Sacto 9-1-1

El Dorado County Sheriff's detectives are attempting to find owners of allegedly stolen property recovered during the service of a search warrant at a Placerville residence, the sheriff's office reported.

Authorities served the warrant Monday in the 4300 block of Panorama Drive following an investigation into a potential fencing operation in the Placerville area, according to a sheriff's office news release.

The release also provides these details:

Detectives believe a 69-year-old resident of the location was involved in the operation, which they allege involved buying and selling of property stolen in residential burglaries.

A well-maintained vehicle can help prevent wildfires, according to state fire officials.

The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Amador-El Dorado Unit reports that several recent fires have been caused by vehicles, citing areas along Highway 50, Bass Lake Road, Gold Hill Road and Cameron Park Drive in El Dorado County. In Amador County, recent fire scars can be seen along highways 49 and 88 and Ridge Road, where vehicles caused strings of wildland fires.

"When a vehicle's engine is not well maintained, the exhaust system can become overtaxed, thereby allowing fuel to enter the exhaust system, which in turn overheats the catalytic convertor that melts and disintegrates," Scott Hogan, fire equipment manager for the Amador-El Dorado Unit said in a written statement. "Pieces of the catalytic converter exit the muffler at about 1,200 degrees F and can bounce onto the dried grass along the edge of road and start fires."

Elk Grove police will conduct a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint Sunday night at an undisclosed location in the city, the police department reported.

Officers will staff the checkpoint beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday until 3 a.m. the following morning, with the goal of removing impaired and unlicensed drivers from the roadways, according to a police department news release.

Members of the public are also encouraged to call the Elk Grove Police Department at (916) 714-5111 (emergency line), or 911, if they see a driver they suspect may be impaired, the release states.

Funding for the checkpoint is provided through a grant made available by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the release states.

Sacramento police have released a composite sketch of a suspect in an assault earlier this month, and are urging anyone with information about the crime or the suspect's identity to contact authorities.

The incident occurred about 2 p.m. Aug. 4, at a residential complex in the 400 block of I Street, according to a police department news release.

Police reported that the victim, a woman in her 80s, was entering her home when the suspect forced his way in, pushed the victim to the ground and attempted to sexually assault her before fleeing.

Cal-OSHA said today the company that supplied the big crane that collapsed at an amusement center on Tuesday has a good inspection record.

Officials for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration have looked at the history inspections for Maxim Crane Works, the owner of the crane that was performing the heavy lifting at Scandia Family Fun Center along Interstate 80 near Madison Avenue Tuesday.

"They have a pretty clean history," said Dean Fryer, Cal-OSHA public information officer.

A woman accused of murdering her estranged husband testified today she could not remember the exact moment she shot him to death but that she feared he might kill her.

"He told me he could kill me," Jennifer Dalton said of her slain husband, Craig Dalton. Dalton said she felt he could kill her at the moment she shot him to death July 13, 2009, in the garage of her Elk Grove home.

"He was enraged," Dalton said. "I was terrified."

Elk Grove police were kept busy overnight responding to a home on Clairina Way, including a call regarding shots fired.

The first call was received by police about 10:30 p.m. regarding a verbal argument between a woman and an ex-boyfriend. Officers spoke with both of the people involved and determined a crime had not been committed.

A second call to the 10000 block of Clairina Way was phoned in at 11:52 p.m. regarding the sound of fireworks. Officers responded to the scene and nothing suspicious was found, according to department spokesman Officer Christopher Trim.

A man police said allegedly drove about 100 mph through a school zone in Foothill Farms might awake with a headache today after he slammed his head into the protective plastic screen of a squad car.

Shawn Hawkins, 31, was arrested on suspicion of felony reckless evading of police, auto theft, vandalism, resisting arrest and outstanding warrants.

Around 2:30 p.m., a Twin Rivers Police Department officer on routine patrol near Foothill High School, 5000 McCloud Drive, observed a black Hyundai traveling about 100 mph through the school zone at Hillsdale Boulevard and Robert Frost Way, said police department spokesman Officer William Cho.

Sacramento police are investigating a shooting that occurred shortly before 9 p.m. at the Broadway off-ramp of Highway 99, which sent a man in his 20s to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, a police spokesman said.

Officers have learned the man was in a car exiting the freeway when he was shot at least once in the upper body, said Sgt. Andrew Pettit, police spokesman. Officers believe words were exchanged between occupants of the victim's vehicle and occupants of a vehicle that had pulled up alongside it, leading to the victim being shot, Pettit said.

The victim went to the 3800 block of Third Avenue, where a call was made to police, and was then driven by an acquaintance to a nearby hospital, Pettit said.

A 9-year-old boy reported missing in West Sacramento this afternoon has been found safe, according to West Sacramento police.

The boy was reported missing near Bridgeway Lakes Elementary School, 3255 Half Moon Bay Circle. He was found by a resident near Ramco Street and Southport Parkway a few miles away from the school, according to Lt. Tod Sockman, and is back home with his parents.

By Cathy Locke and Matt Kawahara
clocke@sacbee.com

A crane collapsed Tuesday afternoon at the Scandia Fun Family Fun Center off Interstate 80 in North Highlands, sending two workers to the hospital.

The collapse brought down the park's landmark ride, the 165-foot-tall Scandia Screamer, which gives people a bird's eye view of the area and flips riders as it spins around.

The ride was not in operation. There was a maintenance project under way.

Sheriff's detectives have arrested two women in connection with the fatal shooting of a 54-year-old man in July, bringing to five the total number of suspects accused in the killing.

On Aug. 18, deputies arrested 23-year-old Jeanette Campbell on suspicion of murder, burglary and attempted robbery in connection with the death of Michael Sanderson in his Manzanita Avenue apartment, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos. And today, they arrested 21-year-old Aubry Toews, also on suspicion of murder, burglary and attempted robbery, Ramos said.

Already in custody are Travis Mabson, 31; Patrick McPherson, 25; and Patrick Godines, 26. Each of them face a murder charge.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office has added a helicopter to its crime fighting and rescue resources.

Dubbed Eagle One, the Jet Ranger helicopter bears Sheriff's Office decals but is owned and operated by pilots Ed Rincon and Richard Moorehouse. The men have volunteered their services as reserve deputies as well as the use of their helicopter for community service efforts, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

With volunteer pilots using their own aircraft, there is no cost to taxpayers or the county, officials said. Federal asset forfeiture funds will be used to pay for the fuel.

A punch shattered an 83-year-old man's hearing aid in his ear last week after he asked a fellow bus rider to move from the senior citizen seating area, according to sheriff's authorities.

Paramedics who responded were not able to remove all the bloodied pieces from the elderly man's ear which they believed were lodged deep in his ear drum and possibly needed to be removed surgically, according to Sacramento County Sheriff's Department report released today.

The man was transported to the hospital.

The Placer County Sheriff's Office is accepting sign-ups for its Community Awareness Academy, a series of eight classes offering an inside look at the law enforcement agency.

Participants are asked to attend all eight sessions, each of which covers a different topic. Classes are scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning Oct. 4 and concluding Oct. 27. The sessions will be held in the Community Room of the Placer County sheriff's headquarters in the Auburn Justice Center, 2929 Richardson Drive, in north Auburn's Dewitt Center.

Those attending will hear from members of the department's special units and will participate in field trips to the Placer County Jail and morgue, 911 dispatch center and the air operations hangar.

A 51-year-old man has been convicted of molesting a young relative, and the jury heard evidence that the youngster was the second generation he had victimized.

A Sacramento County Superior Court jury convicted Louis Jaurique on four counts of child molestation.

Jaurique molested a young female relative when she was between the ages of 6 and 9 years old, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. The jury also heard evidence that Jaurique had molested the victim's mother when she was a child.

Jaurique is to be sentenced Sept. 22 by Judge Emily E. Vasquez.

A Placerville teen was in juvenile hall Tuesday, a day after filing a report that he was hit by an SUV while riding his bike to school.

The boy, who suffered a possible shoulder separation and other injuries, apparently rode his bike into a parked car, said Placerville Police Capt. Mike Scott.

The boy concocted the hit-and-run story to cover that he had been with friends, using marijuana, Scott said.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of home invasion and sexual assault in Natomas.

Sacramento police responded to a home on Kokomo Drive about 2 a.m. Aug. 21 where a man entered a home through an unlocked door and robbed a victim at gunpoint. During the robbery, the man also sexually assaulted a woman.

Police were aware of two previous home invasion robberies in the Natomas area and believed they were connected to the Kokomo Drive break-in. Police tied Keith Wright, 31, to at least one of the two previous home invasions.

He almost escaped deputies, but they caught up with him. Now, the criminal justice system has, too.

Gary Livers, an Orangevale man accused of molesting a friend's daughter beginning when she was 10 years old, was convicted by a jury today on 10 counts of child molestation, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's office.

The 46-year-old Livers is scheduled to be sentenced for his crimes Oct. 14.

A man was arrested after police said he allegedly hit his neighbor in a dispute over a barking dog.

