23, 2004. Her was arrested Jan. 22, 2009, on a cold DNA hit.
Authorities believe Lone Eagle, a real estate foreclosure speculator who flashed large amounts of cash, was slain in a robbery inside his Rampart Drive home in Carmichael.

A former employee of the UC Davis veterinary school has been arrested on suspicion of felony embezzlement in connection with her work at the university, according to a UC Davis news release.

Emily Ramos, of Woodland, turned herself in at the Yolo County Jail at 10 a.m. Thursday, according to the release. She was arrested on suspicion of 38 counts of embezzlement and was released from jail after posting a bond for $20,000 in bail, campus police announced in the release.

By Cathy Locke

clocke@sacbee.com

The Amador County Sheriff-Coroner's Office has confirmed that Robert Henderson "Budge" Brown, Sr., was the person found dead in the wreckage of a downed aircraft recovered in the Eldorado National Forest last week.

Cause of death was determined to be multiple traumatic injuries due to aircraft collision, the sheriff-coroner's office announced in a news release.

The plane had been reported missing May 18 en route from Minden, Nev., to Tracy. The Amador County Sheriff's Office oversaw a two-day search for the Lancair aircraft owned and piloted by Brown, and located its wreckage strewn over a rugged, snow-covered area of about 300 yards last Friday, May 20.

Brown, of Gardnerville, Nev., was a businessman and winery owner, who founded the Oakwood Lake Resort in Manteca in the early 1980s.

A Placer County homeless man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly set fire to another homeless man's tent Tuesday night, causing second-degree burns to the victim, the Placer County Sheriff's Department reported.

Raymond Carrillo, 39, left, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Placer County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and arson, online jail booking logs show. He is ineligible for bail.

Carillo and the victim, Timmy Swensen, 50, reportedly argued Tuesday night in a field near Highway 49 and Luther Road, where they were camping with others, according to a sheriff's department release. After the argument, the sheriff's department reported, Carillo allegedly threw an accelerent into Swensen's tent and lit it on fire, causing second-degree burns to Swensen's face, hands and legs.

Swensen later told detectives that he walked to a nearby area and laid down for the rest of the night, and then rode his bicycle to Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital the next morning. Sheriff's deputies were called to the hospital at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, and also responded to the homeless camp, where they took Carrillo into custody, the release states.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Sacramento police and the city's Department of Transportation are asking for the community's help in stopping a rash of copper thefts from street lights and traffic signals, the police department reported Thursday.

Thieves have stolen several thousand feet of copper wire from street lights and traffic signals throughout the city this year, according to a police department news release. Replacement costs for the wire have already reached $30,000, while labor and other associated costs have put the city's total loss at close to $60,000, according to the release.

North Natomas neighborhoods have been the hardest hit, especially those with fewer residents, the release states.

The public is asked to watch for suspicious activity near street lights and intersections, and is reminded that legitimate city work crews will have a white pick-up truck with the City of Sacramento seal on it and workers with city identification badges. Anyone who sees individuals working on the wire of street lights or traffic signals without a city vehicle present is asked to call police.

Rewards are being offered in an effort to stop a flood of plumbing equipment thefts in Roseville.

Thieves have stolen backflow valves 46 times in the city between October and early May. That has cost property owners about $81,000 for equipment repair and replacement.

The devices prevent contaminated water from backing up into drinking water supply. Thieves generally go onto a commercial property late at night and first turn off the water supply.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

Just as 16-year-old Tylar Marie Witt was due to testify against her former lover in the killing of her mother, the trial of El Dorado Hills slaying suspect Steven Paul Colver was abruptly halted Thursday morning because of apparent new evidence in the case.

After meeting with attorneys in his chambers, El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Daniel B. Proud dismissed jurors for the day and instructed all parties in the case to reappear on Tuesday. He also ordered attorneys not to divulge any detail of the discussions in chambers.

A court document posted moments ago said prosecutor Lisette Suder notified the court in the closed meeting of "recent evidentiary issues." It said defense attorney Dain Weiner made an oral motion "to exclude the new evidence" and that the judge was considering the matter. The document did not describe the new evidence.

Sacramento police said a man reached out the passenger side window of a sport utility vehicle on Wednesday and grabbed at a woman's handbag, dragging the 77-year-old victim along the street.

The woman was walking to the store in the 5100 block of Stockton Boulevard about noon Wednesday when the man in the SUV grabbed at the purse she was carrying with a strap around her shoulder.

The woman fell and possibly suffered a broken wrist as she was dragged along. The male driver and male passenger got away with the purse.

The suspect vehicle was described as an older dark blue Chevrolet Suburban.

An autopsy has revealed that a toddler found dead in February inside her Roseville home suffered from rare heart condition.

The 16-month-old girl, Isabella Michelle Heredia, died Feb. 11 inside her Hearthside Way home. Police and fire crews went to the child's home, responding to reports that she was not breathing. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

No obvious signs of trauma were reported. Investigators could not immediately determine how or why she died.

Sacramento police today released the description of the suspected getaway car in the killing of 53-year-old Balbir Singh Dhami.

The suspected getaway car is described as a 1990s, gold, four-door Mazda Protégé or 323.

Dhami was killed May 19 when a man came to his home and shot him as he stood just inside the front door of his North Laguna house. His wife was also shot and critically injured.

A man has been sentenced under the state's Three Strikes law for failure to register as a sex offender, Placer County prosecutors reported.

Leroy Dale Holsey was sentenced last Friday by Placer County Superior Court Judge Mark Curry to 28 years to life. Holsey, according to a press release from the Placer County District Attorney, had prior convictions for sexual assault, robbery and molesting children.

The offense for which he was sentenced was Holsey's third conviction for failing to register as a sex offender. Holsey came to the attention of police when they responded to a report that he was blocking the path of girl bicyclists in a Roseville alley and a previous report where he was suspected of peeking into a neighbor's home.

Officers discovered Holsey's criminal history and failure to register as a sex offender in Roseville.

The driver of a carload of teens was arrested Wednesday just outside of Davis after running over a traffic sign in full view of a Yolo County Sheriff's deputy, the CHP said.

The California Highway Patrol said a 17-year-old boy was driving westbound on Russell Boulevard from Davis at 45 mph about 4:45 p.m. when he tried to make a turn onto Patwin Road. In the process, he took the turn too fast and struck a sign for bicyclists.

Watching this occur was a Yolo County Sheriff's deputy, who also saw the driver continue down the road. The teen then pulled into a driveway. .

Bank robbers dressed in black made off with cash from a Woodland bank on Wednesday morning.

Two robbery suspects entered the Umpqua Bank, 203 Main St., around 10 a.m. A third suspect seated in a getaway vehicle waited in a parking lot just outside the bank door.

The two suspects in the bank told employees that they were being robbed and proceeded to steal money from an ATM, Woodland police said in a press release. They then ran outside to where the accomplice was waiting in a white Honda Odyssey minivan.

West Sacramento police are searching for a suspect in the Wednesday morning robbery of the Check Advance bank in the 900 block of Jefferson Boulevard, according to a police department news release.

At about 10:56 a.m., the suspect allegedly entered the bank, approached a clerk, removed a gun from his waistband and demanded money, according to the release. He was given an unspecified amount of money and fled on foot, the release states.

The suspect, pictured above, is described as a black male adult, 20 to 30 years old, between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-8, and weighing about 180 pounds, the release states. He is described as having short black hair and a mustache, and was seen wearing a black "LA" baseball cap with white stripes, a black hooded jacket, a white polo shirt with black horizontal stripes, black pants and black shoes.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the West Sacramento Police Department Investigations unit at (916) 617-4915, or the dispatch line at (916) 375-6474.

A fire broke out at a home in Woodland on Wednesday night, damaging the garage and the interior of the residence but causing no injuries to the people inside the home, according to a Woodland Fire Department release.

Fire crews responded to the 1200 block of Eunice Drive at about 7:15 p.m., and found heavy fire in a single-car garage attached to a residence, according to the release. Crews found no extension of the fire into the residence and extinguished the blaze in the garage, the release states.

The interior of the residence sustained light smoke damage, according to the release. Four people in the home when the fire broke out escaped without injury.

The fire caused an estimated $50,000 of damage, the release states.

Sacramento police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Thursday night at Fruitridge Road and Mendocino Boulevard in south Sacramento, according to a police department release.

The checkpoint will begin at 8 p.m. and run for five to seven hours, according to the release. Officers will check drivers for signs of drug and alcohol impairment, and will also check driver's licenses.

Funding for the checkpoint was provided by a California Office of Traffic Safety grant, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

If the weather is bad, the checkpoint may be converted to a DUI saturation patrol.

The Sacramento Police Department is reporting that its gang detectives thwarted a potential drive-by shooting Wednesday afternoon when they pulled over a car containing two validated gang members and multiple weapons, including an assault rifle.

The detectives were in a known gang area in south Sacramento at about 3 p.m., when they observed members of a rival gang driving in the area, said Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. Detectives determined the driver was acting suspicious and pulled the vehicle over in the area of Florin Road and Franklin Boulevard.

Detectives found that the driver of the vehicle was sitting on a loaded gun, and they located an assault rifle hidden near some stereo speakers in the vehicle, Leong said.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies are searching for a male suspect who allegedly stabbed his girlfriend multiple times in the neck and then stole her car Wednesday afternoon, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The victim's injuries are considered non-life-threatening, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said.

Sacramento Police Department officers originally responded to the 4800 block of 71st Street at 4:07 p.m., regarding a woman with stab wounds, said police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. Officers determined that the stabbing occurred while the suspect and victim, who are believed to be boyfriend and girlfriend, were driving in Sacramento County, Leong said.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

A large oak tree fell onto two houses on Clunie Drive near American River Drive early this afternoon, causing major damage to both structures, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman said.

Battalion Chief Patrick Ellis said he had been told the tree was the second-oldest oak in California.

Fire crews responded at about 12:20 p.m. Wednesday to the 100 block of Clunie Drive and found the fallen oak had caused a total collapse of the garage of one house and a partial collapse of one room in the adjacent house, Ellis said.

Large debris from the tree was scattered in a nearly 200-foot radius, he said.

No injuries have been reported. Ellis said neighbors living up to six blocks away reported hearing the tree fall.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

State corrections officials incorrectly allowed 1,500 inmates to be placed on unsupervised parole last year, including 450 who should have been classified as having a "high risk for violence," a new audit of the state's parole programs has found.

A report released this morning by the state inspector general's office found that prison officials trying to implement a 2009 program to place inmates on non-revocable parole incorrectly classified many of them initially, allowing hundreds to be returned to their communities with no supervision at all.

Corrections officials disputed the findings of the 34-page report, which does not indicate whether any of the parolees who were improperly classified went on to commit new crimes.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

The father of El Dorado Hills murder suspect Steven Paul Colver testified today about a tense dinner with his son's 14-year-old girlfriend and her mother over plans for his son to move into her home.

Richard Colver, whose son is accused of fatally stabbing Joanne M. Witt in her bedroom in June 2009, said he never knew his son had a romantic relationship with Witt's daughter, Tylar Marie Witt.

But, in a Placerville courtroom today, he described friction at the dinner table between the mother and daughter as Colver and his son met them at a Folsom restaurant to discuss arrangements for his son renting a room at the Witt home in El Dorado Hills.

Another shooting occurred Tuesday in Lodi where over the weekend police responded to what they said were two gang-related assaults.

The most recent shooting occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of South Washington St. where a 15-year-old boy was shot several times. He was transported to a local hospital. His condition was not available.

Witnesses told police that two Hispanic teens were involved in the shooting of the 15 year old. One was described as about 14 years old, 5 feet tall, 130 pounds, wearing a black shirt and a black hat with the letter "P".

Two young women posing as Sacramento State students are running a magazine-selling scam, university officials said.

The young women claim to be students from the university's Department of Theatre & Dance. They purport to be selling magazines to win a trip to London and they claim the department will use magazine sales proceeds to put on a production of "The Taming of the Shrew."

A press release from California State University, Sacramento also states that the two women falsely claim they are raising money for Shriner's Hospital.

Neither Shriners nor Sacramento State solicits funds in the manner being conducted by the two women, the university said. The Theatre & Dance Department is not sponsoring any trips to London.

UC Davis police police have arrested a student as a suspect in two sexual assaults on the campus last night.

Robert Schaerges, 26, was booked into Yolo County Jail on suspicion of sexual battery, false imprisonment and assaulting a police officer.

Campus police said that two sexual assaults took place on a bicycle path near the ARC Pavilion about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The attacker also assaulted a police officer before running off.

A Redding man was arrested Tuesday evening after he allegedly attacked the current boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend with a crowbar, according to a Redding Police Department release.

Officers responded at 4:51 p.m. Tuesday to reports of a fight in the parking lot of the Walgreens in the 1700 block of Eureka Way, according to the release. Upon arriving, they located a conscious man lying on the ground and suffering from a head injury.

John Patrick Gates, 53, of Redding, was transported to a local hospital, where he was in stable condition, the release states.

Three people were arrested today after a clerk at a Sutter County market was robbed at gunpoint.

The robbery occurred about 3:20 a.m. at Sutter Food and Gas, 7505 Highway 20, in the community of Sutter, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The clerk reported that two people entered the store. One had a handgun and demanded money from the cash register.

A former Esparto youth football coach has pleaded no contest to child molestation and possessing child pornography.

Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced today that Juan Hernandez, 37, of Woodland, pleaded no contest to two counts of child molestation, possession of child pornography and a misdemeanor count of annoying or harassing a minor.

Hernandez also admitted to a prior strike conviction from 1995 for willfully discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manor, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.

As part of the plea bargain, Hernandez agreed to serve 21 years and four months in state prison.

Three elderly Woodland residents reported missing Tuesday afternoon were located late Tuesday night in northwest Los Angeles County, the Woodland Police Department reported.

James Popplewell, 89, Roy Ross, 87, and Virgilyn McCann, 96, had been reported at-risk and missing hours after they left their residences at the St. John's Retirement Village in Woodland around noon, according to a police department release. They were believed to be in Popplewell's gray Toyota Corolla, heading to Davis to visit a friend, but had not been heard from by 6:30 p.m.

A former loan officer from Nevada City has been sentenced to prison for defrauding a local bank.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton sentenced Melvin Rohs, 65, to 33 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. Rohs also was ordered to pay $533,976 in restitution.

On Dec. 14, Rohs pleaded guilty to three counts of theft, embezzlement or misapplication of a bank officer or employee, and two counts of making a false statement in connection with a loan application or renewal.

Concluding a case launched by law enforcement officials in Germany, a Roseville man was sentenced today to more than 10 years in prison for receipt of child pornography.

U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced Thomas Lee Neal, 42, to 10 years and three months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release for receipt and possession of child pornography, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. Neal pleased guilty to the charges March 1.

According to court documents, in May 2009, German law enforcement officials identified Neal as an individual who had uploaded to a file-sharing website in Roseville a video of child pornography. When U.S. agents executed a search warrant on Neal's house, they seized computers that contained images of child pornography.

By Cynthia Hubert
chubert@sacbee.com

A federal jury in Sacramento issued a mixed verdict Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of homeless people whose possessions have been seized and destroyed in city police sweeps.

The jury found that the city failed to properly notify homeless people of how they could retrieve property removed from illegal campsites and to implement policies for handling and storing those possessions. But it rejected several other claims, including that the city had a longstanding policy of unreasonably seizing and destroying the tents, sleeping bags, prescription medications, and other personal property of homeless men and women.

The lawsuit did not ask for specific damages, so it was unclear Tuesday to what extent the verdict will affect city policies for responding to complaints about homeless campsites, or to what extent homeless people will be compensated for loss of their property.

A Sacramento Superior Court jury today convicted Ignacio Leyba of murdering Oquitzin Bravo last year at an after-hours party on 47th Avenue.

Leyba, 27, a reputed Norteno street gang member, shot and killed the 33-year-old Bravo in the early-morning hours of Sept. 26, jurors found in returning the second-degree murder verdict. The panel also found him guilty of trying to murder a friend of Bravo's at the same party by shooting him in the abdomen. Leyba picked up a third conviction for being a felon in possession of a gun.

Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard scheduled Leyba's sentencing for June 24.

- Andy Furillo

Free steering wheel-locking clubs will be given away at the Sacramento County Fair to owners of the most often stolen vehicles.

Up to 10 of the security devices will be given away each day at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Auto Crimes Enforcement (ACE) booth from Thursday through Monday at Cal Expo. The locking devices will go to owners of the most frequently stolen vehicles:

Once again, thieves posing as repairmen have burglarized a residence after distracting the homeowner.

In the most recent ruse, two men posing as repair company workers came to a home Monday morning in the 4300 block of Fallow Drive near Franklin Boulevard and Mack Road. The men wore hard hats and uniforms.

While one of the men spoke with the victim at the front of the house, the other entered the residence through a side door and took items from the home. Police said the theft is similar to previous scams where suspects posed as plumbers.

A woman was hit with her own cane by a man who accosted her in Meadowview.

The 68-year-old woman was going for a walking near her home in the vicinity of Esterel Way Monday morning about 11 a.m. when a young man approached her. Sacramento police said the man grabbed the walking cane from her hand and struck her on the leg several times.

The suspect said nothing and took nothing from the victim before fleeing on foot, police said. The suspect was described as white, about 19 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 170 pounds with black hair.

Woodland police have arrested a 23-year-old man who allegedly broke into a home on Leake Circle and was found by officers in an upstairs bedroom, according to a Woodland Police Department news release.

Officers responded to the 1000 block of Leake Circle at 4:36 p.m. Monday, after receiving reports that a man had gone into the backyard of a house and possibly broken the back patio glass door to gain entrance, according to the release. Police surrounded the home, checked the backyard and found the rear patio door shattered.

Upon entering the home, officers heard a man yelling from an upstairs bedroom, the release states. They located and detained the man, whom property owners said had no lawful right to be in the house.

A 17-year-old boy is accused of stabbing a fellow student at Amador High School this morning, according to authorities.

The victim, a 16-year-old sophomore, was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center with at least one stab wound to the lower abdomen, said Sutter Creek police Chief Brian Klier. The boy's current condition is not known; Klier said his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Klier said that there had been "visual and verbal taunting" between the two boys over the last few weeks, and that the boys began to argue today about 10 a.m. The boys were between classes in an open area on campus when the argument escalated into a physical fight, Klier said.

The Sacramento County coroner's office has identified the man who allegedly killed his sister before killing himself Saturday evening as 44-year-old Robert Dean Carrillo.

Sheriff's authorities allege Carrillo shot his sister, 34-year-old Dolores Tornel, after they got into an argument in the garage of a North Highlands home.

The shooting occurred as family and friends were celebrating the birthday of Tornel's son.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said detectives believe the argument started when Tornel told Carrillo he had to leave her home. He had been staying at his sister's place, Ramos said, because he was down on his luck.

Related post with video:
Coroner IDs woman shot by brother in North Highlands

People who face criminal charges for driving with a suspended license may have an opportunity to regain their license under a new program offered by the Yolo County District Attorney's Office.

Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced that his office has formed a partnership with Pacific Educational Services Inc. to provide a diversion program to educate suspended and unlicensed drivers who are facing criminal charges.

The objective of the class is to provide participants with tools and a plan to become a legal driver, properly licensed and insured. Most of the participants have a suspended license due to failure to comply with certain Department of Motor Vehicle regulations and other conditions, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.

Lodi police are investigating two assaults over the weekend that seriously injured two men.

The first assault occurred about 8:15 p.m. Sunday in the 2200 block of Scarborough Drive when officers responded to a shooting of 20-year-old Raymond Madrid.

Lodi police searched the area for two vehicles seen leaving the scene of the shooting, but no arrests have been announced. Madrid suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

A man once thought to be a homicide suspect led California Highway Patrol officers on a wild chase down Interstate 5 this morning, the CHP said.

During the pursuit south on I-5, the suspect, a 37-year-old man from Everett, Wa., avoided numerous strips placed on the roadway to puncture his tires. Eventually, his vehicle came to a stop when he ran out of gas south of Woodland.

The man is suspected of stealing an older model SUV this morning from a gas station in Redding. The Redding police took the report, which was eventually transmitted to CHP officers patrolling I-5.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

Two suspects left a Target in Davis empty-handed this morning after an unsuccessful attempt to steal an ATM in the store, according to authorities.

About 3 a.m., the unidentified suspects rammed a full-size Dodge pickup through the locked front doors of the Target store, according to Davis police Lt. Tom Waltz.

The suspects backed the truck up to the customer service center and tied a cable to an ATM machine, Waltz said in a news release. When they tried to speed away, the cable broke.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

The search for a missing 2-year-old Humboldt County girl came to a sad end Saturday, when authorities found the toddler's body in the Trinity River.

The girl's mother, 30-year-old Claudia Pedreros, will be charged with murder, according to the Trinity County Sheriff's Department.

The search for Sophia Parker Pedreros intensified Friday after Claudia Pedreros was found walking naked on Highway 3 in the Trinity Lake area that morning. She told authorities she did not know where her daughter was.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office has identified the woman shot to death in a murder-suicide Saturday afternoon as 34-year-old Dolores Lucero Tornel.

Sheriff's authorities say Tornel's 44-year-old brother shot her before turning the gun on himself during a birthday party for Tornel's son at their North Highlands home.

The coroner's office has not released the identity of Tornel's brother.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Authorities cancelled a statewide Amber Alert moments ago for two children who had been reported abducted when the car they were riding in was stolen from the roadside in Stockton.

Stockton police had been told that the car was taken when the children's father stepped out of the vehicle to argue with a woman passenger, leaving the vehicle running and the car doors open with the man's 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in the back seat.

Police were told that a passing car stopped and a passenger jumped into the man's Buick with the children and took off.

However, state officials canceled the Amber Alert just after 10:30 p.m. and Fox 40 was reporting from Stockton that the children had been found safe with their mother.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

A birthday party for a North Highlands child turned tragic Saturday afternoon when a man and his sister began arguing and the man shot her to death, then killed himself.

The shooting in the 5800 block of San Ardo Way began in the garage of the home when the brother, a man in his 40s, began yelling at his younger sister and shot her to death with a handgun, Sacramento sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos said.

The man then went into the home, yelled some more, returned to the garage and shot himself. The birthday party was for the dead woman's child, and some family members who fled the house saw the woman's body through the open garage door, Ramos said.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

At least it wasn't Father's Day.

Sacramento police say they were called out Friday afternoon to the Hagginwood area for reports of a fight between two people.

When they arrived at a home in the 1100 block of Sonoma Avenue police discovered the combatants had been father and son. The son had run away before officers arrived, police said, and the father was found to have "sustained injuries in an attack including several bite marks."

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

A federal judge in Sacramento has denied Unabomber Ted Kaczynzki's bid to halt an auction of his belongings while he is under investigation in the 1982 Tylenol poisoning mystery.

U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. issued his order Friday, rejecting a hand-written motion Kaczynski filed with the court after he discovered the FBI was investigating whether he had anything to do with the unsolved 29-year-old poisonings that killed seven people in Chicago.

Kaczynski said in his motion, filed earlier this month, that he wanted the government to stop plans to auction off belongings that might pinpoint his whereabouts in 1982.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

It was a little more extreme than Ferris Bueller's day off.

Prosecutors say a Sacramento area man was convicted Friday of contributing to the delinquency of a minor by allowing his son to skip school dozens of times.

District Attorney Jan Scully said in a news release that a jury convicted Dino Otto after "an extremely long history of neglecting his obligation as a parent to make sure his child attended school."

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Police are seeking the public's help in identifying a man they say tried to hold up a Raley's supermarket on Twin cities Road in Galt Thursday night.

Galt police said the man walked into the store at about 9:15 p.m. and confronted a female clerk, demanding that she turn over the money in his cash register.

The clerk, who did not see a weapon, refused and called for her manager, prompting the suspect to flee.

Police released a surveillance photo of the suspect, left, and asked that anyone recognizing the suspect call Galt police at (209) 366-7000.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

A Butte County man arrested in the fierce beating of an acquaintance was found dead in the Butte County Jail Friday night in an apparent suicide, authorities said today.

David Ryan Forester, 36, was found at 7:26 p.m. as deputies were conducting a routine head count, the sheriff's office said. A deputy found Forester "hanging by the neck from the top bunk inside a cell," the sheriff's office said in a release.

Officials administered CPR and first aid and he was taken by ambulance to Oroville Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

At least three people reported being robbed in the 3000 block of Altos Avenue over the past week, after answering ads on Craigslist, two of them for televisions, Sacramento police reported.

One victim picked up the suspects in Roseville and drove them to Altos Avenue, where they robbed him at gunpoint.

In the other incidents, victims answering the advertisement were directed to the area, where they were robbed after meeting the purported sellers.

Sacramento police chased and arrested a man after he fled when officers approached a group of six in Oak Park.

Police approached the group near 14th Avenue and La Solidad Way, police reported.

When one subject fled, police chased him behind a house described in the official activity log as "a known gang hangout."

A gunman on foot fired shots into a crowd near the Capitol Garage at 15th and K streets early this morning, wounding two bystanders.

Police believe those hit were not the intended targets.

Neither suffered life-threatening injuries.

Law enforcement agencies in El Dorado County are planning a DUI crackdown for Memorial Day weekend, according to a South Lake Tahoe Police Department release.

The enforcement campaign is scheduled to begin Friday. Placerville police will staff a sobriety checkpoint in the city's downtown district from 7 p.m. Friday until 1 a.m. the following morning, according to the release. Driver's licenses will also be checked.

Also starting that night, DUI saturation patrols will be carried out by police in the cities of Placerville and South Lake Tahoe, and sheriff's deputies will staff extra DUI units in South Lake Tahoe, the release states. Roving patrols will be deployed from Friday until Monday.

The wreckage of a plane reported missing Wednesday night en route from Minden, Nev., to Tracy has been located in a rugged, snow-covered area of the Eldorado National Forest.

The Amador County Sheriff's Department, which oversaw the two-day search, reported that wreckage of the Lancair aircraft, owned and piloted by Robert Henderson "Budge" Brown Sr., of Gardnerville, Nev., was located about 3:45 p.m. by members of the department's Search and Rescue Nordic Team.

A body was recovered and is believed to be that of Brown, the only person on board the plane. However, officials said positive identification is pending and the cause of death will be determined during a forensic autopsy scheduled for Monday.

A search was continuing Friday night in Trinity and Humboldt counties for a 2-1/2-year-old girl (in photo, left) whose mother was found walking naked on Highway 3, near Coffee Road in the Trinity Lake area Friday morning.