Sacramento Police Department officers were called to the 5400 block of Sampson Boulevard in Sacramento's Lawrence Park neighborhood about 1 a.m. where they said Brian Leach, 43, had confronted his neighbor. Leach, police said, was upset over the neighbor's barking dog.

The neighbor responded to Leach banging on his door. The suspect then hit the neighbor with a cane or club, police said.

Police later took Leach into custody and arrested him for suspicion of assault and making threats, according to a police activity log.

Auburn police arrested a man on suspicion of committing a robbery in a park last night.

Police said two robbers held up a victim at gunpoint in Ashford Park near Interstate 80 and Auburn Ravine Road about 10:45 p.m. Monday. Lukas George Lambeth, 21, of Auburn was later arrested after being spotted while driving in what resembled the getaway vehicle.

Items taken in the robbery and a loaded semi-automatic handgun were recovered from Lambeth and the vehicle, police said. A second suspect, an unidentified teenage girl, is still being sought.

Woodland police said a referee was punched after he gave a red card to a soccer player.

Officers were called about 7:45 p.m. Sunday to the soccer field at the Woodland Community Center, 2001 East St., where it was reported that the referee had been struck.

When they arrived, the referee, Juan Manuel Garcia, 33, of Woodland was still present, but the player, who is suspected of striking him in the neck, had fled. Garcia suffered a minor injury from the punch.

The body of a male adult farm laborer was found in an irrigation ditch Monday afternoon near a northeast Davis school, a Yolo County Sheriff's Office official said.

A passerby discovered the body around 2 p.m., in a field on East Covell Boulevard just west of Mace Boulevard, near Frances Harper Junior High School, said Yolo County Sheriff's Lt. Martin Torres.

Torres said the man, an irrigation worker whose identity has not been released, was working in the field and had last been seen there Monday morning around 8 a.m. He said the cause of the man's death has not been determined.

"At this time there are no obvious signs that make it suspicious," Torres said. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday to determine cause of death, he said.

A man who was found unresponsive Friday on the bank of the American River downstream from Sunrise Boulevard died at a hospital later that day.

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office website identified him as Frank Clifford Gould, 50, of Rancho Cordova. The website lists the cause of death as undetermined but rules out homicide.

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighters received a report about 1:30 p.m. of a body floating in the river. A rescue boat crew and helicopter located the man, who was partially on shore. Rescue crews administered CPR and transported him to Mercy San Juan Medical Center.

The public is invited to attend a grand opening of the new facility of the Rancho Cordova Police Department and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department East Division on Wednesday, according to a sheriff's department news release.

The facility is at 2897 Kilgore Road in Rancho Cordova, according to the release.

Tours will be given from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5:30 p.m., the release states.

A 26-year-old man has pleaded no contest to a hit-and-run killing on Greenback Lane and Garfield Avenue that took place last year, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

Glen Brian Henderson entered the plea Friday in Sacramento Superior Court.

Henderson's sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 7.

Henderson was arrested for the Dec. 27 killing of Foothill Farms resident Yiriy Kokhanyy, 42.

Authorities also took Henderson's mother, Donna Lynn Fraser, into custody for being an accessory. Fraser, 59, pleaded no contest on Jan. 5 and was sentenced to three years probation and 90 days on the sheriff's work program.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the burglary of a home that occurred last week while the neighborhood was under emergency evacuation due to a rail tanker fire.

Lincoln Police Sgt. Terry Kennedy said this was one of three burglaries reported in areas within a 1-mile radius of the propane tank fire that were under mandatory evacuations for two days last week. The 16-year-old is believed to have been involved in only one of the three burglaries, he said.

In this case, the homeowners discovered that someone had broken into their home and stolen several items, including a shotgun. Officers and detectives followed up on leads and arrested the youth at his home. Kennedy said the teenager's parents assisted police in recovering all the stolen items, including the shotgun. The youth was booked into Placer County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of burglary, looting and possession of stolen property.

Two Sacramento residents were severely injured in a three-car collision Sunday afternoon in Davis.

Police responded to a report of a crash at the intersection of B Street and Russell Boulevard at 2:35 p.m. Based on an initial investigation, police said they determined that a Toyota Sienna minivan, driven by Bailey Yee, 22, of Davis, went into the right-turn lane, traveled through a stop sign and then directly into the north and southbound traffic lanes of B Street. The Sienna collided with a Toyota Rav4, which was traveling northbound on B Street.

The Rav4, driven by Lue Moua, 22, of Sacramento, overturned on impact and Moua and his female passenger, Jih Lee, 23, also of Sacramento, were severely injured, according to a Police Department news release.

The Fresno Bee

The Madera County Sheriff's office has released the name of a Rancho Cordova woman killed Friday in a crash between a compact car and a big rig on Highway 99.

The woman, Jerri Fuller, 21, was driving a 1997 Honda Accord north on Highway 99 south of Avenue 21 1/2 when she veered left from the pavement, slid across the dirt median and into oncoming southbound traffic. The driver of a tractor-trailer rig swerved to try to avoid the Honda, but the car struck the left side of the trailer and the rear wheels rolled over it, breaking the rear axle from the trailer.

Fuller was declared dead at the scene. The truck driver, Kevin Barth, 48, of Wisconsin, was taken to Madera Community Hospital after he complained of pain.

Officers said witnesses reported Fuller was driving the Honda at between 65 and 80 mph when she left the northbound lanes of the highway. Officers don't know why the car sped across the median and into the southbound lanes. The collision was reported about 3:30 p.m.

Lincoln Fire Chief Dave Whitt said Monday the cause of a propane tanker rail car fire last week is "undetermined, unable to rule out mechanical failure or human error."

Whitt's preliminary report on the tanker car blaze that resulted in the evacuation of approximately 4,800 homes in the city for two days leaves unanswered why the fire erupted that day.

It could be some time before federal officials release a possible cause. Whitt said he understands that federal investigators with the Federal Railroad Administration want to take the the burned rail car away on a flatbed car to a location where they can closely exam the tanker.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Opponents of the state's death penalty announced a new effort Monday aimed at getting an initiative before voters next year that would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life without parole.

The effort uses the enormous costs of California's death penalty as a sales point with voters, and organizers said this morning that roughly $4 billion has been spent since 1978 to execute only 13 inmates.

Jeanne Woodford, a former San Quentin warden who presided over four executions, was the main speaker at a news conference outside the state Attorney General's office in Sacramento and was joined by lawyers, crime victims and others to declare that the time is now to do away with executions.

A man shot in the head at a West Sacramento trailer park on Saturday has died.

West Sacramento police responded to the Welcome Grove Trailer Park on West Capitol Avenue at about 2:43 a.m. Saturday and found Matthew Smith, 22, of West Sacramento, in a residence, suffering from a head wound.

Smith and another man, Charles Quillin, 21, were partying at a residence in the park when they began to argue, according to police officials.

The name of a San Jose man who died from injuries suffered when he fell off a boat and was struck by the watercraft's propeller at Lake Tahoe has been released.

He was identified as 46-year-old Stephen Joseph Keller. Placer County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Dena Erwin said five Bay Area men visiting the lake rented a boat and were attempting to dock at Chambers Landing on the west shore about 4 p.m. when the incident happened.

Keller died at the scene.

Erwin said the incident remains under investigation.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies are still investigating what likely was the accidental shooting of a 10-year-old girl at a Rancho Cordova residence this morning where deputies had cleared a large party just 30 minutes earlier, according to authorities.

The girl suffered a non-life-threatening wound when a bullet struck her right hip and exited the other side, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the shooting, which occurred about 12:15 a.m. today on El Parque Circle.

Two grants to the Sacramento County DA's office will help speed up crime lab turnaround time for analyzing DNA evidence and replace forensic equipment.

The grants, which total $687,000, are much needed after years of budget cuts to her department, said District Attorney Jan Scully. The cuts have reduced both staff and equipment, she said, and the monies will help cut forensic work backlog.

The grants:

-- State Department of Justice DNA backlog program: $586,429 will fund crime lab analysts, consultants for case screening, training and equipment purchases.

-- Cloverdell Forensic Science Improvment program: $100,625 will be used for equipment and analytical system upgrades.

By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbe.com

A manhunt was under way this evening in a rugged area of Mendocino County for a transient wanted in the shooting death of a longtime Fort Bragg city councilman.

The sheriff's department identified the gunman as Aaron Bassler, a Fort Bragg transient.

City Councilman Jere Melo, a former mayor, was gunned down Saturday morning as he walked on timber land owned by his employer, about four miles east of Fort Bragg and adjacent to the popular Skunk Train.

A contract newspaper carrier for The Sacramento Bee was shot at repeatedly early today after she stopped her car to deliver a paper to a mobile home south of Jackson Highway in Sacramento County, sheriff's authorities said.

Sheriff's officials arrested Anthony Collins, 50, and Richard Anderson, 47. Collins, pictured left, who resided in an adjacent mobile home, was booked for investigation of shooting at an occupied vehicle and unlawful possession of firearms by an ex-felon. Anderson, of Galt, was taken into custody for probation violation.

News carrier Mary Burke and a friend who was helping by throwing the papers escaped injury in the 4:30 a.m. shooting in the 6600 block of Bradshaw Road.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies detained two men near the 6600 block of Bradshaw Road for questioning today after a Bee delivery woman told officers that shots were fired at her vehicle from a trailer home in the area.