The woman, identified as Claudia Pedreros or Claudia Pedreros Parker, 30, had been reported missing in Humboldt County.

She had reportedly left her home about 12:30 a.m. Friday with her daughter, Sophie, and was driving a 2008 silver Kia Sedan.

By Carlos Alcalá
calcala@sacbee.com

More than a half-dozen inmate weapons were recovered after a riot this morning at one of the two state prisons in Folsom, officials said.

The riot involved about 150 inmates at California State Prison, Sacramento, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The weapons included six knives made by inmates and a cane.

David Scott Denson was sentenced today to 153 years to life in prison for the first-degree murder of a 29-year-old woman in April 2009.

A Sacramento Superior Court jury last month convicted Denson of the shooting death of Dusty Rose Vasquez at a Del Paso Road residence.

He also was found guilty of two counts of attempted premeditated murder, using a firearm in the attempted murders and for being a felon in possession of a gun.

A 30-year-old Roseville man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the kidnap and rape of a 24-year-old woman.

Justin Lee Mitchell was sentenced May 13 in Auburn by Placer County Superior Court Judge Marc S. Curry.

Mitchell pleaded guilty March 30 to kidnapping and rape with a foreign object, according to a Placer County District Attorney's Office news release.

As part of an ongoing traffic safety campaign, the Elk Grove Police Department announced that it is stepping up speed and muffler enforcement with the aid of grant awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

In 2010, 495 collisions in the city resulted in injury or death, according to a Police Department news release. Of those, 145, or 29 percent, were speed related. Police said speed is the most commonly reported contributing factor in injury collisions.

A part of the grant, Elk Grove police identified areas within the city with a large number of speed-related collisions and has been deploying mobile speed trailers to provide visual feedback to motorists regarding their speed. Additional officers also have been assigned to enforce speed laws in these areas and throughout the city.

Sacramento police urge North Natomas residents to be on the lookout for a man who has been approaching children and adults in a suspicious manner.

The man went up to a home Thursday evening in the vicinity of Loggerhead Way and Myotis Drive and spoke to a female resident.

He told her he was looking for his lost dog, but when she asked for a description of the dog, he hesitated as though he had to make it up.

The search for an aircraft that disappeared during a flight from Minden, Nev., to Tracy on Wednesday is continuing this afternoon.

Capt. Matt Scherzi of the Civil Air Patrol said the search for the Lancair aircraft piloted by San Joaquin County businessman and winery owner Robert "Budge" Brown, has focused on an area east of Sacramento surrounding the last known position of the plane. Scherzi said the search today has expanded outward from that area, and aircraft also are flying the route the plane likely would have followed between Minden and Tracy.

Brown was the only person on board the plane, which left Minden about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday en route to a private airstrip near Tracy, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. A family member reported the aircraft overdue about 8:30 p.m.

Sacramento police have arrested Raymond Brau, left, 33, after a pair of girls accused him of exposing himself and grabbing their buttocks on different occasions.

Police were contacted May 12 after the two victims, 16 and 17 years old, were walking home and a man called to them from a house in the 4400 block of 73rd Street.

The juveniles said he was exposing and holding "his private parts," according to a news release from the Sacramento Police Department.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

Attempted murder charges have been dismissed against a witness in a recent murder case who had been charged in a shooting last year that injured two people.

Jeremy Don Humphries, 25, had been in jail more than five months before the case was dismissed May 13 on a motion by the District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors dismissed the case for insufficient evidence.

Humphries testified as a key witness in the murder trial of Alex Brown Jr., Terry Larell Alexander and David Jacob Carrera. The three were convicted in the robbery murder of James Ramirez at his parents' Land Park home.

Before he testified, Humphries had been arrested in the Nov. 4, 2010, shooting of two men in the Hollywood Park neighborhood.

By Matt Kawahara and Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com

A 7-year-old girl who was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive near her home Thursday night had a heart condition, her family told sheriff's deputies, investigators reported today.

Uliana Shevchuk of Fair Oaks was pronounced dead after she was found in bushes near the Fair Oaks apartment complex where her family lives.

Investigators found no signs of foul play at the scene, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office has confirmed that Balbir Singh Dhami, 53, was the victim of a shooting Thursday in the 7900 block of Marla Way that also left Dhami's wife wounded.

The wife's name has not been released by investigators.

Police are still investigating the death of Dhami, who had a criminal history involving a drug conspiracy conviction and a son who is a fugitive in a murder case.

Read The Bee's earlier story on the Dhami shooting here.

Sacramento police arrested two teens and the mother of one of the juveniles in the wake of a Wednesday burglary in the 2100 block of Bell Avenue.

Investigation indicated that burglary was carried out by the 17- and 16-year-old grandsons of a neighbor, according to the police report.

Furthermore, the 54-year-old mother of the 17-year-old was believed to have sold some of the stolen property at a pawn shop. The mother was not identified.

Police arrested all three Thursday.

Q: I heard that Donald Cronk is out of prison for his murder of James Milton Allen back in the early '80s. Is that true? - Pher, Sacramento

A: Yes. Cronk, now 54, is no longer in prison. He was granted a parole in 2007, records show.

He was serving a sentence of 27 years to life for Dec. 19, 1980, murder of Allen, 50, a Carmichael coin dealer.

Cronk and another man, Glenn Meyer, pleaded guilty to killing Allen.

A man convicted of shooting an ice-cream vendor in south Sacramento because he would not give out free items was denied a parole and told he can't apply again for seven years.

The state Board of Parole Hearings denied the parole to Paul Earl McIntosh, now 34, and put the seven-year restriction on him earlier this month. (Photo at left is of McIntosh at a 1994 court hearing.)

McIntosh is serving 20 years to life for the March 1994 shooting of Ranbir Singh Bansel.

According to police, a swarm of youths surrounded Bansel as he canvassed a Meadowview neighborhood. The youths demanded free ice cream and soda, The Bee reported.

When Bansel, 46, refused, he was shot several times.

Two suspects were sent to juvenile hall after a 14-year-old said he was robbed of his cellphone at a Woodland park last night.

The teen was at Schneider Park on Schuler Ranch Drive about 6 p.m. where he was allegedly robbed of his cellphone at knifepoint. Arriving Woodland officers found three boys near the park who matched the descriptions of the robbery suspects provided by police dispatch.

A 15-year-old boy suspected of wielding the knife and a14-year-old boy identified by police as his accomplice were booked into juvenile hall. The third boy was interviewed but not charged.

By Cathy Locke and Ron Trujillo
clocke@sacbee.com

A search will continue Friday morning near Placerville for a private plane that was reported missing Wednesday night en route from Minden, Nev., to an airstrip in Tracy.

The plane - a Lancair Legacy - left Minden about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, with only the pilot on board, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Pilot Robert "Budge" Brown - a businessman and winery owner - was not in communication with or being tracked by air traffic controllers, according to the FAA.

A man who pleaded guilty last month to the 1981 first-degree murder of a blind, deaf 88-year-old Sacramento woman has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Leroy Veal, 60, pleaded guilty to the murder of Pauline Colombatto and was sentenced by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Savage. Veal also admitted to three special circumstance allegations that the crime occurred during the commission of burglary, attempted robbery and rape.

In exchange for a plea to these offenses and a waiver of appellate rights, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office agreed not to pursue the death penalty, but instead have Veal sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, according to a news release.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

The man killed in this morning's double shooting found himself in the midst of turmoil in recent years, as he fought a federal drug trafficking case while authorities tried to track down his fugitive son in connection with a 2008 homicide, The Bee has learned.

However, police will not say whether they believe either of those cases is connected to today's events.

Balbir Singh Dhami and his wife were gunned down inside their Marla Way home in North Laguna Creek shortly after 10 a.m. Dhami was pronounced dead at the scene; his wife, who has not yet been identified, is in critical condition.

A Sacramento man has been accused of conspiring to travel abroad to have sex with children.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a four-count superseding indictment charging James E. Johnston, 69, with conspiracy to travel in foreign commerce for the purposes of having sex with a person under the age of 18, conspiracy to produce child pornography, receipt and distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

The indictment alleges that between May and September 2006, Johnston conspired with another person to go to the Philippines to have sex with a child.

Two Nevada City residents were indicted today for interstate marijuana trafficking.

A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Patricia Jane Albright, 59, and her son Jordan Robert Wirtz, 24, charging them in a conspiracy to cultivate marijuana and structure financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements, according to a U.S. Justice Department news release.

In January 2010, law enforcement officers identified Albright as a marijuana grower, according to court documents.

Sacramento police arrested a suspected burglar after first convincing her to put on her clothes and get out of the tub.

Police said officers were summoned to a residence in the 2100 block of V Street about 8 a.m. Wednesday on a report of a burglary in progress. The resident told officers that a burglary suspect was in the tub.

"Apparently when confronted by the homeowner, she decided she would state she lived there," read a police crime log. "When that didn't work, she undressed and jumped into the tub for a quick bath."

Truckee Truckee police said they chased down and arrested three teens on suspicion of burglary early today.

Officers were called to an apartment complex on Rue Ivy Avenue about 2 a.m. where a resident said several people were trying to break into his home.

When officers arrived three people ran from officers.

One turned and fought officers, but was arrested after a short struggle, police said.

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

The California Supreme Court this morning upheld the death penalty imposed in Sacramento Superior Court on Sean Venyette Vines in 1997 for murdering Ronald Joshua Lee while Vines and a companion were sticking up a McDonald's on Florin Road.

Vines, now 37, was found guilty of shooting Lee, a 21-year-old manager trainee at the restaurant, in the back of the head. Vines, who had previously worked with Lee at the fast food outlet, was later to say he killed "my friend" because Lee recognized him and uttered his name.

A unanimous high court rejected arguments by Vines' lawyer that capital punishment itself is unconstitutional and that the more than 13 years Vines has spent on death row constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the federal and state constitutions.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

A friend of slaying suspect Steven Paul Colver testified today in El Dorado Superior Court that Colver showed him a bloody knife and told him he delivered fatal wounds to the mother of his then-14-year-old girlfriend.

Matthew Widman, 19, said Colver, now 21, and Tylar Marie Witt, now 16, described the killing of Joanne Witt in the early hours of June 12, 2009.

Widman said the trio were smoking marijuana and doing cocaine at Colver's father's house when Colver went to his car and retrieved a butcher knife in a shopping bag. He said Colver laid the bag and knife on a kitchen table and said he "killed Ty's mom."

The suspicious package that Sacramento County sheriff's deputies responded to in Arden Arcade this morning turned out to be a creatively decorated lighted gift box.

The suspicious object was described as a 8-inch-by-8-inch, glass brick-shaped package with wires and plugs attached. The suspicious object was near a car in the 3600 block of Marconi Avenue.

Further investigation revealed it was not a danger. A woman who works in a nearby building wraps boxes in a clear wrapping with lights inside.

Q: In 2003, Kathy Delaurentis of Galt was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk. Is she still in prison? - Anonymous, Galt

A: Yes. Delaurentis, 51, is serving an 11-year, eight-month sentence at Valley State Prison for Women, Chowchilla, records show.

DeLaurentis of Galt pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury in the death of 17-year-old Adam Williams, also of Galt, on April 21, 2003, The Bee reported.

A second-degree murder charge was dropped in a plea agreement.

A two-alarm fire caused major damage to a home in Citrus Heights this morning.

The fire was reported about 7:15 a.m. at the home on Glen Canyon Court near Old Auburn Road and Twin Oaks Avenue. When Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighters arrived the fire was well involved in the garage and the attic space above the garage.

Before firefighters could contain the blaze, the garage roof collapsed on two cars and the fire completely spread through the attic of the home. At one point explosions were heard.

A gang-related confrontation led to a teenager shooting a man in Oak Park on Wednesday evening, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman said.

Police received a report of a shooting in the area of 8th Avenue and 40th Street at 5:43 p.m., said police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. Officers responded and located a male adult suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach that was believed to be non-life-threatening, Leong said.

The man was apparently walking in the area when he and a teenager riding by on a bicycle began exchanging words, Leong said. The confrontation, believed to be "of a gang nature," led to the teen shooting the victim, Leong said.

A former Sacramento business owner was arrested today by federal agents in Florida,

A federal grand jury in Sacramento in April returned a 16-count indictment charging Carlos B. Jerez, 34, with fraud, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to the indictment, Jerez, owner of the Sacramento-based 1st Class Mobility, advertised medical mobility products, such as motorized wheelchairs and scooters, and accepted payment without the ability to deliver the products. The indictment alleges that Jerez made false representations about shipping delays, the availability of refunds and the status of missing orders.

Amidst a rash of catalytic converter thefts in the city, Davis police will partner with a local auto-care shop next month to offer free converter etching services to some vehicle owners, the police department reported.

The service will consist of etching car owners' license or vehicle identification numbers on the converters to assist police in recovery efforts should the converters be stolen, according to a department release. It will be offered June 11, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Davis Muffler and Hitch at 2613 2nd St. in Davis.

The offer is only available to Davis residents or people employed in Davis, the release states. Because catalytic converter thieves appear to target a particular make and model of vehicles, the only vehicles eligible for the service are 1990-2002 Toyota pickups, Tacomas and 4-Runners.

South Lake Tahoe police today announced the arrest of a registered sex offender who is on federal probation for possession of child pornography.
Police on Monday responded to a citizen's report of a suspicion person at the city-owned Ice Arena, next to the City Recreation Center on Rufus Allen Boulevard. During their investigation, officers identified Joseph Scanio, left, a registered sex offender on federal probation.