Deputy Jason Ramos, department spokesman, the woman drove onto the property to deliver a newspaper to another trailer home about 30 yards away from the first one when shots were fired at the car. Inside the vehicle, in addition to the driver, was an unidentified delivery helper.

The woman, whose company contracts to deliver the papers, quickly turned the car around to leave the property, but the shots kept coming. An estimated six to eight shots were fired into the vehicle, Ramos said.

A motorist in his 20s died today after a collision involving his Toyota Camry and a big rig truck at Power Inn and Elder Creek roads in Sacramento, a police spokeswoman said.

The crash occurred about 8 a.m.

The big rig was southbound on Power Inn Road, police said. The Camry was headed east on Elder Creek Road.

A vegetation fire that started Saturday afternoon in Fairfield and quickly spread out of control consumed more than 800 acres of grass and oak woodlands before being partially contained early today, the California Department of Forestry reported.

Dave Shew, assistant chief for the Forestry Department, reported today that the fire required the aid of more than 15 firefighting agencies, four air tankers, two helicopters and 50 fire engines.

A command post was established on behalf of CalFire, the Suisun Fire District and Fairfield, Shew said. Firefighters achieved 60 percent containment just after midnight this morning, he said.

Two people were in stable condition in the UC Davis Medical Center today after they were shot about 1 a.m. at Tony's Bar in the 600 block of East Street in Woodland, police said.

Sgt. Tom Davis, spokesman for the Woodland Police Department, said multiple gunshots were fired, striking 41-year-old Dawn Milliken of Woodland and 38-year-old Tony Mares. No other victims were found.

The suspect was described as a black or dark-skinned Hispanic man, 5-foot-7, 300 pounds, wearing a white T-shirt and armed with a semi-automatic handgun. He fled the scene, traveling east on Alice Street, in a silver Dodge Charger or similar vehicle, police said.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies have detained two individuals near the 6600 block of Bradshaw Road for questioning after a Sacramento Bee delivery woman told officers that shots were fired at her vehicle from a home in the area.

Deputy Jason Ramos, department spokesman, said two people were detained when they walked from a home on the street about 9 a.m.

The home was surrounded and the occupants were ordered to walk out after the delivery woman identified the house as the apparent source of the gunfire. Bradshaw Road has been closed between Florin and Elder Creek roads.

A man shot in the head at a West Sacramento trailer park early today is expected to die, police reported.

West Sacramento police responded to the Welcome Grove Trailer Park on West Capitol Avenue at about 2:43 a.m. and found Matthew Smith in a residence, suffering from a head wound.

Smith and another man, Charles Quillin, 21, were partying at a residence in the park when they began to argue, according to police officials.

A woman who triggered a fiery crash in Redding Friday was cited by Redding police, but the motorcyclist she collided with was arrested for DUI, officials said in a press release.

Police responded shortly after 7 p.m. Friday to reports of a crash and vehicle fire.

A Toyota RAV4 making a left turn onto an Interstate 5 freeway onramp at Twin View Boulevard collided nearly head-on with a motorcycle going the opposite direction on Twin View.

Coroner's officials have released the name of a fisherman found dead in the American River the day after he was reported missing.

Ronald Peeters, 54, was found in the river near Harrington Way Friday.

His body was recovered by Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials.

Peeters truck had been found at River Bend Park at the close of the day Thursday, the same day he was reported missing and a day after he left his Orangevale home.

The cause of death was listed as undetermined.

Coroners officials have identified a man found in the street with fatal gunshot wounds Friday as Adrian Augusta, 20.

Augusta was pronounced dead on the scene, after deputies found him near 37th Avenue and 44th Street.

Homicide detectives later arrested Devenne Rodriguez, 25, in connection with the killing.

An earlier story on the shooting can be found here.

Redding police used a police dog Friday to catch and arrest Tyler Schweizer, 26, one week after Schweizer escaped at the end of an early morning, high-speed pursuit.

Schweizer had fled Aug. 20 after police saw him driving a stolen car.

He ran from the car and evaded capture after police used a tack strip to deflate the tires at the end of a chase that reached speeds of 80 mph.

After a monitored bait car was stolen around 11:30 a.m. Friday, a Sacramento police officer saw someone driving the vehicle near Tamoshanter Way and Matson Drive.

The officer observed the driver, a 10-year-old girl, try to run away.

"It was a bad judgment call on her end," said Sgt. Andrew Pettit, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department.

The girl, who was not identified, was returned to her parents.

The knife-wielding man shot and killed Friday by Sacramento police was Carl Raymond Blake, 24, officials said Saturday.

Police reported Blake was coming at officers with a knife, inside a Meadowview home in the 2900 block of Silk Court.

Police had responded to the home after reports of domestic disturbance.

Officers were told Blake was acting violently and was armed with a knife.

See an earlier report on the incident here.

Sacramento County Sheriff's homicide detectives have arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with a fatal shooting early Friday in south Sacramento, the sheriff's department reported.

Deputies responded shortly after 1 a.m. to 37th Avenue and 44th Street, where a man had been seen lying in the street, said Deputy Jason Ramos, sheriff's spokesman. They found a 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the upper body.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff's department reported. He has not been identified.

Investigators later developed information that led them to arrest Devenne Rodriguez, 25, in connection with the shooting, according to a sheriff's department news release. Rodriguez was taken into custody at about 3 p.m. at an apartment complex in Sacramento County, and will be booked into the Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of murder, the release states.

Twin Rivers police arrested a 46-year-old Folsom man early Friday after interrupting an alleged copper theft at an Antelope elementary school, according to a police department news release.

The release provided these details:

Officers were on patrol about 3 a.m. when they observed two suspects in the act of cutting copper wire at North Country Elementary School on Little Rock Drive. Officers detained and arrested one suspect; the other fled and was not found.

Two electrical boxes on the campus were found to be damaged, police reported. Copper wire had been removed from one box and set on the ground, while wire in the second box had been cut but not removed. The cost of the damage was not immediately known.

The owner of Roseville gym was sentenced today to five months in prison for workers compensation fraud.

Nicki Lee Buxmann, 48, of Lake County was sentenced in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. for making a false statement or fraud to obtain federal employee's compensation. Buxmann pleaded guilty to the charge Jan. 28. Her prison term is to be followed by 36 months of supervised release, including five months of home detention. She also was ordered to pay $104,834.57 in restitution.

According to court document, Buxmann owned and operated the TNT Takeover/MMA Boxing gym in Roseville while receiving federal workers' compensation benefits from the Department of Labor relating to injuries she claimed to have sustained while working as a letter carriers for the U.S. Postal Service.

A Roseville building contractor pleaded guilty today in Sacramento to defrauding investors.

Leo Wheeler, 56, pleaded guilty before U. S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. to one count of mail fraud.

In his plea, Wheeler admitted to defrauding more than 10 investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting approximately 85 fraudulent invoices for work he falsely claimed he had performed on a 30-lot subdivision known as Creekside Oaks Estates in Lake County. Wheeler used three fictitious companies - Kenneth Gutman Trucking, SNC Solutions and California Maintenance - to funnel funds to himself and to other projects in which he was involved, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

South Lake Tahoe arson investigators seek the public's help in identifying two people shown on surveillance video running from the area of the Bijou Center at the time of the fire early Thursday morning.

Police and firefighters responded to a report of a fire at the center at 3447 Lake Tahoe Blvd. about 3:45 a.m. They arrived to find a trash can on the outside of the business complex engulfed in flames and saw that the overhang of the building was starting to catch fire, according to a Police Department news release.

A sprinkler system on the outside of the building helped control the fire and kept it from spreading until firefighters were able to extinguish it.

An individual has been taken to Mercy San Juan Medical Center after being pulled from the American River about a mile downstream from the Sunrise Bridge.

Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said firefighters received a report about 1:30 this afternoon that an individual had been seen floating face down in the river. He said rescue crews located a person, pulled the individual from the water and administered CPR.

Cockrum said little information was immediately available regarding the identity or condition of the victim.

A fisherman had been reported missing on the American, but Cockrum said that individual was reported to have been farther downstream, near River Bend Park.

A man shot by Sacramento police after he reportedly came at officers with a knife inside a Meadowview-area home has died, the Sacramento Police Department reported.

The name of the 20-year-old man has not been released.

Officers responded at 12:38 p.m. today to a report of a domestic disturbance at a home in the 2900 block of Silk Court.

Police spokesman Sgt. Andrew Pettit said occupants of the residence told officers that the man was behaving violently and was last seen with a knife.

Authorities have located a body in the American River that they believe is that of the 54-year-old missing fisherman they have been searching for since Thursday night, officials said.

The body was spotted in the American River near the Harrington Way river access. Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials are working on bringing the body to shore.

The search for the missing fisherman began at the river after park rangers closing up Riverbend Park on Thursday night noticed a truck parked there. They soon learned the truck was registered to a man who had been reported missing that day, said Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

The man left his Sacramento-area home Wednesday but never returned, Ramos said. The man's wife reported him missing Thursday.

The former college student implicated in the 2001 murder of Larry McNabney, a flamboyant Sacramento attorney, has been released from prison, officials confirmed today.

Sarah Dutra, 31, was released this morning from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and is now on active parole in Solano County, said Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Dutra was sentenced to 11 years, and she served almost eight-and-a-half, Patino said. Violent offenders in the state of California typically serve 85 percent of their sentence, and Dutra got credit for time served prior to her conviction, Patino said. (Earlier today, the CDCR incorrectly reported that Dutra had served her full 11-year sentence).

The name of a man found dead in a Meadowview driveway on Thursday has been released.

He was identified as Shawn Davis, 40, of Sacramento.

Officers first responded to the area after a passerby found Davis in front of a home on 19th Street near 67th Avenue about 7 a.m., said police spokeswoman Officer Laura Peck.

Sacramento County Sheriff's detectives have identified the victim of a fatal shooting in the Fruitridge area this morning as a 20-year-old man from Sacramento.

His name, however, has not yet been released.

About 1 a.m. today, deputies responded to the intersection of 37th Avenue and 44th Street in the Fruitridge neighborhood, where a body was found face down in the street, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos. The man suffered a gunshot wound to his upper body.

The California Education Technology Professionals Association is warning residents about a fraud ring operating in Northern California that is using young people to go door to door asking for money to support the organization's Student Bridge to the Future Scholarship.

The association does not solicit individuals for donations to support the scholarship, according to a news release. The organization has received calls regarding the fraudulent solicitations from El Cerrito, San Ramon and Oakland.

In some cases, young people have been reported canvassing neighborhoods, allegedly selling magazine subscriptions. In other cases, they have offered services such as lawn care or house work in effort to obtain money.

A former youth soccer coach in Elk Grove has pleaded guilty to four felony charges involving sexual misconduct, Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced Thursday in a news release.

Arthur Temblador, 36, a former coach for the Elk Grove Everton Football Club, engaged in sexual misconduct with one of his players from the summer of 2010 through the spring of 2011, when the victim was between age 15 and 16, according to the district attorney's office release.

The misconduct occurred in four different counties, the release states.

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

A mortgage fraud indictment unsealed Thursday in Sacramento federal court charges three men with a scheme that ultimately caused property foreclosures and more than $1 million in losses to lenders.

Sean McClendon, 45, of West Sacramento; Anthony Salcedo, 30, of El Dorado Hills; and Anthony Williams, 44, of Carmichael, are named as participants in a fraud conspiracy. Williams is also accused of identity theft.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

A former youth basketball coach now stands accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with at least seven of his former wards, and authorities say they fear there could be more victims.

Sacramento County sheriff's detectives arrested 22-year-old Melvin Flemings in Februrary on suspicion of misconduct with one victim, and the case has been evolving since, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

Today, as Flemings appeared in court on the initial three charges, deputies arrested him again, adding charges stemming from alleged sexual contact with six more victims, Ramos said.

A Roseville intermediate school student told authorities she was grabbed across the throat by an unknown man while walking to school Thursday morning, according to a Roseville Police Department news release.

Roseville police are investigating the incident, which reportedly occurred around 8:45 a.m. as the student walked to Eich Intermediate School on a dirt trail that runs along Linda Creek through an open area between Rocky Ridge Drive and the school campus on Sierra Gardens Drive, according to the release.

The student told authorities she was walking on the trail when a man came up from behind her, put his arm across her throat in a choke hold, then released her and ran away, the release states. Police stated the student had bruising on her neck but did not report other injuries.

The Rancho Cordova Police Department will hold an open house Wednesday to celebrate the opening of its new police station.

Members of the department will lead public tours of the building at 2897 Kilgore Road (see map) from 3 to 5 p.m. The event will feature several law enforcement exhibits, and barbecued hotdogs will be served in the parking lot.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 5:30 pm. Participants will include members of the City Council, Police Chief Doug Diamond and Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones.

The Sacramento Police Department is warning the public of an increase in thefts and burglaries involving gold and other metals.

Because of the rising price of the metals, robbers and burglars are stealing gold and copper. Homes, businesses and other entities have fallen prey to copper thieves, and individuals wearing gold jewelry have had it stolen from their person, according to a Police Department news release.

To help prevent thefts and burglaries, police recommend walking with friends and staying in well-lighted areas, and using alarm systems and surveillance cameras to protect homes.

Lincoln Fire Chief Dave Whitt, 50, was the man at the center of the successful resolution of the tanker propane fire this week -- a stubborn fuel fire that had the potential to result in major devastation.

Whitt, the leader of the 24-firefighter department, has been chief since 2006. Before that, he worked fighting wildland fires for the federal government for 6 years and for 18 years was a member of the Sacramento Fire Department.

At Sac City he worked his way up from firefighter to Battalion Chief. For a time, as a fire captain, he was the public information officer for Sacramento City Fire.

On Monday, Joseph Ongaro was sentenced to 180 days of Sheriff's Work Project after pleading no contest to charges that he violated a court order to stop harassing his neighbors. He did so by, among other things, hanging a swastika in a window to scare off potential renters after his fed-up neighbors left the neighborhood.

Within one day of entering into the plea deal, Ongaro allegedly got on the Internet and violated its terms.

Specifically, he commented online on a Bee story about his conviction, in direct violation of probation terms that prohibited him from posting anything on the Internet related to the victims, said Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Maxwell, who prosecuted Ongaro.

A man who shot and killed his mother's boyfriend has been sentenced to state prison for 21 years.

Imari Malik Powell, 19, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on July 18 and was sentenced in Sacramento Superior Court on Aug. 15, court records showed.

Powell was accused in the July 4, 2010, shooting death of Dewayne Edward Douglas, 21, at a party near Rutter Park in the unincorporated south area.

The shooting took place in a heat of passion, Deputy District Attorney Hilary Bagley Franzoia said. According to the prosecutor, Powell became enraged when he learned that Douglas had abused the defendant's mother at the party.

Sacramento police are canvassing a Meadowview neighborhood for clues after a man was found dead in a driveway early this morning.

Officers first responded to the area after a passerby found the victim, who has only been identified as a man in his 40s, in front of a home on 19th Street near 67th Avenue about 7 a.m., said police spokeswoman Officer Laura Peck.

The man suffered from a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, across the street from Cabrillo Park and near John Bidwell Elementary School.

Peck said police have little information about what happened and no motive for the killing. No callers reported hearing gunshots in the area overnight, she said, and the man's time of death is still under investigation.

She said it is not yet known whether the man lived at the residence or had any connection to it.

Bee staff writer Kim Minugh updated this report.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

Emergency aid workers in Lincoln endeavored tonight to help not only people displaced from their homes due to the burning propane tanker but their pets as well.

Noah's Wish set up an emergency animal shelter at Azevedo Park in Rocklin, but many people arrived at evacuation shelters with their pets in tow.

"People want to stay with their pets," said Trista Jensen, communication director with the American Red Cross, who was assisting at the Lincoln Community Center, one of three evacuation shelters in the city.

Two teenagers have been arrested after leading officers on a pursuit through Rancho Cordova early Wednesday morning.

Abraham Lopez (pictured), 18, and a 17-year-old youth were arrested on suspicion of felony evasion of a peace officer, unlawful possession of a concealed, loaded firearm and resisting arrest.

The incident began shortly after 1:30 a.m., when a Rancho Cordova police officer attempted to stop a vehicle in the area of Paseo Drive and Folsom Boulevard. The driver sped away and led officers on a pursuit that lasted several minutes and reached speeds of approximately 60 mph, according to a Rancho Cordova Police Department news release.

The 6-year-old Fair Oaks boy who was being sought by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has been returned home safely, according to authorities.

The boy, Raymond Peters (photo, right), had been last seen Friday evening with his mother, Tricia Pelletier (photo, left), who does not have legal custody of her son. She violated her court-ordered visitation rights when she failed to return him to the custody of his father and grandmother Sunday, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Raymond was considered to be at-risk because he has asthma and it is believed that his mother does not have the medication the youngster needs.

However, Pelletier reportedly saw herself on the news today and returned Raymond to his grandmother's house, said sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos. The boy had not been harmed.

Pelletier's whereabouts are not known, Ramos said.

The Yuba County Sheriff's Department seeks the public's help in locating a suspect in a case of animal cruelty that left a dog badly injured earlier this month.

Just before 7 p.m. Aug. 2, several residents of the 1800 block of Seventh Avenue in Olivehurst saw a dog suspended from the bed of a pickup truck as it drove east on Seventh Avenue. The dog, a female American bulldog, appeared to have been attached to a rope in the bed of the truck, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The dog came loose from the rope and fell to the roadway, where it may have been run over by a rear tire of the truck. The driver stopped the vehicle, then allegedly backed up, running over the dog again before driving away.

The Colusa County Sheriff's Office announced today that an electrical panel explosion that killed Robert Ayala at a rice field July 16 has been determined to be a deliberate act and not an accident.

Ayala, 43, of Grimes apparently was turning on an irrigation pump at an electrical switch about 1:20 p.m. when the blast occurred near the 2047 canal between Wescott and Abel roads in Colusa County. Ayala's 7-year-old son witnessed the explosion and ran two miles for help.