Scanio was not arrested at the time, but subsequent investigation revealed that he was in violation of his mandatory sex registration obligation, according to a Police Department news release. Officers discovered that Scanio was living at 2275 Wyoming Ave., but in June 2010, he had reported that he was living at a different residence in South Lake Tahoe. At that time, police said, Scanio signed an acknowledgement that he was aware that he was obligated to update his registration within five days of changing his address.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's bomb squad, called out this afternoon to investigate a suspicious object lying in the street in a south Sacramento neighborhood, has determined that the object appears benign, a sheriff's spokesman reported.

Sheriff's deputies received a call just before 3 p.m., regarding a body down in the street at 44th Street and 23rd Avenue, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said. Deputies responded and determined that there was an object that was dressed in clothing and made to look like a person lying face-down in the street, but that it was not a person, Ramos said.

The sheriff's bomb squad responded as a precaution and deputies established a perimeter in the area, Ramos said. However, in examining the object with a robot, the bomb squad found that it appeared to be a combination of "stuffed animal parts and other items, constructed to give the appearance of a person," Ramos wrote in an email.

"It appears fairly benign, and is most likely someone's bad idea of a prank," he wrote.

Start Smart, a driver education class for teenagers, will be presented by the California Highway Patrol on May 26 in El Dorado Hills.

Teen drivers are found at fault in 66 percent of all fatal collisions in which they are involved, although they represent only 4 percent of the state's licensed drivers, according to a CHP news release. Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 20 years old,

The Start Smart program targets newly and soon-to-be licensed teenage drivers ages 15 to 19 years old and their parents or guardians.

A man who shot to death a motorist in 1990 as he drove on Highway 50 in El Dorado County lost a parole bid and won't get another chance for seven years.

The state Board of Parole Hearings ruled this month that Kenneth Earl Millikan must serve another seven years of his 27-years-to-life sentence before again applying for a parole, a board spokesman said.

On July 2, 1990, Millikan killed Peter J. Martinelli of Richmond on Highway 50 east of Pollock Pines, The Bee reported.

Martinelli was en route to Lake Tahoe with his family for a vacation. Another vehicle was struck by a bullet fired by Millikan, but no one was injured.

The prosecution said Millikan fired at the vehicles to vent his anger over a failed relationship with a woman.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced this morning that her office has filed 34 charges against a former Sacramento police officer accused of falsifying his police reports and lying under oath.

Brandon Mullock, who resigned from the police force after initial questions were raised about his credibility, surrendered himself to authorities this morning, Scully said. He was booked into the Sacramento County Main jail on 24 counts of falsifying a police report and 10 counts of perjury, she said.

If convicted of the charges, Scully said Mullock, 26, faces a maximum sentence of 23 years and eight months in prison.

Sacramento police have arrested a man on suspicion of homicide tied to his attack on a fellow student a decade before at John F. Kennedy High School.

Demarcus Lavell Mason, left, 28, had already been tried and convicted in the attempted robbery of JFK student Christopher Thompson, who was injured in the crime on Jan. 22, 1999, according to a Sacramento Police Department news release.

During the robbery attempt Mason assaulted the then 16-year-old Thompson, causing him to fall.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Ted Kaczynski may be the most famous former hermit/terrorist in the country, but his personal musings are not exactly flying off the shelves.

The Unabomber's personal belongings went on sale this morning on a U.S. government website, and so far only nine people have bid on his personal journals. The current bid is $1,000 for the journals, but other items are drawing more interest, including his birth certificates and various driver's licenses, which 10 bidders have driven up to $2,025 so far.

His mental health records so far are drawing a bid of only $500, while his bank statements have been bid up to a paltry $175.

Drawing the most interest, as expected, is a handwritten copy of Kaczynski's "manifesto," which is currently at $6,825 and the subject of six bids.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

Two separate Sacramento Superior Court juries have returned murder convictions against two Stockton men charged in the shooting deaths of two residents of an Arden Arcade apartment complex last year.

One panel today found Dominique Amos, 21, guilty of second-degree murder in the Jan. 14, 2010, killings of Eleea Langley Jr. and Marcus Thompson at the Villa Capri apartments on Trussel Way.

On Tuesday, the other jury convicted Ronnie Brown III, also 21, of second-degree murder in the same two deaths.

The Sacramento County District Attorney will announce criminal charges this morning against a former Sacramento police officer whose alleged misconduct led to the dismissal of 79 cases.

The charges filed today against Brandon Mullock will be presented by District Attorney Jan Scully at an 11 a.m. press conference downtown, according to a DA's news release. She will also present the findings of the DA investigation.

Last year, 79 defendants in Sacramento County had their cases thrown out after Mullock's actions rendered the cases impossible and unethical to prosecute, Scully's office previously announced.

Q: What happened to the guy who raped several women in Sacramento, was paroled and then killed two men at a bar? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Charles Edward Case, now 70, is on death row for killing the 1993 Father's Day murder and robbery of Val Lorraine Manuel, 71, and Gary Duane Tudor, 39, who were shot to death in a bar at Bradshaw Road and Jackson Highway.

Case, left, also was earlier convicted of sexually assaulting five women in Sacramento County over a two-month period in 1978. He was nicknamed the "Midday Rapist" from his habit of stalking women at their shops during the day, then attacking them.

He threatened to kill several of his rape victims.

He was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 1979, but was paroled in 1991.

Redding police said they suspect a husband of threatening to kill his teenage son last night with a baseball bat and peppering the floor with gunshots near at his wife's feet when she wouldn't make him dinner.

Steve Florreich, 43, of Redding, was booked into Shasta County Jail for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm, terrorist threats, spousal assault and brandishing a firearm.

A press release from the department said that officers were told that Florreich had been drinking beer before they were called to the family's trailer in the 2200 block of Concord Lane. His wife and son said Florriech became angry when his spouse would not cook him dinner.

South Lake Tahoe police said they were called upon to investigate a registered sex offender at the city-owned ice rink.

Police on Monday were called to the Ice Arena, which is next to the City Recreation Center on Rufus Allen Boulevard, after a citizen reported a suspicious person. Officers discovered that the suspicious person was a registered sex offender on federal probation.

The man was not arrested.

An elderly man was hospitalized with burn injuries after being rescued from a house fire by Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews in Rancho Murieta on Tuesday, a Sac Metro Fire spokesman said.

Fire crews responded just after 6 p.m., to a report of a house fire in the 15000 block of Robles Grandes Drive in Rancho Murieta, said Sac Metro Fire Assistant Chief Dale Turner. The caller mentioned that an elderly man lived in the house, Turner said.

Upon arriving, firefighters found the garage of the house well-involved with fire. They searched the house and garage, located the man in the garage "unable to get himself out," and carried him outside, Turner said.

Two Woodland police officers were treated for injuries suffered in a struggle with a 16-year-old boy who had allegedly stabbed his family's dog.

A police sergeant and officer responded to a residence on Yolano Drive at 7:42 p.m. after receiving a report that a juvenile had stabbed the family's Labrador retriever. Family members told police dispatch that the youth had mental health issues, according to a Police Department news release.

Officers found that the boy had left the scene before they arrived, but they located him at a residence in the 1300 block of East Oak Avenue.

Woodland police are seeking a hit-and-run driver who damaged a railroad crossing arm Monday night.

Police were dispatched about 7:15 p.m. to the intersection of Main and East streets, where they found that someone had struck the center median railroad crossing arm, which was lying on the roadway. A witness told officers that a small SUV, possibly green or blue, had struck the crossing arm and left the scene, according to a police department news release.

Police said a California Northern Railroad employee estimated the damage to the crossing arm assembly to be more than $20,000. The repairs were to be completed by late Wednesday afternoon.

Eight people have been arraigned in a federal mortgage fraud case involving losses that allegedly exceed $9 million.

An indictment returned Thursday by a federal grand jury in Sacramento charges the eight Sacramento-area residents with wire and mail fraud in connection with an alleged mortgage fraud scheme that involved multiple properties in the Sacramento area and operated from late 2006 to late 2007.

The indictment alleges that the defendants were responsible for originating more than $16.3 million in residential mortgage loans on 14 homes purchased through so-called straw buyers. All of the homes went into foreclosure, causing losses of approximately $9.6 million, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Sacramento Sheriff's detectives are asking the public's help in identifying the man who robbed and sexual assaulted a woman Monday at the Pavilions shopping center. A composite sketch of the man, left, was released today.

Shortly before 6 p.m., the armed man entered the business near Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe Avenue. He robbed and sexually assaulted the lone female employee, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

He then fled the store, and was seen leaving in a black four-door "boxy" vehicle through the parking lot of the shopping complex.

The man is described as black, between 21 and 30 years old, with short black hair. He is between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall tall, weighing 150 to 160 pounds.

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

David Romo, a Folsom developer described by prosecutors as a man with an big talent for parting people from their money, was ordered jailed as a flight risk Tuesday by a federal judge.

Despite his history as a fiscal predator, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd expressed doubt that makes him "a danger to the community" under the federal Bail Reform Act.

But, Drozd said, "At times he behaves in very desperate ways." That, the judge opined, makes him a candidate to flee, especially since Romo, his family, and friends are unable to offer collateral for what Drozd said would have to be "a fairly significant secured bond."

Romo, 42, who was convicted in 2002 in Sacramento federal court of bank fraud and transporting stolen securities, was charged in an indictment last week with fleecing investors in purported real estate developments of an estimated $6 million.

By Tony Bizjak
tbizjak@sacbee.com

Think your parking ticket is unfair ?

As of today, the city of Sacramento allows drivers to go online, type in their citation number, and view a photo of their vehicle taken by the parking enforcement officer.

The photos will show if the parking meter next to the car or the "pay and display" sticker in the vehicle window have expired. If the driver agrees he or she has parked illegally, the program allows the driver to pay automatically online.

A Sacramento man who killed his girlfriend in 1995 after charges were dropped over him attempting to stab her has been denied a parole and told he must wait five years to apply again.

A panel of the state Board of Parole Hearings made the decision earlier this month on Ajani Abdel Wahid Imarogbe, now 61.

He is serving 15 years to life for the murder of Leslie Watson, 33, inside her I Street apartment, The Bee reported.

Sacramento police have arrested a man they say is a suspect in at least one attempted burglary in the Pocket Area.

Officers were dispatched to a report of a suspicious incident at a home near Parkway Oak Park late Monday morning. The resident said a man rang the doorbell and then tried to open the front door.

The resident made noise, prompting the stranger to ride away on a bicycle.

While officers were on their way to that call, another request for service from a resident was received to police dispatch that was similar.

By Jane Braxton Little
Bee Correspondent

ILLE - Sierra County officials are trying to establish the identity of a body found Saturday near Crystal Peak at the remote eastern edge of the mountainous county.

The remains, which may have been there for more than a year, tentatively have been identified as belonging to a male, said Sierra Sheriff John I. Evans.

Near the bones sheriff's deputies found a blue steel Kahr Arms semi-automatic .40 caliber P-40 pistol with black plastic grips.

A Sacramento man who beat twin 18-month-old brothers - killing one - because they wouldn't stop crying is due a parole hearing.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Len Ray Willeford, now 46, on Nov. 10, 1992 to 15 years to life after Willeford pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and corporal punishment on a child, The Bee reported.

Willeford was baby sitting the children for their mother, whom he had been dating for about four months.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

The love affair between a 19-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl led to the "sadistic murder of her mother" in an El Dorado Hills bedroom, a prosecutor said today.

In her opening argument in the murder trial of Stephen Paul Colver, Lisette Suder said Colver armed with a butcher knife from the restaurant where he worked and Tylar Witt, carrying a kitchen knife, went to Joanne Witt's upstairs bedroom on the night of June 12, 2009. (At left, Bee Staff photo from 2009 court hearing shows Colver with his attorney, Dain Weiner.)

But as Colver did slashing movements to practice, Suder said the girl collapsed on the floor in a fetal position. Colver then stabbed Joanne Witt, 47, to death, said Suder, an El Dorado County deputy district attorney.

Colver emerged from the bedroom "with blood on this face," Suder said.

A woman was slashed in the faced Monday with a box cutter by her former boyfriend's new girlfriend, according to the Sacramento Sheriff's Department.

The victim, a 36-year-old woman, was at a private healthcare school she attends on Lincoln Village Drive about 11 a.m. Monday when the attack occurred, deputies said.

According to a sheriff's crime summary, the two women had previously argued over the boyfriend.

Q: A man tried to kill two Sacramento County deputies about 12 years ago after he tried to kill two CHP officers in the '60s. Is he still alive? - Dave, Sacramento

A: Yes. Robert Earl Olmsted, now 60, is serving 36 years plus 195 years to life at Pleasant Valley State Prison, Coalinga, records show. (Bee staff photo of Olmsted at left is from a 1998 court proceeding.)

The sentence was designed so Olmsted would never get out of prison, The Bee reported. He must serve the 36-year sentence before starting the 195 to life.

A fire caused an estimated $250,000 damage to a Woodland garage Monday evening.

The fire broke out about 6:30 p.m. at 1517 Midway Drive in the south part of town. When Woodland firefighters arrived heavy smoke and flames were coming from the detached three-car garage.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies are searching for a man who allegedly sexually assaulted and robbed an employee of an art gallery in the Pavilions shopping center near Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe Avenue on Monday.