Sheriff's officials said Ayala's death is being investigated as a homicide. Sheriff's deputies along with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are analyzing evidence recovered from the scene and conducting interviews.

Sacramento police say the death of a 19-year-old woman in the 3600 block of Power Inn Road this afternoon appears to have resulted from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Officers were called to a parking lot at Power Inn Road and Ramada Avenue at 12:51 p.m. regarding a report that a woman had been shot. The Fire Department also responded and declared the woman dead at the scene.

The Police Department's homicide detectives and crime scene investigators also responded. Police spokesman Sgt. Andrew Pettit said that based on the investigation thus far, it appears the woman was meeting with friends when she shot herself. Detectives are still trying to determine the circumstances that led to the shooting.

The woman's name has not been released.

By Matt Kawahara

Fire officials have announced that they now believe the tanker car burning in Lincoln since Tuesday is virtually empty of liquid propane, and that they may be able to render it inert before midnight.

Flames from the top of the car died down around 9 p.m., leading firefighters to run tests attempting to determine how much propane was left in the car, said Lincoln Fire Chief Dave Whitt. They are now pumping the rail car full of water and aqueous foam in an attempt to force out any residual liquid and propane vapors, said Whitt.

"As the tank fills up with foam and water, it's pushing the residual vapors outside the tank," he said. "So we re-lit the fire again and as the tank fills up it'll continue to burn off the residual vapors. We should have a stable tank once that foam ... fills up that tank."

A judge ruled today that the mental health records on a murder defendant's 2003 suicide attempt can be turned over to the prosecution.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Helena R. Gweon made the ruling in the retrial of Jennifer Ann Dalton, 42. Dalton is being tried for second-degree murder in the July 13, 2009, shooting death of her husband, Craig Dalton, 39.

Dalton had previously been acquitted of first-degree murder charges but jurors did not reach a verdict on the second-degree allegation, resulting in a mistrial.

A prosecutor charged today that a North Sacramento man was "executed in front of his family, in broad daylight" by three defendants on trial for murder in the killing.

Jose Guerrero, 47, had been holding his baby daughter in his arms on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, when he was pistol-whipped by one of the defendants, then shot and killed by another, Deputy District Attorney Scott Triplett said.

Jose DeJesus Gonzalez, 24, is the accused gunman in the case. Co-defendant Jaime Enrique Torres, also 24, is suspected of starting the fight and hitting Guerrero with the pistol outside the victim's house on Lindley Drive in the neighborhood they call "The Flats."

A Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted today the 56-year-old child molester accused ot trying to "groom" new victims within a week of his release from prison last year.

It took the panel less than a day to reach its verdict on Robert Precobb, who was accused on one count of annoying or molesting a minor and four more counts of furnishing marijuana to minors.

Precobb was ordered freed last year from his 15-to-life prison sentence on a 1988 child molestation conviction. The release resulted from a California Supreme Court decision that changed the law on whether certain predicate offenses could be used to trigger the life term.

Judge Greta Curtis Fall scheduled Precobb's sentencing for Sept. 23. He is facing five 25-to-life terms.

Investigators with the Contractors State License Board's statewide investigative fraud team and Rancho Cordova police officers today arrested an unlicensed operator with a history of using contractor licenses not issued to him.

Charles Peter Maffia, 67, of Rancho Cordova was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail, with bail set at $40,000, according to a Contractors State License Board news release. He is to be arraigned Thursday in Sacramento County Superior Court.

Maffia is accused of fraudulent use of an incorrect contractor license, contracting without a license, illegal advertising and violation of probation. He was already on formal probation for fraudulent use of a contractor license number following a 2006 arrest on this an related charges.

An Antelope man accused of stealing liquor from a Raley's store in Citrus Heights was injured by a clerk wielding the bag in which the liquor was concealed.

Citrus Heights Police Officer Chad Morris said the man and a female companion entered the Raley's at 7847 Lichen Drive about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. The woman had a polka dot purse in which they placed bottles of alcohol. Morris said store clerks observed the activity.

As the two prepared to leave the store, the man took the purse and the woman went to a checkout stand as though she planned to purchase something.

The Placer County District Attorney's Office has concluded that an off-duty sheriff's deputy did not commit a crime when he intercepted and shot a man who was being chased by Rocklin police.

The District Attorney's Office announced today that it has completed its review of the May 29 shooting of Sergey Pautov, 22 of Rancho Cordova, by Placer County Sheriff's Sgt. Vaness Bogardus. The review was based on information provided in Rocklin and Roseville police department reports, as well as an analysis of California law, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.

These materials established that officers, including Sgt. Bogardus, were advised that Pautov was a suspect who was wanted for a recent burglary and auto theft. Sgt. Bogardus and other officers were also aware that Pautov had been evading capture while driving a stolen vehicle in a reckless manner that endangered the public, including twice driving on the wrong side of the road, officials said. Pautov eventually abandoned the vehicle and began to run away.

California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow was honored in Milwaukee today with a lifetime achievement award given by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

The AAMVA Martha Irwin Lifetime Achievement Award, given annually, recognizes contributions toward highway safety over the course of a career, according to a news release from the association.

Calling Farrow's career "long and impressive," the AAMVA applauded Farrow's contributions toward seat belt and child safety programs, specifically his work in the legislative arena toward requiring safety belts in school buses, the news release states.

As Sacramento police continue to investigate a shooting at 26th Avenue and Franklin Boulevard, the condition of the victim is not yet known.

The male victim suffered a gunshot to the upper body, said police Officer Laura Peck. He was in surgery at a nearby hospital this afternoon, and it was not clear whether his injuries were life-threatening, she said.

The shooting followed a verbal altercation between the victim and the occupants of another car on Franklin Boulevard between 2nd and 4th avenues, said police Sgt. Andrew Pettit. Police do not yet know the nature of the argument, he said.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

Two security guards were assaulted outside a Florin Road nightclub early Sunday morning, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

About 1:45 a.m., two unidentified suspects approached two armed security guards at The Cinch nightclub, located west of Power Inn Road, according to a Sheriff's Department report.

One suspect used a stun gun to shock one of the guards, who tried to pull out his handgun but couldn't get it out of the holster, the report states. Meanwhile, the other suspect was holding the other guard at gunpoint.

By Matt Kawahara and Cathy Locke
mkawahara@sacbee.com

A mandatory evacuation order remains in place in Lincoln after propane coming from a rail tank car caught fire around noon and continues to burn at the Northern Energy tank farm.

Highway 65 in Lincoln has been closed to traffic since Tuesday afternoon, and a mandatory evacuation was put in effect for homes and businesses within a 1-mile radius of the burning, 29,000-gallon rail car.

The possibility of an explosion prompted the evacuation of about 4,800 homes by Placer County and Lincoln law enforcement, said Daniel Berlant, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman, in a news release. Cal Fire is assisting the Lincoln Fire Department.

A motorist who died Saturday night in a single-car crash in West Sacramento has been identified as 42-year-old Teofil Iorga, the Yolo County coroner's office said today.

Iorga, of West Sacramento, died after his sport-utility vehicle flipped after crashing at high speed into a support beam for an overhead train trestle across South River Road at Gregory Avenue.

Police said Iorga was ejected from his vehicle and suffered major head trauma. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The prosecutor in an Elk Grove murder case is asking the judge to unseal county mental health records on a reported 2003 suicide attempt by the defendant.

Deputy District Attorney Chris Ore said the records are needed to provide a full picture on the mental state of defendant Jennifer Ann Dalton, who is accused in the July 13, 2009, shooting death of her estranged husband, Craig Dalton, in the garage of the Elk Grove home they once shared.

Defense attorney Lida Parisi said the records are confidential and opposed Ore's motion to have them unsealed.

Bee Staff

Even as the summer vacation season winds down for those heeding the school calendars, there are still plenty of recreationists on the road.

The California Highway Patrol has a few driving and safety reminders for drivers of recreational vehicles.

• Best days for travel are not weekends. Unless it's absolutely necessary, avoid traveling in your RV on Saturday and Sunday. These are the two most heavily congested traffic days around recreational areas. Driving weekdays is much more enjoyable and relaxing.

• Caravans are problems. Most RV caravans occur on two lane roads, creating a nightmare for drivers of other vehicles. Other drivers can't see ahead, they have difficulty in passing, and as tempers flare they take chances or make driving mistakes, thus creating the perfect setting for a traffic collision which could involve you. You can contribute to safer roadways in California by discouraging caravans or establishing large spaces between the caravaning vehicles.

Call him the grinch who almost stole the first day of school.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies arrested a 35-year-old man Aug. 18 after he allegedly tried to steal computers from John Holst Elementary School, just days before the school year began, according to a Sheriff's Department report.

Deputies were dispatched to the Bannister Road campus shortly after midnight Aug. 18 after a silent burglary alarm was activated, the report states. Upon arriving, deputies found a suspect wheeling a hand truck stacked with computer towers across the school's back parking lot.

A Sacramento man whom authorities dubbed the "skateboard bandit," pleaded guilty today to a serial bank robbery.