The incident happened at about 6 p.m. Monday, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos. The suspect entered the Ventana Art Gallery around closing time and brandished a gun at a female employee, Ramos said.

The suspect then sexually assaulted the employee and robbed her of some personal belongings before leaving the gallery, he said.

A West Sacramento man has been sentenced to 830 years to life in state prison for engaging in sex with a young girl over the course of nine years.

Bennie Dale Moses, 44, was convicted March 10 by a Yolo County jury of 62 counts of sex and oral copulation with a child. He was sentenced by Yolo County Superior Court Judge Stephen L. Mock.

Officials said Moses had forced the girl to have sex with him beginning in 2000, when she was 12 years old. The sexual abuse continued until July 11, 2009, when she confided in a friend that Moses had been having sex with her for nine years, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release. The friend called 911.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

The city of Roseville will sponsor a variety of free events during Roseville Community Safety Day at the Westfield Galleria on Saturday.

Free activities are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Motor officers from agencies statewide will test their skills in challenge courses and speed contests in the Police Motorcycle Skill Competition.

A 33-year-old Sacramento man has been convicted by a Yolo County Superior Court jury of discharging a firearm at a Sacramento police officer as he tried to elude officers during a foot pursuit in 2009.

Ronnie Mauricio Barahona was convicted May 11 of one count of assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm, with an enhancement for personal discharge of a firearm during commission of a felony, the Yolo County District Attorney's Office announced in a news release.

The same jury acquitted Barahona on one count of assault on another peace officer and did not reach a verdict on two other counts, according to the release.

The young driver who died after being from thrown from her car in a crash on Interstate 80 early Saturday has been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as Krystal Somer Sigler, 19, of Sacramento.

The crash occurred about 2 a.m. Saturday and involved two vehicles traveling eastbound on Interstate 80 near Interstate 5, according to Todd Van Lindt, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol's North Sacramento office.

Sigler and another woman were in a green 2001 Mercury SUV when, for unknown reasons, it clipped a blue 1995 Toyota Tercel in a lane ahead of it.

A woman who died early today at a Colfax home in what sheriff's deputies believe was a domestic dispute has been identified as Sarah Burr, 30, of Grass Valley.

Lee Martin Konnerth, 35, described as Burr's boyfriend, was booked into Placer County Jail after he was taken into custody by an off-duty officer. The officer heard gunshots in the vicinity of Catskill Drive, between Weimar and Colfax, and went to the scene to investigate.

The officer found Burr dead on the porch of the home. He took two men into custody at gunpoint until Placer County sheriff's deputies arrived.

The Sacramento County Coroner has released the name of the motorcycle passenger who was killed in a collision Saturday evening in Sacramento.

The woman was identified as Wanda Fay Vanriper, 51, of Vacaville.

She was killed and the motorcycle driver seriously injured in the collision north of downtown Sacramento.

By Kim Minugh and Cathy Locke
kminugh@sacbee.com

A 51-year-old man died this morning while awaiting release from the Sacramento County Main Jail.

His cause of death is not yet known, although sheriff's officials said it appears he died of natural causes.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said the man was booked into the Main Jail about 11 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of public intoxication.

A woman was Tased by a robber while making a pizza delivery Sunday in Redding.

The 20-year-old delivery person, Amy Boettcher of Redding, was robbed while delivering a Round Table pizza in in the northern part of the city.

Redding police said she was approached by two men about 10 p.m. near Northpoint Drive and Baywood Drive. One of them pointed a Taser and deployed it at Boettcher, hitting her in the torso and stunning her with the electrical current.

She told Redding police she was unable to defend herself and the men took cash -- and the pizza. The men then fled on foot.

Placer County sheriff's officials said a Colfax man was arrested early today on suspicion of homicide in the killing of a woman in a domestic dispute.

Lee Martin Konnerth, 35, was booked into Placer County Jail after he was taken into custody by an off-duty officer. The officer heard gunshots Sunday evening in the vicinity of Catskill Drive between Weimar and Colfax and went to the scene to investigate.

The officer found the woman dead on the porch of the home. He took two men into custody at gunpoint until Placer County Sheriff's deputies arrived.

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

The young driver killed in an early morning accident on Saturday has been identified as 19-year-old Krystal Sigler by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office.

The Rio Linda High School graduate was thrown from her car and killed when the 2001 Mercury SUV she was driving clipped a car while driving eastbound on I-80 near Interstate 5 around 2 a.m. Both the SUV and car spun out of control.

The driver and passenger of the car were not injured, said Todd Van Lindt, spokesman for the North Sacramento office of the California Highway Patrol.

A 20-year-old man suspected in gang involvement was booked into the Yolo County Jail early today for investigation of felony auto theft and other charges following a brief police chase through a residential area of the city, Woodland Police said.

The chase started at 11:25 p.m. Saturday and culminated in the injury of the suspect as he was apprehended with the aid of a police K-9 dog. Two other suspects fled the scene, according to police.

The injured suspect, Armando Mendoza of Woodland, was taken to Davis Sutter Hospital for treatment before his booking. An officer, also injured, was taken by ambulance to Woodland Memorial Hospital, treated and later released.

A pedestrian walking across Marysville Boulevard in Del Paso Heights was killed early today in a hit-and-run collision involving the driver of a large sports utility vehicle, Sacramento Police report.

Police said the victim, a man in his 50s, has not yet been identified. He is believed to have been crossing Marysville Boulevard at Roanoke Avenue when he was struck by the dark-colored SUV traveling north on the boulevard, according to the preliminary investigation.

The driver fled the scene in the SUV, police said, and is being sought by the department.

By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com

One person was killed and another seriously injured in a car/motorcycle collision this evening north of downtown Sacramento. (Photo at left is courtesy of the Sacramento Police Department.)

The driver of a Chevy Cobalt heading west on Richards Boulevard ran a red light at 5:30 p.m. and hit a motorcycle carrying a man and a woman, said Sacramento police Sgt. Norm Leong.

The female passenger died later this evening, Leong said. The motorcycle driver was "very serious," Leong said, No one in the Cobalt was injured.

Police closed 16th Street at Richards for several hours.

A young driver was thrown from her car and killed early today, closing down Interstate 80 near Interstate 5 for a few hours in the early morning, California Highway Patrol officials reported.

The incident involved two vehicles driving eastbound on I-80 at about 2 a.m. said Todd Van Lindt, spokesman for the North Sacramento office of the CHP.

Two women in their early 20s were in a green 2001 Mercury SUV when, for unknown reasons, it clipped a blue 1995 Toyota Tercel in a lane ahead of it.

A masked suspect with a large handgun robbed the Heritage Inn on Rocklin Road of more than $900 Friday, Rocklin police reported.

The assailant entered at about 11 p.m., brandished the gun and demanded cash.

The robber is believed to be a stocky male, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall.

A neighborhood battle with bats and sticks sent a Redding man to the hospital today, police reported.

Redding officers responded to the 3700 block of Churn Creek Road at 12:43 a.m. after receiving reports of numerous people fighting.

Upon arrival, they heard additional reports of shots fired, but those were later found to be inaccurate.

Police arrested a man for possession of methamphetamine Friday after seeing him involved in a domestic argument, Sacramento officials reported.

Officers came across a couple involved in a verbal dispute in a gas station at Julliard Drive and Folsom Boulevard, according to the police activity log.

After the man walked away, officers attempted to question him and found him acting nervously.

Cosumnes Community Services District Fire Department crews have evacuated an Elk Grove community center after an odor of natural gas was detected, the department reported.

Crews responded to the Wackford Community and Aquatic Complex in the 9000 block of Bruceville Road shortly before 8:50 p.m., said fire department Chief Tracey Hansen. They located the odor of natural gas in the area of the equipment room and pool of the complex and evacuated the complex, Hansen said.

Pacific Gas and Electric crews were working to isolate the source of the leak, she said.

No injuries were reported.

The Elk Grove Police Department will combat drunk driving over the next two weeks with a sobriety checkpoint next Friday and several roving DUI saturation patrols, one of which will be deployed today, according to a department news release.

The department's traffic bureau will conduct the sobriety checkpoint from 8 p.m. May 20 until 3 a.m. the next morning, at an undisclosed location within Elk Grove city limits, according to the release. Officers will also check driver's licenses.

DUI saturation patrols will also be deployed May 13, 14, 21 and 27, the release states.

A 59-year-old man with a history of sexual assaults has been convicted by a Sacramento County Superior Court jury of engaging in sex acts with a child.

Lorenzo Jimenez was convicted Thursday on seven counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child age 14 years or younger and oral sex acts with a child age 10 years or younger, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

The 8-year-old relative stayed with Jimenez and his wife. Over several months, Jimenez repeatedly fondled the victim, forced her to fondle him and sodomized the victim, officials said. The victim told her mother four months later.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones will hold a chat with community members on Wednesday, May 18, in Foothill Farms.

The event is scheduled at the Foothill Community Center, 5510 Diablo Drive, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The chat will allow members of the public to meet Jones and pose questions or concerns.

Those in attendance will have the opportunity to speak with the sheriff one-on-one, on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the release.

A Davis man was robbed at knifepoint in his apartment early Friday morning, police reported.

Police responded to the apartment in the 1100 block of Lake Boulevard at about 12:30 a.m. Friday, after the resident reported he had been robbed by three or four subjects with a knife, according to a Davis police news release.

The victim told police the suspects had entered his apartment through an unlocked sliding door and confronted him in the living room, according to the release. One suspect placed a knife against the victim's throat and moved him into a bathroom while other suspects stole property.

A parolee who was reported prowling behind a north Auburn apartment complex and looking in windows was arrested by Placer County Sheriff's deputies early this morning, a sheriff's spokeswoman said today.

Steven Allen Shade (left), 43, refused to comply with the orders of a deputy who chased him from the area behind the Terracina Oaks Apartments, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. When Shade repeatedly ignored the deputy's commands and kept reaching into his pocket, the deputy used his Taser to control Shade, the release states.

An apartment resident called the Sheriff's Department's emergency dispatch center at 5:50 a.m. to report that a man was outside of his rear bedroom window, peering inside. The area behind the apartments is gated and fenced, but officials said Shade entered through a damaged section of fencing.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

Two men and a woman convicted of murdering a man over a stolen goods ripoff were sentenced today to life in prison with no chance of parole.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge David De Alba imposed the terms on gunman Randall Powell, 30, accomplice James Allen Howard, 31, and a third co-defendant, Jennifer Ella Kane, 34.

The three were convicted of first-degree murder in the June 8, 2008, shooting death of Samuel Alex Wilson, 31, who was gunned down in the 5500 block of Florin Road.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

Three north area Sacramento street gang members have been convicted of first-degree murder in a robbery killing that took place in an apartment complex on San Juan Road.

Jurors today convicted Marquel Lamar Dixon, 18, in the Dec. 15, 2009, shooting death of Perrell Marquis Waters, 19. A separate jury on Thursday found 22-year-old Marcus Scott Jr. guilty. A third panel on Tuesday returned the first-degree murder conviction on Ronald Delano Grant, 21.

All three defendants also were convicted of the second-degree robbery of Waters.

Evidence at trial showed that Scott and Grant were the gunmen in the killing, although it was not conclusive which one fired the bullets that ended Waters' life.

David Romo, a Folsom developer, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bilking $2.5 million from investors he sucked into putting money in what he purported were various real estate developments.

The indictment states that, instead, Romo pocketed some of the funds and used some of the balance to pay unrelated prior business expenses.

Romo, 42, told investors he had never been the target of an adverse court action, failing to mention his bank fraud conviction in Sacramento federal court in 2002, the indictment says.

Sacramento police returned to Discovery Park last night looking for clues to help find a man who raped a woman on Wednesday in a Discovery Park public restroom.

"We had officers out there for two reasons: to re-canvass some people who may have been out there the night before and to provide extra security," said police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.

However, police have nothing new on the attack.

Students have been returned this morning to Castori Elementary School after earlier being evacuated because of a bomb scare.

The Sacramento Police Department bomb squad was called to the Del Paso Heights school campus, 1801 South Ave., where a suspicious cylindrical object with a fuse was found.

The students were safely moved outside to the north side of the campus for safety after the object was found.

Yolo County sheriff's officials said today they have arrested three adults and three juveniles suspected in an attack on Knights Landing man.

On May 6, deputies were dispatched to Knights Landing where a man was stabbed in the upper part of his body. He was treated and released from the hospital.

An investigation into the stabbing led officers in the Yolo County Gang Task Force to arrest Surjit Singh, 19, Israel Rodriguez, 18, Manuel Gonzalez, 26, and three male juveniles for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy.

Anyone with information about the stabbing is asked to call the sheriff's department at (530) 668-5280.

A homicide suspect reportedly seen earlier this week on the campus of California State University, Sacramento, has turned himself in to Antioch police, according to university officials.

Nineteen-year-old Michael Pulliambanks, right, was wanted in the fatal shooting of 24-year-old man in Antioch last December.

Investigators believe Pulliambanks was on the Sacramento campus Tuesday to visit an acquaintance who lives in a residence hall. The suspect is not a university student.

Q: There was a murder several years back involving a young man and his infant son. Were the suspects ever arrested? - Shocked in Elk Grove

A: No suspects have been arrested in the Sept. 14, 2007 killing of 21-year-old Sean Aquitania and his infant son, Sean Jr. (Photos left).