Jared Sung Yoon Herdt, 30, also agreed to pay restitution for the robberies, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. He is in federal custody pending sentencing.

According to court documents, Herdt pleaded guilty to robbing the Wells Fargo Bank at 2010 Goldfield Drive in Rancho Cordova on April 25, 2009. He pleaded guilty to robbing four other banks - in Modesto, San Jose, Santa Clara and Springfield, Ore. - during January and February 2009.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

On the run from authorities since escaping from an El Dorado County correctional facility in 1975, William Walter Asher, 66, was arrested last Friday in the town of Salida in Stanislaus County, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Asher was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after participating with two accomplices in the 1966 robbery of a San Francisco bar during which a bartender was killed, according to an FBI news release. He escaped in January 1975 from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation - Growlersburg Conservation Camp, according to the release.

The midtown Sacramento man who, at the pinnacle of his harassment toward his neighbors, hung a swastika in his windows to keep potential renters from moving into their home pleaded no contest today to four counts of violating a civil harassment order, according to the District Attorney's office.

Under the plea agreement, Joseph Ongaro received 180 days in county jail, 90 of which are suspended pending his completion of life skills classes, according to a news release from the DA's office. He is also prohibited from contacting his former neighbors, from possessing any weapons and from displaying any flags, signs or messages from his home, the release states.

Authorities arrested Ongaro in March. He was charged with multiple counts of violating the civil harassment order his neighbors had obtained and of vandalism; however, the remaining charges were dropped as part of the plea deal, according to the news release.

A Yolo County jury has convicted a West Sacramento man of 36 counts of child molestation.

Nang Sam, 27, was found guilty last week of molesting the young victim over a six-year period, a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release states.

The victim testified at trial that beginning in 2003, when she was 7 years old, and ending in 2008, Sam repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

Trial got under way today for a convicted child molester who was arrested less than three weeks after he was released from prison last year on a judge's order.

Robert Winston Precobb, 56, is charged with one count of annoying or molesting a minor and five more counts of furnishing marijuana to minors.

Precobb had spent more than 20 years in prison on a child molestation conviction before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Sharon A. Lueras ordered him released in February 2010. Lueras ruled that a 2006 California Supreme Court decision invalidated Precobb's 15-to-life term. The judge then resentenced him to time he had already served.

Sacramento police are seeking the public's help in identifying the driver of a sports utility vehicle who is believed to have been the last person to see a homicide victim before he was killed last month.

Detectives hope that the driver of the vehicle, pictured at left, might be able to provide information that will jumpstart an investigation that has gone cold, according to police.

On July 22, 49-year-old Thong Khousakoune was found dead after his Honda CRV crashed into a home at 15th Avenue and Franklin Boulevard. Further investigation revealed that Khousakoune died from gunshot wounds and not from the impact of the crash, according to police.

That night, the Fresno resident visited friends in Sacramento and likely was preparing to return to Fresno via Highway 99 when he stopped to get gas at the Shell gas station at 12th Avenue and Franklin Boulevard about 11 p.m., police said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has released a sketch, pictured at left, of a man who stabbed a woman sitting in her car outside a Florin area gym earlier this month.

The man is described as an Asian man between 25 and 29 years old, about 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds, according to sheriff's officials. He was clean shaven, with black hair that is short on the sides and longer on top, and has brown eyes.

The man allegedly jumped into the woman's car as she waited for her husband to get off work at the 24 Hour Fitness at 6061 Florin Road shortly before 9 p.m. on Aug. 13. He stabbed her in the stomach and arm before fleeing on foot.

Rocklin police today need help in finding for three young men who were seen fleeing from the site of a playground structure fire.

Rocklin police and the Rocklin Fire Department were called about 3 a.m. Sunday to a playground at Sunset East Park on Willowynd Drive. A witness reported seeing three white males in their late teens or early 20s fleeing the area around the time of the fire.

The suspects were dressed in t-shirts and shorts. They were seen getting into a dark green, late 1990s compact car.

The park playground equipment sustained more than $6,000 in damage. Anyone with information is asked to call Rocklin police at (916) 625-5400.

Elk Grove residents can get all types of crime questions answered from a cop over a cup of coffee later this week.

Officers from the Elk Grove Police Department's Problem Oriented Policing Unit will answer questions during "Coffee with a Cop."

The POP officers will be at La Bou, 8694 Elk Grove Blvd., and Nugget Market, 7101 Elk Grove Blvd., from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday.

Police Chief Robert Lehner said the informal meetings over coffee develop strong relationships with the public. Specific or general questions about neighborhoods are welcome.

The report of a dog locked in a hot car last week comes at a time when Sacramento County is warning against the dangerous practice.

Sacramento police were called to the 3800 block of Innovator Drive in Natomas last Wednesday where a dog was locked inside a car. The dog was inside the car about 4:30 p.m. while the owner toured a fitness center for 25 minutes.

The officer cited the dog owner for animal cruelty and for parking in a disabled parking spot.

A North Natomas woman was robbed at gunpoint and sexually assaulted in her home about 2 a.m. today, and Sacramento police are investigating whether the crime is related to two other home invasions in recent weeks.

In this morning's invasion in the 4800 block of Kokomo Drive, a few blocks north of Arco Arena, police say the suspect apparently entered the home through an unlocked door and robbed the woman at gunpoint. Sometime during the robbery, she was also sexually assaulted, said department spokeswoman Officer Laura Peck.

The suspect was described as a black man in his 20's, 6-feet tall, weighing 200 lbs and wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and baggy blue jeans.

A 43-year-old man is dead after his sport utility vehicle crashed at high-speed into a support beam for an overhead train trestle across South River Road in West Sacramento Saturday night, a police spokesman said today.

Police spokesman Lt. Tod Sockman said the West Sacramento man, traveling east near the 5000 block of South River Road, was ejected from his green Range Rover when it smashed into the trestle support at the Gregory Avenue rail overcrossing about 7:20 p.m. Saturday.

The SUV flipped from the impact, and the driver suffered major head trauma. Nearby anglers fishing in the Sacramento River heard the crash and telephoned police.

A 48-year-old Woodland man was assaulted in his motel room early Saturday when a man pushed open the door of the room and robbed him at gunpoint, Woodland police said today.

A department spokesman said Jesus Lopez was staying in the Budget Inn on the 1000 block of Main Street in Woodland when the assault occurred about 12:30 a.m.

Lopez was punched and hit with a handgun, police said, and the suspect took his wallet, which contained about $400.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies arrested a 30-year-old man this morning after the he allegedly stole several hundred feet of copper wire in the Vineyard neighborhood and then led deputies on a high-speed chase, according to authorities.

Robert Treadway was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of grand theft, possession of stolen property, resisting arrested and violating the terms of his probation, according to jail booking records. He is being held in lieu of $85,000 bail.

About 5:30 a.m., a caller told sheriff's dispatchers that two men with dark clothing were walking through the area of Prairie Dunes Way and Piping Rock Drive with flashlights, said sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

Dispatchers later were told that the men had gotten into a vehicle and were driving slowly down the street with the lights off, Ramos said.

A fully extended scissor lift being used for painting preparation tipped over, ejecting its operator, who was seriously injured, Folsom fire officials reported Saturday.

The unidentified 43-year-old man, working for Apex Painting, had raised the lift up for work being done in the 1600 block of Creekside Drive in Roseville when it tipped, said Capt.Tom Sakaris, spokesman for the Folsom Fire Department.

The machinery also apparently struck the man's mother-in-law, who was on the ground.

A juvenile was shot in the face today in the 2000 block of Newport Avenue in the Meadowview area, police reported.

The shooting may have been gang motivated, said Sgt. Norm Leong, police spokesman.

As of 2:45 p.m., officers were still on the scene investigating, but it appears that an earlier fight may have led to the incident, Leong said.

The victim was shot, perhaps with shotgun, when he emerged from a home later.

The wounds are not believed to be life-threatening.

The Nevada County Sheriff's Department arrested Daniel Lucas Colondres, 25, on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with an early morning invasion attack today.

Two residents in the 14000 block of Lake Wildwood Drive awoke before 2 a.m. today to find Colondres, the estranged boyfriend of one victim, in the home and armed with a knife, the department reported in a press release.

Colondres, of Penn Valley, attacked them with a knife, causing severe injuries, until a neighbor used a golf club to stop the attack.

A man in his 20s was severely burned Friday after gasoline ignited in a garage during auto repair work, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District reported.

The fire started accidentally when the gas spilled on a hot surface.

Arriving fire units reported flames of 50 feet.

Redding police are seeking Tyler Schweizer, 26, of Redding, after an early morning high-speed chase today which ended with Schweizer's escape.

The chase began when an officer noticed a stolen vehicle, a white 1990 Honda Accord that had been spray painted flat black, according to a department release.

After an attempted traffic stop, the pursuit began, beginning in the area of Eastside Road near Girvan Road.

California Highway Patrol investigators have tracked down and interviewed a juvenile suspect who is believed to have triggered a head-on crash that sent two people to the hospital with major injuries Friday.