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies suspect Aquitania interrupted a home-invasion robbery on Country Greens Court in southeastern Sacramento County, The Bee reported.

West Sacramento police said they have arrested two men suspected of stealing a couple thousand gallons of diesel fuel.

The total take allegedly taken by the two Sacramento men is 2,297 gallons worth nearly $10,000. The two men arrested on suspicion of pumping fuel into a big tank inside their van: J-Uan Parker, 18, and Raynard Dotes, Jr., 19.

Police said a witness saw a van at fuel pumps in the 1200 block of Cebrian Street in West Sacramento on May 7. The witness said a hose was suspiciously going from the pump to the bottom of the van.

Eight people were arrested in 8 hours during a sting in Marysville on Thursday that targeted adults selling alcohol to underage police decoys.

The 8 adults, ranging in age from 21 to 53, are suspected of buying alcohol for the undercover decoys used by Marysville police. The decoys "are obviously under the age of 21 and disclose to adults they are not old enough to purchase alcohol themselves," according to a police press release.

The decoys typically ask outside a store for the adults to buy them beer or other alcoholic beverages. Those arrested Thursday were cited for a misdemeanor and released.

So-called "shoulder tap" stings in Marysville have resulted in 39 citations being written since February.

A Sacramento man was accosted at knifepoint on a Redding street last night, the robbers making off with his backpack, cellphone and wallet.

Jeffrey Chavez, 23, was walking along Tehama Street in the downtown area about 8:30 p.m. when he was approached by two men. The men grabbed Chavez, one of them holding a knife against him.

The men then took the backpack and other belongings. Chavez was not injured.

Sacramento Metro firefighters extinguished a two-alarm fire in a large house in Carmichael this morning.

The fire broke out about 4 a.m. at the home on Cenacle Lane where three people were living. All three were able to escape from the blaze after being alerted by a smoke-detector. One of the adults was in a wheelchair.

Firefighters said the fire began in a wall between the kitchen and the dining room. The fire eventually spread into the attic, said Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Assistant Chief Dale Turner.

A Solano County man was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento for his participation in a gun-running scheme.

Travis Price, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for unlawfully selling firearms and for being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, from June to December 2008, Price conspired with straw purchasers to buy firearms from four different federal firearms dealers in Colorado and shipped the firearms via the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx to an unwitting associate in Fairfield.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department announced that three known gang members were arrested Wednesday in connection with a rash of graffiti incidents in the Arden Arcade area.

Dana Aviles (left), 18, Jesus Nava (right), 19,and a 14-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and participation in criminal street gang activity, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Nava and Aviles were booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and the 14-year-old was booked at Sacramento County Juvenile Hall.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department is seeking to identify a man who may have information regarding a shooting in south Sacramento last week that claimed the life of 58-year-old Joe Baker.

About 12 p.m. May 4, Baker was a passenger in a vehicle traveling northbound on Highway 99 near Florin Road. The vehicle was struck by gunfire, with a bullet penetrating the car and striking Baker in the lower back. He was taken to a nearby hospital and died from his injury Saturday.

The driver of the vehicle in which Baker was riding reported seeing a vehicle right next to hers at the time the shooting occurred, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. The vehicle was described as an early model - possibly late 1970s or 1980s - light blue, compact or mid-size sedan, with faded or oxidized paint.

UC Davis officials announced today that Whole Earth Festival's DJ Stage will be shut down beginning next year, citing the campus Police department's investigations of three violent crimes, including the reported rape of a 16-year-old girl, in and around the music venue last weekend.

Police also are investigating reports of two other incidents, a sexual battery and a beating, in the DJ Stage area, which was set up west of Wellman Hall, away from the Quad where most of the festival took place.

"We are sending message that people cannot come to our campus and behave this way," Fred Wood, vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a written statement. "It can't continue and it won't be tolerated. We need to create a safe environment for everyone at this university.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

Sacramento police officers received notice today they can now apply to replace their non-sworn counterparts in crime scene investigations, should proposed budget cuts be realized.

The city of Sacramento faces a $32 million budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, and the Police Department stands to lose $12.2 million. Under the scenario crafted by department leadership, that reduction would result in the layoffs of roughly 80 sworn officers and 69 non-sworn employees.

Among those non-sworn employees set to lose their jobs are the 14 CSIs who currently work in the field, collecting evidence and processing crime scenes. If the proposed cuts are approved, Sacramento police Sgt. Norm Leong said those positions would be filled by sworn officers.

By Darrell Smith
dsmith@sacbee.com

Embattled tax attorney Roni Deutch Thursday said she will close her law firm of 20 years and surrender her license to practice law.

Deutch, the self styled "tax lady," struck a defiant tone in a brief press conference held at her law firm's North Highlands headquarters. Deutch said she employed 200 people.

"I want to apologize to all of my employees - these wonderful people who have lost their jobs," she said, adding that she was "honored to be your tax lady for the last 20 years."

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

A Roseville man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to wire fraud and admitted that he and a cohort bilked 22 real estate investors out of nearly $3 million.

Royce Lee Newcomb signed off on a written plea agreement that describes this scheme:

In 2009 and early 2010, he solicited people to purchase real property, primarily foreclosed homes, and directed them to send the money to Contour Escrow Services, operated by Barry Winnett, who was in on the scam and had no license to perform escrow services.

California Highway Patrol officers will be conducting a drunken-driving checkpoint in southern Sacramento County on Saturday night.

Drivers will be stopped not long after officers begin setting up the checkpoint at 8 p.m. at an undisclosed location. The checkpoint is expected to conclude at 2 a.m.

The CHP will be evaluating the sobriety of drivers and handing out literature warning of the dangers of drinking and driving.

If rainy weather makes a checkpoint unsafe for the officers, the units will be assigned to roving DUI patrols.

Sacramento police are asking for help in finding a man who raped a woman last night in a Discovery Park public restroom.

The woman was at the park for a company barbeque when she was attacked about 8 p.m. Wednesday. She walked into the restroom at the park near the Garden Highway and Truxel Road when she was grabbed and sexually attacked, police said.

Sacramento police are asking for the public's help in identifying her attacker, only described as someone wearing dark pants and dark shoes.

A campus supervisor at Valley High School was slugged by a student after he confiscated the student's skateboard, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department reported today.

A sheriff's crime report gave this account of events:

The 26-year-old supervisor took a skateboard from a student on the campus at 6300 Ehrhardt Ave. at about 3 p.m. Tuesday. The 16-year-old student, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weights 177 pounds, tried to "aggressively retrieve the skateboard."

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

An Elverta man who crashed into a sports utility vehicle and killed a woman in north Sacramento County last year has been sentenced to seven years in state prison.

Travis Weldon Moore, 20, received the term Wednesday in Sacramento Superior Court from Judge Gary E. Ransom. Moore had pleaded no contest earlier this year to gross vehicular manslaughter.

Christine Ingle, 45, died at the scene of the Feb. 16, 2010, crash at 16th and C streets in the Rio Linda neighborhood.

A 56-year-old Davis man was killed when his pickup crashed into a telephone pole last night, the California Highway Patrol said today.

The man, identified by the Yolo County Coroner's office as Steve Settje, was driving eastbound on County Road 29 just east of County Road 100A, just north of Davis.

Settje was traveling at an unknown speed and was not wearing a seatbelt, the CHP reported.

Q: What happened to Sacramento resident Phyllis Robbins, a retired art teacher, who was tried for killing a woman? - Nellie, Sacramento

A: A Marin Superior Court judge sentenced Phyllis Yvonne Robbins, a retired American River College art teacher, to 11 years in prison in June 1996 for murdering her partner's lover, The Bee reported.

Robbins is no longer in prison, records show. Records also indicate she died in 2008.

At her sentencing, Robbins, then 68, told the judge that she didn't intend to kill Barbara Wilson, 71. "I would do anything to correct it, but I can't. I'm just sorry," Robbins said.

Traffic was flowing again after all lanes were previously blocked on northbound Highway 99 at Laguna Boulevard in Elk Grove this morning.

Two cars involved in the collision were removed from the roadway by 8:30 a.m.

The collision was reported to the California Highway Patrol at about 7:45 a.m. Details of the crash between a gray Honda Accord and a blue Chevrolet Camaro were not immediately available.

Animal Control officers seized seven birds after Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies found evidence of a cockfighting operation in south Sacramento on Wednesday, a Sacramento County Supervising Animal Control officer reported.

Sheriff's deputies responded at about 2 p.m. Wednesday to reports of subjects fighting with knives in the 3700 block of 46th Avenue, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos wrote in an email. Upon arriving, deputies found evidence of an illegal cockfighting operation and summoned Animal Control, Ramos wrote.

Deputies detained about 15 people at the location but did not arrest anyone, and reports of people fighting with knives could not be confirmed, Ramos wrote.

A C.K. McClatchy High School teacher has been arrested by Sacramento police on suspicion of molesting a female student in March, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman said.

Brian Aguilar, 37, left, was arrested just before 4:30 p.m. today in downtown Sacramento, said police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. He was arrested without incident and booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of molesting a child under the age of 18, a misdemeanor, jail booking logs show.

His bail was set at $5,000. He was released from custody tonight, jail booking logs show.

An Elk Grove man has been arrested on suspicion of collecting illegal upfront fees in connection with loan modification services.

Rodney Andrews, 56, operated Andrews Investment Group, which offered loan modification services, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

In 2009, the California Legislature passed a law prohibiting the collection of such upfront fees to prevent individuals from preying on vulnerable borrowers facing foreclosure or unaffordable mortgage payments, officials said.

A man sentenced to prison two decades ago for burglary has been convicted of residential burglaries committed in East Sacramento in 2008.

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully today announced that Kenneth Johnson, 41, was convicted by a Sacramento Superior Court jury on four counts of first-degree residential burglary.

Officials said Johnson targeted homes in East Sacramento from Sept. 29 through Dec. 30, 2008. He entered the residences during the night while family members were sleeping and stole various items, including televisions, cash, cameras and a laptop computer, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.

With floods on the Mississippi River and wildfires in Texas in the news, California National Guard pilots Sunday will train to aid California residents in natural disasters.

Blackhawk crews from the 1-168th Aviation Regiment's Charlie Company will join with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District's rescue company to conduct overwater rescue training as part of their state emergency preparedness. The training will be held at VanVleck Ranch lakes in Rancho Murieta,

The National Guard unit will launch its activities out of the Sacramento Army Aviation Facility at Mather Air Field.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

Vacaville police arrested an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Monday after he allegedly stole an Xbox gaming system from Target, according to authorities.

Police allege it was 36-year-old Shawn Hammonds' fourth successful burglary from the store, and that he has sold stolen property over the Internet, said Vacaville police Sgt. Jeff King.

Hammonds, a 5-year veteran of the CHP, was booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of four counts of burglary, King said. He later posted $30,000 bail and was released.

Dispatchers with the Citrus Heights and Elk Grove police departments, along with two quick-thinking youths they assisted in emergencies, will be recognized Thursday at the state Capitol as recipients of the California State 9-1-1 Heroes Awards.

They will be honored by lifestyle designer Kathy Ireland, the 9-1-1 for Kids international ambassador.

The awards program is intended to make the public aware of the exemplary efforts by dispatchers and youths in handling emergencies.

Q: In the mid-1980s, a college friend of mine, Erasmo Flores, went missing in Sacramento and was later found murdered. What happened in this case? - Anonymous Sacramento

A: Two men are serving long sentences for the 1982 murder of kidnap, robbery and murder of Flores, 22, a student at California State University, Sacramento, Bee reports and records show.

Dionisio Lewis Rendon Jr. is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Rendon, now 56, is incarcerated at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County.

Antioch police served a search warrant at a Sacramento State residence hall Tuesday searching for a 19-year-old man wanted in connection with a December homicide, according to a university news release.

Sacramento State police have ramped up security in the wake of the search, the release states.

Michael Pulliambanks (photo right), 19, who has a felony warrant for murder out of Antioch, was believed to have been on the Sacramento State campus Tuesday visiting an acquaintance who lives in Desmond Hall, the release states.

Pulliambanks is not a Sacramento State student, the release states. Antioch police served a warrant at a room in the residence hall and questioned the resident.

A man sought in connection with the Sunday night robbery of a sandwich shop in Woodland was arrested today after he was found hiding in a trash bin.

The robbery of the Subway sandwich shop in the 300 block of California Street occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday.

Employees were in the rear of the business, preparing to close, when they heard sounds of someone in the front part of the shop. An employee went to the front of the store and found a man trying to open the cash register. The man threatened the employee with a knife and ordered her to open the register.

The suspect, however, had broken the register and it wouldn't open. He then left the store, taking the cash register and an undisclosed amount of cash, according to a Woodland Police Department news release.

A Woodland man will serve 24 years in state prison for child molestation and possessing child pornography.

Jack Stearns, 49, today pleaded no contest to eight counts of child molestation and one count of possession of child pornography and agreed to the prison term, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

During summer 2002, Stearns began molesting a 10-year-old girl at his home, and continued to molest her until summer 2007, officials said. In February, Stearns again sexually assaulted the victim, who is now an adult.

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

Charles C. Jamison assured potential customers he was a foreclosure stopper, someone who could, for a fee, save their homes from trustee sales.

It worked for a while, until federal fraud stoppers stepped in.

The 30-year-old Citrus Heights resident pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced Tuesday to two years and eight months in prison.