The crash occurred at about 9:50 a.m. Friday, when the suspect pulled out of Lone Star Road onto Highway 49 in Placer County, ignoring heavy oncoming traffic.

Sandy Castle, 60, of Grass Valley was forced to swerve out of the way, but hit a vehicle driven by Edmund Moley, 76, of Auburn.

Sacramento police arrested a man Friday after finding him stripping wire in Renfree Park.

Police received a report that the man was working on the wire near the scoreboard of a ball field in the park and found him in the process of stripping the wire, according to the police log.

Two men shot this morning near Fulton and Northrop avenues are expected to survive, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

Officials took a first call of multiple shots fired at 7:10 a.m., said Deputy Jason Ramos, department spokesman.

Arriving deputies found two men shot, one in the upper left shoulder and the other in the stomach or chest.

Placer County Superior Court officials are seeking public comment on a proposal to institute 12 days of limited service as part of an effort to close a $1.75 million budget deficit this fiscal year.

The plan would save $500,000 to $550,000 in personnel-related costs, according to a court news release.

On limited-service days, only the courtroom at the Placer County Jail in Auburn, Department 13, would remain open. All other courtrooms and all the clerk's offices would be closed. A drop box would be provided to allow same-day filings at all locations that previously accepted filings.

The California Highway Patrol is looking for the driver of a white Acura Integra who fled after allegedly causing a head-on collision on Highway 49 near Auburn this morning that sent two people to the hospital with major injuries.

About 9:50 a.m., a 60-year-old Grass Valley woman was driving a Ford F-150 truck in the left lane of southbound Highway 49, approaching Lone Star Road, and a 76-year-old Auburn man driving a blue Honda Odyssey, was in the left-turn lane of northbound Highway 49, preparing to turn left onto Lone Star. The driver of the white Acura Integra, traveling westbound on Lone Star Road, suddenly pulled onto Highway 49, crossing the northbound lanes and into the southbound lanes, directly in front of approaching traffic, according to a CHP news release.

The woman in the truck swerved left and into the northbound traffic lane, resulting in a head-on collision with the Honda Odyssey. Both drivers suffered major injuries. The woman was airlifted to Sutter Roseville Medical Center and the man was taken by ambulance Sutter Roseville.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies have discontinued a perimeter around a North Highlands neighborhood after searching for a robbery suspect they believe was armed and hiding in the area of Madison Avenue and Renick Way, according to authorities.

SWAT members about 3 p.m. zeroed in on a home on Renick where the suspect, who is believed to have robbed a recycling business at Madison and Jackson Street, was thought to be hiding, said sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

The suspect was seen fleeing the business on foot, armed with a black handgun, Ramos said.

Sheriff's deputies set the perimeter in the area of Madison and Renick, Ramos said, and focused on a duplex in the 4000 block of Renick.

Nearby Madison Elementary School was locked during the incident, but students were released just before 6 p.m.

Bee staff writer Matt Kawahara contributed to this report.

By Sam Stanton and Marjie Lundstrom
sstanton@sacbee.com

A judge today sentenced 23-year-old Thomas Jerome Martin to 29 years to life for the beating death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter inside a Fair Oaks apartment in 2008.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael A. Savage said he was imposing the maximum sentence available to him after making lengthy remarks in which he severely criticized the failure of the county's Child Protective Services agency to protect Valeeya.

Sacramento police believe they have suspects in custody responsible for at least two home burglaries in the Pocket area this morning, according to authorities.

They are looking into whether the suspects - an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy - are linked to a third burglary as well, said police Sgt. Norm Leong.

The three burglaries were reported between 9:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on River Ranch Way, River Landing Drive and Rivertree Way - all south of Riverside Boulevard and Florin Road, Leong said. In all three cases, the crimes were reported by neighbors who heard the sound of breaking glass or other suspicious noise.

As officers investigated the burglaries, they received a description of a suspect vehicle. Officers stopped a car matching that description in the area of the third burglary, and arrested the two occupants, Leong said.

He said officers have linked the the two suspects to the second and third burglaries and are looking into whether they are also responsible for the first burglary.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the Sacramento region will join in a nationwide campaign to crack down on impaired drivers.

Stepped-up enforcement efforts are scheduled to begin Friday and continue through Labor Day.

The Sacramento Police Department will begin its " Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaign with a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Northgate Boulevard and Patio Avenue.

Motorists traveling through the checkpoint will be contacted by uniformed officers, who will check for alcohol or drug-impaired drivers. Officers also will check to make sure all drivers have a valid driver's license.

By Carlos Alcalá
calcala@sacbee.com

Placerville Mayor David J. Machado has been arrested on allegations of perjury and conspiracy in connection with his interest in property within the Placerville Redevelopment Zone.

Machado failed to disclose his interest in the property and tried to conceal evidence while voting to approve the zone and taking actions on behalf of the property, according to a criminal complaint issued by the El Dorado County District Attorney.

Officials of the District Attorney's office confirmed Machado had been arrested but declined further comment except to release the complaint.

El Dorado County Sheriff's personnel seized $1.2 million worth of marijuana plants and processed marijuana during a raid of a residence in Cameron Park early Thursday, a sheriff's department spokesman said.

More than 1,500 plants and about 70 pounds of processed marijuana were recovered at the house in the 2900 block of Pasada Court, after authorities served a search warrant about 7:30 a.m., said sheriff's Lt. Bryan Golmitz.

Golmitz said eight or nine rooms in the downstairs level of the house had been converted into a growing area.

Yuba City police report that they have arrested a River Valley High School teacher on suspicion of annoying or molesting a child 17 or younger.

Police were notified by the Yuba City Unified School District that a current teacher and former female River Valley High student may have engaged in an inappropriate relationship, according to a Police Department news release.

An investigation by detectives resulted in the arrest of Manual Sandoval Barajas, 30. The high school's website lists him as a math teacher.

Police said the incident that prompted the investigation took place at the high school before the beginning of the new school year.

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of stealing copper from a cell tower at a Fair Oaks middle school.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies were called to Will Rogers Middle School, 4924 Dewey Drive, about 2:30 a.m. regarding a copper theft in progress. When they arrived, deputies found two bicycles and two backpacks near a fence bordering school property.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

A Twin Rivers police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old boy in North Highlands this morning after the boy ignored the officer's commands to leave alone a gun that had fallen out of his waistband during a foot pursuit, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

The boy, whose name has not been released, doubled back and tried to retrieve the semi-automatic handgun, even as the officer, gun drawn, ordered him to stop, the Sheriff's Department said.

The officer then fatally shot the boyon the lawn of a home at the corner of Stephen and Channing drives, near Strizek Park.

Sacramento police said they arrested a man on suspicion of prowling and peeping after finding him atop a midtown business with binoculars and other items.

Officers said they were called to the area of 19th and P streets about 1:30 a.m. today where they said a prowler had been spotted with a ladder. In his possession, the caller said, were binoculars and a large backpack.

Officers found the suspect who told them that he was spying on an ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend was contacted by officers and informed of the incident, a police activity log shows.

Police arrested Sean Burgess, 28, on suspicion of peeping, prowling and other offenses. Police said that the backpack allegedly contained a rope, microphone, box cutter, slingshot and cell phone.

Two men and a girl are suspected in connection with window-smashing burglaries in Elk Grove.

The first burglar alarm sounded at 3:10 a.m. at the Peach Garden Seafood Restaurant, 8420 Elk Grove Florin Road. Someone smashed the window and burglarized the restaurant.

Woodland police are investigating the baseball bat beating of a San Jose man early this morning.

Officers were called about 2 a.m. to the 1200 block of Alice Street where they found Bong Kim, 43, of San Jose sitting in the passenger seat of his vehicle. Bong, who was bleeding, was transported to the hospital for non life-threatening injuries.

Sacramento Metro firefighters were busy this morning putting out a garage fire and a blaze at an apartment complex.

The garage fire broke in the 5200 block of Mississippi Bar Road in Orangevale at about 1:30 a.m. When firefighters arrived on scene, flames were visible from the garage.

About two dozen firefighters attacked the blaze, restricting the fire to the garage. An estimated $60,000 worth of structural damage was sustained.

Elk Grove police are investigating an apparent armed robbery of a man by four masked suspects Wednesday night in the 8500 block of Shasta Lily Drive, an Elk Grove Police Department spokesman reported.

Officers responded shortly after 9:20 p.m. to the residential neighborhood and found the male victim had been robbed of his personal property as he was exiting his car, police spokesman Officer Christopher Trim wrote in an email.

The victim told officers that the suspects had all been armed with handguns, Trim wrote.

The Woodland Area California Highway Patrol will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Friday night in Yolo County, the CHP reported.

The checkpoint will run from 8 p.m. to midnight at an undisclosed location in the unincorporated area of the county, according to a Woodland CHP news release.

Officers will also check drivers for valid driver's licenses, the release states.

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced Wednesday that charges have been filed against a 21-year-old man suspected of tagging a number of downtown and midtown Sacramento locations with graffiti, according to a district attorney's office news release.

Nicholas Larson, 21, has been charged with multiple counts of vandalism, possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana, the district attorney's office reported.