An 86-year-old Oroville man previously convicted of sexually molesting minors pleaded guilty today in federal court in Sacramento to conspiracy to possess child pornography.

Bruce Clinton Johnson, left, is to be sentenced Aug. 9 by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez.

According to court documents, on Nov. 11, 2010, a computer repairman fixing a printer belonging to Johnson's son contacted Butte County Sheriff's deputies after he found animated images of child pornography on the printer.

At the same time, IP addresses linked to a residence that Johnson shared with his son, Donald Wayne Johnson, were identified, offering images and videos of child pornography through a file-sharing network between April 11, 2007 and Nov. 8, 2010.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

A Sacramento man pleaded no contest today to drunken driving and other charges in the Feb. 20 collision that killed a north area teenager who was running across Northgate Boulevard.

Vincent Alfred Velasquez' conviction that resulted from his plea was his third on drunken driving charges in eight years.

Deputy District Attorney Caroline Park said Velasquez, who was on probation when his car struck and killed 18-year-old James Shiloh Jr., entered his plea straight up, with no offer of a deal.

A former part-owner of the Sacramento Capitals tennis team has been has been sentenced to seven years in prison for grand theft involving real estate-related transactions.

Lonnie Nielson, 47, of Wilton, pleaded guilty in Sacramento Superior Court to six felony charges of grand theft.

Nielson admitted that he embezzled more than $800,000 from 11 clients between May 2009 and July 2010, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release issued today.

Grass Valley police are investigating a Monday night fight that sent two teenagers to the hospital with knife wounds.

About 8:30 p.m., police received numerous 911 calls regarding a fight involving numerous people on Walsh Street near Mill Street, according to a Police Department news release.

Officers located a large crowd and found that a 17-year-old woman and 18-year-old man had suffered injuries from a knife during the fight. Both were taken to Sutter Roseville Trauma Center for treatment.

Sacramento County officials say that a man was arrested after he drove a stolen car to meet with his probation officer.

Clifford Amey, on searchable probation with an outstanding warrant for fraud, went to the Sacramento County Probation office May 3 on Florin-Perkins Road.

Amey and a friend were allegedly driving a stolen gold Mercedes, according to probation authorities.

Q: Where is the "Thrill Killer" who killed six people in Sacramento? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Eric Royce Leonard, now 41, is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. (Bee staff photo at left is of Leonard at his 1992 trial.)

Leonard's crime spree began on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 1991, when he went to a convenience story on Auburn Boulevard near Watt Avenue and gunned down store clerks Zeid Ahmad Obeid, 20, and Stephen Mark Anderson, 35, with a .25-caliber pistol.

After walking out of the market, Leonard saw Thor Johnson Sr., 42, walk into the store and decided to kill him, too, so he wouldn't call the police, evidence showed.

Exactly a week later Leonard struck again in the same area.

A former licensed contractor whose state license was taken away last year has been sentenced to four years felony probation and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine.

Brian Gross, 55, of Valley Springs in Calaveras County was arrested Oct. 1 by investigators from the Contractors State License Board Statewide Investigation Fraud Team and the Amador County District Attorney's Office, according to license board news release. They found Gross and three employees roofing a home in Jackson.

The contractors license board was tipped by building officials in Jackson that Gross had attempted to secure a local business license using his revoked contractor license.

A robber couldn't open a cash register so he took it with him, according to Woodland police.

The robber with reddish-orange hair entered a restaurant in the 300 block of California Street about 9:50 p.m. Sunday. With no employees watching, he began trying to open the register to get at the cash.

One of the employees working at the back of the restaurant preparing for its closing heard the robber. She went forward to see the thin man in his 40s trying to open the register.

Sacramento firefighters responding to a house fire in south Sacramento on Monday night discovered a marijuana grow in the house, a Sacramento Fire Department spokesman said.

Fire crews found "a couple hundred plants at least" in the bedrooms and a bathroom of the two-story house in the 6700 block of Cunningham Way, said fire department spokesman Capt. Jon Burgess.

Sacramento police are trying to determine whether or not the grow is legal, Burgess said.

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews extinguished a garage fire at a residence in southeast Sacramento County on Monday evening that left a teenager needing treatment for smoke inhalation, a fire district spokesman said.

The fire started at about 6:30 p.m., in the garage of a house in the 9700 block of Carmencita Avenue, said Sac Metro Fire spokesman Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum.

Occupants of the house went outside, noticed the fire and called authorities, Cockrum said.

The Sacramento County Coroner's office has identified the victim of a fatal south Sacramento car-to-car shooting Thursday that was the county's second such homicide in as many days.

Dutch Julius Adams, 20, of Sacramento, died Friday morning from injuries he sustained when he was shot Thursday evening near 47th Avenue and Franklin Boulevard, according to the coroner's office website.

Adams was reportedly sitting in the back seat of a vehicle that was shot at by occupants of another vehicle near that intersection, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department news release.

A 43-year-old homeless man who was dumped from a commercial trash bin into a garbage truck and "compacted" appears to have escaped without serious injury, authorities said.

Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum, spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, said firefighters were called to 3437 Myrtle Ave. in North Highlands about 12:20 p.m. today after a man was accidentally dumped into a Waste Management garbage truck. The truck operator compacted the contents of the truck two or three times before realizing a man was inside, Cockrum said.

He said the man was yelling and screaming when firefighters arrived. They used ladder to rescue him from inside the truck.

A California Highway Patrol captain has been arrested in El Dorado County on suspicion of drunken driving after crashing his motorcycle.

Robert D. Patrick, 47, who the CHP said works out of the Valley Division Office in Rancho Cordova, was southbound about 8:45 p.m. Friday on Mt. Aukum road south of Fairplay Road when he failed to negotiate a turn. The Harley-Davidson Fatboy motorcycle drifted off the paved road and into a dirt embankment where the vehicle overturned.

Patrick was transported to the hospital for treatment of moderate injuries, the CHP said. "Due to his injuries his level of sobriety was undetermined and is under investigation," state a CHP press release.

The CHP is waiting for test results, a spokesman said.

By Matt Weiser
mweiser@sacbee.com

Five people were cited late last week for allegedly poaching juvenile hatchery salmon only hours after the fish had been released into the American River.

In total, the suspects had 85 fall-run Chinook salmon in their possession, all of which died, said Patrick Foy, a state game warden and spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game.

Foy said unscrupulous anglers catch the young salmon, often using nets or other contraptions, because they make good bait for striped bass and sturgeon. It is illegal to use nets to catch salmon, and illegal to use them as bait.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

A Sacramento judge ruled today there was no "actionable" juror misconduct in a murder trial where a woman who shot her husband to death was acquitted last week of first-degree murder charges.

Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley had refused to record the verdict pending today's hearing. Frawley said today that the juror acted "inappropriately" in hugging a courtroom spectator, expressing remorse about the case and then suggesting that their contact not be disclosed.

While Frawley said the juror's conduct was "wrong" and should have been reported earlier in the trial, it wasn't enough to overturn last Wednesday's acquittal of Jennifer Ann Dalton on first-degree murder charges in the July 13, 2009, shooting death of her husband, Craig Dalton. His refusal to sustain the misconduct allegation sought by Deputy District Attorney Chris Ore makes the first-degree acquittal official.

The first crosswalk sting of the year resulted in 44 tickets being written by Sacramento police.

Sacramento police were watching Thursday for motorists who didn't stop for pedestrians at crosswalks.

The tally released by the department today went this way:

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Former real estate executive Michael Lyon reported to jail over the weekend to begin serving his one-year sentence for secretly videotaping prostitutes in his homes.

Online jail records show Lyon, 55, reported to the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center and was booked at 5:47 p.m. Saturday. His release date is projected as being Nov. 4, 2011, although he is not expected to serve that long.

Lyon had originally hoped to serve his year sentence under home arrest, but Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones decided last month that the nature of his offenses and the fact that there were multiple victims merited jail time.

He has said he will review Lyon's conduct in jail after a month.

The name of the 74-year-old woman who died Sunday in a traffic collison on Truxel Road in North Natomas has been released.

She was identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as Paulina Margretha Vankoetsveld of Sacramento.

Sacramento police said Vankoetsveld was driving southbound about 2:45 p.m. Sunday on Truxel Road. While making a left turn onto Arena Boulevard, she was struck by another vehicle that was northbound on Truxel.

By Matt Weiser
mweiser@sacbee.com

A 74-year-old woman died Sunday following a car accident on Truxel Road in North Natomas.

Sacramento Police Department spokeswoman Laura Peck said the woman was driving southbound on Truxel Road. While making a left turn onto Arena Boulevard, she was struck by another vehicle that was northbound on Truxel.

The accident occurred at about 2:42 p.m. Sunday. Peck did not know if the victim was wearing a seatbelt.

Two Northern California teenagers died and a third suffered major injuries after a two-car collision late Saturday night on Highway 99 at the Nicolaus turnoff, the California Highway Patrol at Chico said today.

Killed at the scene was a passenger in one of the vehicles, 19-year-old Delfino Gaona of Dixon. A second passenger in the car, a Saturn, died after being taken by air ambulance to Sutter Roseville Medical Center. He was identified as 17-year-old Alexander Silva of Vacaville.

CHP reported that the driver of the Saturn, 18-year-old Justin Andrews of Dixon, was also taken to Sutter hospital with major injuries.

A woman pedestrian struck and killed by a vehicle at Center Parkway and Arroyo Vista Drive Saturday night has been identified as 48-year-old Julia Audrey McGee of Sacramento, the Sacramento County Coroner's office said today.

McGee was crossing Center Parkway about 8:15 p.m. Saturday when she was hit by a motorist driving south on the parkway, police said late Saturday.

McGee was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said the driver stopped, and alcohol was not a factor.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

A pedestrian was struck and killed tonight by a vehicle at Center Parkway and Arroyo Vista Drive, Sacramento police said.

The woman was hit in front of Valley Hi Park at about 8:15 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Her identification was not released.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

A man shot on a Sacramento freeway in an apparent road-rage attack Wednesday died of his wounds this afternoon, Sacramento County Coroner's officials reported.

Joe Curley Baker, 58, of Clermont, Fla., was a passenger in a car traveling north on Highway 99 near Florin Road about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday when another motorist fired multiple gunshots at the car striking Baker in the lower back, said Sacramento County Sheriff's officials.

The driver, who was not hurt, took Baker to a local hospital where his wounds were not initially thought to be life threatening, sheriff's officials reported.

By Carlos Alcalá and Darrell Smith
calcala@sacbee.com

A single car crash killed a Michigan man early today on Hedge Avenue, near Florin Road, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire officials reported.

The Sacramento Coroner's Office tonight identified the dead man as Moises Enrique Pigg, 18, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sac Metro crews responded to reports of a possible vehicle on fire at 2:19 a.m. in the 7200 block of Hedge Avenue.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

An Amtrak passenger was taken to a Sacramento hospital this afternoon after she was briefly dragged by a train and injured when she tried to re-board the train as it pulled away from the downtown station at I Street, officials said.

The incident happened about 3:15 p.m. when an unidentified woman aboard the Emeryville-bound California Zephyr briefly left her car.

The woman grabbed for the car's guard rail when the train began to depart, but she was unable to climb back into the car in time and was dragged alongside the car, official said.

A pedestrian killed by a car on Power Inn Road Friday night appears to have been a transient, Sacramento police said Saturday.

The woman, believed to be in her 30s or 40s, was pushing a shopping cart in the roadway.

The driver of the car that hit her reported seeing the cart, but not the woman, until it was too late to avoid her.

A woman came home Friday morning and found fires started in her home and some of her possessions stolen, Sacramento police reported.

The woman returned to her Leford Way home around 11 a.m. and smelled something burning, according to the police incident log.

She discovered the carpet was on fire and a fire had been set on her stove.

The Sacramento Sheriff's Department identified Marvin Barksdale, 22, as the gunman accused of leading the California Highway Patrol on a chase Friday, before holing up in an audio business.

Barksdale is a validated gang member, officials said.

The Sheriff's Department responded at 5:24 p.m. Friday to aid the CHP with a pursuit.

A driver trying to avoid a Sacramento police DUI checkpoint in north Sacramento on Friday night was hospitalized after he led police on a short chase and then caused an accident in an intersection, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman said.

The driver, a male in his 40s, drove into the checkpoint at Marysville Boulevard and Harris Avenue late Friday and tried to back out when he realized it was a checkpoint, said Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. He then led officers on a short pursuit before pulling over at Marysville Boulevard and Grand Avenue.

As officers exited their car, the driver accelerated his vehicle through a red light and was T-boned by another vehicle in the intersection, Leong said. The driver, a parolee, was extricated from the vehicle and taken to the hospital with injuries believed to be non-life-threatening, Leong said.

Sacramento Police are investigating a collision on Power Inn Road near 14th Avenue in which a female pedestrian died.

Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said the pedestrian was crossing Power Inn in the middle of the block about 8:30 p.m. and the driver did not see her until the collision occurred. Leong said the driver stopped and alcohol does not appear to have been involved.

He said Power Inn Road is expected to remain closed in both directions until about 11:30 p.m.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a man who holed up in an Arden Way business for nearly two hours this evening after fleeing from a California Highway Patrol Officer.

Sheriff's spokesman Officer Jason Ramos said that shortly before 5:30 p.m. a CHP officer attempted to stop a vehicle that was speeding and traveling in the wrong direction on Fulton Avenue near Hurley Way. At Fulton and Arden Way, the driver jumped out of the vehicle and took off running, and the officer saw that the man had a handgun.

The man also left his vehicle in gear, and it continued rolling after he got out, striking another vehicle.

The Sacramento Police Department is seeking the community's help in identifying a suspect in an assault that occurred Thursday night.

Police say the victim was running in the area of Broadgate Way and Westlake Parkway in the North Natomas area about 8:15 p.m. She saw the suspect playing basketball and then saw him approach her. The man knocked the victim to the ground and began choking her, according to a Police Department news release. The woman fought her attacker and was able to get free. The man then fled.

The suspect was described as Hispanic or Asian, with dark skin, 5 feet, 6 inches tall, wearing a black baseball cap, light-colored shirt and dark-colored baggy shorts.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Sacramento police have arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with a 1987 homicide in midtown, after cold case detectives and the Sacramento County Crime Lab were able to use DNA to identify a suspect, the Sacramento Police Department reported.

Gregory Samuel Olguin was arrested Friday morning in the 9100 block of Elk Grove Boulevard in Elk Grove, nearly 24 years after the killing of 52-year-old Richard Schultz near 21st and K streets, according to a police department news release.

At 9:39 p.m., on June 1, 1987, Sacramento police officers responded to a report of a subject lying in blood at 21st and K streets, the release states. Officers arrived on scene and located a male white adult who had been stabbed in the chest.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

Prosecutors obtained a third conviction today in the Memorial Day 2008 gang killing of a north area man who was holding his baby in his arms just before he was pistol whipped and shot to death.

Hugo Torres, 22, pleaded no contest in Sacramento Superior Court to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter in the May 26, 2008, shooting of 47-year-old Jose Guerrero.

The shooting took place in front of Guerrero's house at Lindley Drive and Edgewater Road in a neighborhood called the "The Flats."

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

A Sacramento jury today convicted a 33-year-old Carmichael man of gross vehicular manslaughter for the May 2, 2010, traffic wreck that killed a woman on westbound Interstate 80.

Jesse Kenneth Oran faces a 10-year maximum term at his scheduled June 3 sentencing in front of Superior Court Judge Gerrit W. Wood.

Authorities charged that Oran side-swiped a 1993 Mercedes driven by Tessa Canavarro, 22, in a case of road rage, sending her vehicle into the center guardrail and killing her instantly.

Sacramento Fire Department Station 19 will hold an open house from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The station, at 1700 Challenge Way near Cal Expo, will be the first of the city's 21 fire stations to participate in the department's third annual open house series.

The open houses offer an opportunity for people in the community to talk with members of the department, tour the station, and get some life safety and fire prevention tips. Educational materials also will be available to take home.

Light refreshments will be provided by fire station personnel and the firefighters union, Local 522.

A West Sacramento businessman has pleaded no contest in an insurance fraud case.

Grant Adam Lemeur, 32, on Tuesday entered no contest pleas in Yolo Superior Court to misdemeanor charges of health insurance fraud, failure to have workers' compensation insurance and failure to properly account for payroll taxes collected, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

The District Attorney's Office began investigating Lemeur in the fall of 2010 after receiving a complaint from a Sacramento resident.

Officials said Lemeur owned an auto detailing business, Dream Car Solutions. The complaint was that the company failed to provide workers' compensation insurance for an employee and later pressured that employee to file a fraudulent health insurance claim to cover the cost of a work-related injury.

Special enforcement by Folsom police on Cinco de Mayo resulted in a variety of arrests, ranging from public intoxication to fighting with bouncers, according to a police spokesman.

The department's special investigations unit, working in plainclothes, covered the entire community. The special enforcement funding was provided by a grant from California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.

Arrests or citations included:

- Two Sacramento men in their 20s for causing a public disturbance by fist fighting.

Sgt. Jason Browning of the Folsom Police Department offered this guide to having a safe bicycling experience this summer which Sacto 911 thought worth sharing:

"May is Bike Month in the Sacramento Region, and Folsom is the #1 destination for quality cycling. Whether you use Folsom's BMX track at Cummings Family Park, or travel on the city's 35 miles of Class I bicycle and pedestrian trails that traverse Folsom, the California Vehicle Code has sections that apply to you.

"All bicycles are required to have a brake and reflectors, so if you've been neglecting yours, then you'd better get to work bringing that bike back into compliance. If you are riding at dawn, or after dusk, then the law requires that your bicycle or scooter has a fixed headlight and an illuminated tail light. While everyone SHOULD be wearing a bicycle helmet by now, if your under 18 years of age, you MUST wear a properly fitted and fastened helmet. These simple and cheap safety precautions should make you road safe.

Sacramento police reported that a man got stuck up to his thighs in river mud and had to be rescued last night.

Sacramento Fire Department firefighters were the first to respond to the banks of the Sacramento River near Interstate 5 and Sutterville Road.

They found a 20-year-old man stuck mid-thigh in mud.

David Corado's place of birth could accurately read: bus stop, Pioneer Trail at Aspenwald Street, South Lake Tahoe.

That's where he was born early Wednesday morning as his parents waited for a cab. He was born without a doctor's assistance, but with the help of South Lake Tahoe police dispatchers.

David's mother, Maria Ortiz-Corado, about nine months pregnant, with 10 days until her baby boy was expected to be born, was enjoying a quiet evening at home late Tuesday. Then she went into labor. (Photo at left of mother and baby is courtesy of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.)

Q: Two young men were killed at party in Wilton about a year ago. Has anyone been arrested? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: There have been no arrests in the slayings of 19-year-old Christopher Valdes and 18-year-old Marlon Aguilar Morales on March 20, 2010.

Valdes and Morales were gunned down early that morning as they left a party in Wilton. They were friends.

Sacramento County Sheriff's Department detectives said the pair had gone to a party at a friend's barn on rural Rising Road. About 50 to 60 people were in attendance, and most knew each other, The Bee reported.

Hard looks apparently preceded a near-fatal shooting in south Sacramento County.

The violent confrontation occurred about 6 p.m. Thursday near 47th Avenue and Franklin Boulevard. Deputies responded to the area after calls were received by authorities regarding shots being fired.

Initial reports indicated that shots had been fired from one vehicle to another. About a half hour later, deputies went to a local hospital.

A man has been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being shot in the head in a car-to-car shooting in south Sacramento, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

The sheriff's department received a report of multiple shots heard at about 6:17 p.m., in the area of 46th Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos. Deputies then received a call from the UC Davis Medical Center at about 6:40 p.m., saying a man had been brought to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, Ramos said.

Law enforcement agents arrested 23 people and seized drugs, firearms and money Wednesday in a sweep of Northern California criminal operations that included serving search warrants in Sacramento County, the state Attorney General's Office announced Thursday.

The sweep targeted a drug-dealing ring connected to violent transnational and prison gangs that dealt narcotics and firearms in Butte, Sacramento, Placer, Glenn and Yuba counties, the attorney general's office said in a news release.

Agents made 23 arrests and seized "significant" amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine in the sweep, according to the release. Eight firearms, including two assault rifles, and more than $17,000 in currency, were also seized.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

A Sacramento Superior Court jury today convicted Billy James Ray of second-degree murder in the July 5 stabbing death of Troy Allan Wheeler.

The panel began deliberations Wednesday. Ray, 20, was charged with retrieving a steak knife and stabbing Wheeler during a pre-dawn altercation in the Hazel Avenue home of the defendant's uncle.

According to the prosecutor's trial brief, Wheeler, 39, and his girlfriend were staying at the uncle's house after the couple had been evicted from their own residence.

Ray, who also stayed at the house on occasion, got into an argument with his uncle around the time of the murder. Wheeler woke up during the argument and was killed when Ray directed his anger toward him, the jury found.

Ray, his uncle, Wheeler and Wheeler's girlfriend all had a history of methamphetamine abuse, according to the prosecutor's brief.

Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard scheduled Ray's sentencing for June 3.

Firefighters and sheriff's department personnel have determined the suspicious container found on the side of a road in north Sacramento near Elverta Road was not hazardous, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman said.

Sac Metro Fire and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department personnel had responded Thursday afternoon to Cherry Brook Drive and Stetson Court, where a taped-shut Styrofoam ice chest was sitting along the road for an unknown reason, said Sac Metro Fire spokesman Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum.

A team from the Sheriff's Department Explosive Ordinance Bureau X-rayed the ice chest and determined it was not an explosive hazard, Cockrum said. A hazmat team then opened the chest and found no hazardous materials inside, he said.

Law enforcement personnel have cleared the scene.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Phillip and Nancy Garrido will be sentenced June 2 for the kidnap and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard, but that won't be the end of the case that day.

El Dorado Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister has scheduled a hearing after the sentencing to decide whether to unseal the transcripts of Dugard's appearance before a grand jury last September.

Phimister agreed to hold the hearing in response to a request from The Bee made April 29. In a letter to the judge made on behalf of media organizations statewide, The Bee asked the judge to grant "access to the documents immediately upon the closure of this case."

Four people, including two children, suffered minor injuries in a three-vehicle collision that closed Highway 65 near Sheridan for about an hour this morning.

The collision occurred about 7:49 a.m. A black Dodge Charger, driven by a 35-year-old Sheridan woman, was traveling northbound on Highway 65 north of Riosa Road and was slowing from a speed of 55 mph to make a left turn across the southbound lanes into a private driveway, according to a California Highway Patrol news release.

The Charger had its left turn signal on, when a Kenworth big-rig tractor-trailer combination, driven by a 37-year-old Olivehurst woman, approached from behind traveling about 55 mph.

A Redding man was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento for the armed robbery of a Woodland bank.

Tracy Bittner, 58, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to three years and 10 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Bittner pleaded guilty Feb. 3 to the armed robbery of Bank of the West in Woodland, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, Bittner robbed the Bank of the West on Sept. 22, 2010, using an air pellet gun. He fled with approximately $5,880, but police apprehended him less than 30 minutes later.

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

In an unexpected turn, a Chico man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Sacramento to $21 million in mortgage fraud.

Garret Griffith Gililland III also agreed to testify in the pending mortgage fraud case against Loomis Wealth Solutions.

The Loomis case is the largest mortgage fraud case in the history of the Sacramento region.

The Sacramento Police Department will conduct a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint Friday night at Marysville Boulevard and Harris Avenue in the Del Paso Heights area.

For up to seven hours, beginning at 8:30 p.m., motorists traveling through the checkpoint will be contacted by uniformed officers, who will check for alcohol and/or drug impaired drivers. Officers also will check driver's licenses.

In the event of inclement weather, the DUI checkpoint will be converted to a DUI saturation patrol, according to a Police Department news release.

Funding for the program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

By Andy Furillo

afurillo@sacbee.com

A Sacramento jury has acquitted a woman who shot and killed her husband of first-degree murder charges but was unable to reach a verdict on a charge of second-degree murder.

The Superior Court decisions came in Wednesday on Jennifer Ann Dalton, left,41, in the July 13, 2009, killing of her husband, Craig A. Dalton, 39, in Elk Grove.

Dalton's jury voted either 9-3 or 8-4 in favor of convicting her of second-degree murder, but could not reach a unanimous decision, so Judge Timothy M. Frawley declared a mistrial, according to court clerk Frank Temmerman.

A parolee swam across a Folsom pond to evade capture Wednesday night, but was eventually nabbed by a police dog, a Folsom police spokesman said today.

The soggy escapade began when a motorist reported a suspected drunken driver swerving down Blue Ravine Road near Big Valley Road, the spokesman said.

The caller provided a license plate number, which allowed police to catch up with the driver near Oak Avenue Parkway and Blue Ravine.

The spokesman gave this account of events:

A chase escalated to 100 mph in two minutes.

The driver, Eric Joseph Souza, left, 29, of Mather, crashed the stolen Acura Integra when he missed at turn onto Iron Point Road from Oak Avenue Parkway.

The California Highway Patrol and other Sacramento-area law enforcement agencies issued nearly 1,600 citations last month for using a hand-held cellphone while driving.

Officers wrote another 61 citations issued for texting or reading an electronic device while driving, said Officer Adrian Quintero, spokesman for the CHP's Valley Division.

The minimum fine for a first offense is $159, Quintero said.

Bill Bowen, chief of police for the City of Rio Vista, has been named police chief for the City of Galt effective May 23, the city announced today.

Bowen replaces former Chief Loren Cattolico, who recently retired after four years heading the Galt Police Department.

Bowen has been with the city of Rio Vista for the last six years; before that he worked 26 years for the Reno Police Department in a variety of posts, Galt officials said.

Q: John Edwin Donstead was arrested on May 14, 2007 for stabbing a gas station clerk. What happened to that case? - Jack57, Sacramento

A: Donstead, now 31, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on May 7, 2008 in the homicide of Joseph Griggs, records show.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Donstead to seven years. Donstead is serving time at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi.

A big-rig trash hauler and another vehicle collided this morning on Highway 65 in Placer County.

The big rig is reportedly on fire.

The California Highway Patrol received calls about 8 a.m. reporting the collision on Highway 65 at North Dowd Road between a Jeep Cherokee and a big-rig trash hauler.

The number of injuries was not known. An air ambulance transported at least one victim.

All lanes were re-opened at 9:35 a.m. at the crash site outside of Sheridan north of Lincoln, the CHP said.

The CHP is suggesting that motorists take highways 99 and 70 as alternate routes.

A man was hospitalized Wednesday afternoon after being shot in what may have been an incident of road rage, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman said.