From May to July 2011, according to the release, Larson is alleged to have "vandalized downtown and midtown walls, signs, sidewalks, poles, Dumpsters and other property with graffiti tags under the moniker 'Reid' and 'Reidel.' "

A 40-year-old man has pleaded guilty in Sacramento County Superior Court to molesting two minors multiple times beginning when they were 9 and 16 years old, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

District Attorney Jan Scully announced Wednesday that Bradley Dayley, 40, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of molestation, according to the release. Under the plea agreement, Dayley will be sentenced to 60 years and 8 months to life in prison, the release states.

Sentencing is scheduled at 9 a.m. Sept. 23 in Dept. 19 of Sacramento Superior Court.

Sacramento police said Wednesday that the man who allegedly fired at an officer after the officer tried to stop him, thinking he fit the description of a recent armed robbery suspect, was not in fact the man wanted for the robbery.

But police also said the man, 20-year-old Devonte Fields, was a validated gangster and felony probationer armed with a handgun - suggesting why he likely fled from police.

Officers arrested Fields Tuesday night at the conclusion of a three-hour standoff at a Valley Hi Drive apartment complex, which law enforcement officers from across the county had surrounded.

A patrol officer had attempted to contact Fields in the area of Valley Hi Drive and Bamford Drive, thinking the man matched the description of a suspect wanted in a recent armed robbery, according to police. Fields fled, and as the officer gave chase on foot, Fields allegedly fired at the officer, police said. The officer was not hit, and Fields disappeared into the apartment complex.

A woman arrested Monday on suspicion of robbing the Bank of the West in Auburn is also believed to be a suspect in up to 20 other bank robberies in Washington, Oregon and Montana, according to the Placer County Sheriff's Department.

About 2:25 p.m. Monday, a woman entered the bank at 13422 Lincoln Way. She passed a noted to a teller demanding money and stating that she was armed, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. She was given money and left the bank.

Witnesses in the shopping center saw the woman run from the bank and get into a car that was parked behind the bank. She and the driver then drove off.

Sacramento police have left the Rite Aid at 48th and J streets after deeming the area safe, according to authorities.

A concerned customer had called police to alert them to what the customer thought was a suspicious device outside the store, said police Sgt. Norm Leong.

After investigating, officers have left the scene, Leong said.

The search for a man seen fleeing an argument with a gun in his pants near American River College was unsuccessful, and Sacramento County sheriff's deputies have left the scene.

Deputies had set up a perimeter in the area of Myrtle Avenue and College Oak Drive as they searched for the man, described as a black man about 30 years old, wearing a white shirt and jeans, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

Callers told dispatchers they saw the armed man run from a parking lot, where he had been arguing with several other people, Ramos said. Arriving deputies saw several people fleeing the area, some of them jumping fencing. They detained one person but were not able to find the man with the gun in his pants, and have left the area, Ramos said.

The Davis Police Department announced that it collected 64 new backpacks filled with school supplies through its annual "Pack the Patrol Car" event.

The donation drive, led by the department's Community Policing Unit, aims to obtain backpacks and school supplies for children in need, according to a news release. Donation stations to receive community contributions were set up at Target and Office Max stores.

Patrol officers will work with schools in their respective beats to distribute the items to students who need them.

The Elk Grove Police Department will conduct a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint within the city beginning at 8 p.m. Saturday and continuing until 3 a.m. Sunday.

The purpose of the checkpoint is to remove impaired and unlicensed drivers from the roadways. Educational materials on the dangers of driving under the influence will be handed to motorists passing through the checkpoint.

The public also is encouraged to call the Elk Grove Police Department's emergency line, (916) 714-5111, or 911, if they observe a driver they suspect is impaired.

Funding for the sobriety checkpoint is provided through a DUI Enforcement and Awareness Grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

A 34-year-old Yuba County woman was arrested Monday night in the fatal stabbing of her boyfriend.

Yuba County sheriff's deputies were called to the East Linda Garden Apartments in the 6000 block of College View Drive about 8:30 p.m. regarding a report that a stabbing had occurred in one of the apartments. They found Jarrett Reynolds, 38, lying on the floor of his apartment. He appeared to have been stabbed in the upper body, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Rescue personnel attempted CPR, but Reynolds died at the scene.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies have called off the search for a man suspected of stealing his friend's car, then ditching it, engine still running, at an intersection.

Earlier in the afternoon, deputies were searching an apartment complex at Watt and Whitney avenues for the man, who was possibly armed. He has not been found, said sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

The initial call to deputies, which came in about 12:15 p.m., indicated the victim's car had been taken at gunpoint, Ramos said. After further investigation, Ramos said, deputies learned that the victim had left his car unattended at the gas station at Marconi and Walnut avenues.

Sacramento police have identified the man suspected of shooting at an officer Tuesday afternoon as 20-year-old Devonte Fields.

Fields, who is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and other weapons-related charges, is on felony probation and is a validated gang member, said police spokesman Officer Konrad von Schoech.

Fields surrendered to police Tuesday evening, after three hours of hiding in a Valley Hi Drive apartment complex that had been surrounded by dozens of law enforcement officers.

Two men walking away from their broken-down vehicle in Sacramento's south area were struck by a pickup truck, suffering minor injuries, authorities say.

The accident, which was described by authorities as more of a bump than a collision, was reported about 6 a.m. on eastbound Elder Creek Road, just west of South Watt Avenue.

The pedestrians, complaining of pain, were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.

The vehicle in which they were traveling had broken down and they were walking away from it when they were struck, the California Highway Patrol reported.

A man and woman were taken into custody this afternoon after leading law enforcement officers on a chase from Elk Grove to Citrus Heights, and throwing out weapons and checks along the way.

California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Officer Lizz Dutton said a stolen 2003 Saturn was stopped by CHP officers on Interstate 80 east of Elkhorn Boulevard about 2:30 this afternoon. Arrested were the driver, Brant Filosena, 33, whose driver's license listed a Milpitas address, and his passenger, Erica Dumin, 33, of Fairfield.

Dutton said an Orangevale resident had reported the Saturn stolen on Sunday.

U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews are scheduled to resume prescribed fire operations in the Rubicon Bay area on Lake Tahoe's west shore Wednesday.

The operations, designed to reduce vegetation that could fuel wildland fires, is expected to continue through the week, according to a Forest Service news release. The work is dependent on weather and available staffing.

Residents and visitors can expect to see smoke from the prescribed fire areas and from Highway 89. Fire Service officials said good dispersion of smoke is expected based on the weather forecast. Efforts are made to limit the effect of smoke on community areas.

For more information, go to http://www.fs.usda.gov/ltbmu.

A mother and grandfather were arrested today after they allegedly allowed a 2-year-old child to wander unattended in a Citrus Heights apartment complex.

Police were called to the Autumn Ridge Apartments at 6011 Shadow Lane about 11:30 a.m. regarding a report that a 2-year-old boy had been found unattended in the apartment complex roadway. A citizen who located the youngster took him to the apartment complex office, where he was later reunited with his mother, Alexandria Gualdarama (photo, left), 21, and grandfather, Warren Gualdarama (photo, right), 43, according to a Citrus Heights Police Department news release.

Police officers conducted an investigation to determine whether child neglect played a role in the incident. They concluded that the youngster had been left unsupervised while his mother and grandfather were in a back bedroom of their apartment smoking marijuana, according to the news release.

Placer County sheriff's detectives seek the public's help in finding a safe that was stolen from an Auburn church late last week.

Someone entered the Cornerstone Community church at 11111 Dry Creek Road between 7 p.m. Wednesday and 7 the following morning. They broke a window to gain entry, then broke another window in a door to get inside a locked office, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. The intruders rummaged through the office and removed a black-colored safe.

Anyone with information about the crime or who finds the safe is asked to called the Placer County Sheriff's Office at (530) 889-7800. To remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward for information leading to an arrest, call Placer County Crime Stoppers at (800) 923-8191, or go to www.placercrimestoppers.com.

Residents of a wide swath of the Antelope community awoke this morning to graffiti on fences, cars, garages, mailboxes and an elementary school.

Sacramento County sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said a man walking his dog called the Sheriff's Department about 7 a.m. to report that he had observed a lot of spray painting and tagging that appeared to have white supremacist overtones.

Ramos said the graffiti included swastikas and some references to white supremacist gangs, but much of the tagging appeared to have no particular significance. The word "Minkus," believed to be a tagger's moniker or signature, appeared at several locations, Ramos said.

The man Sacramento police have been seeking in the Valley Hi area for three hours this afternoon is believed to be in custody, according to police.

The suspect came out of an apartment unit on Valley Hi Drive with another adult and two children and surrendered to police about 6:20 p.m., police Officer Konrad von Schoech confirmed. Officers are now confirming that the man is the same one suspected of firing at an officer earlier this afternoon - and, potentially, a man suspected in at least one earlier robbery.

Just after 3 p.m., an officer attempted to stop a man who matched the description of a suspect in at least one other robbery, von Schoech said. Two minutes after he voiced the attempted stop, the officer radioed dispatch to say the suspect had fired at him. Nobody was hit, von Schoech said.

Police have not positively identified the suspect and are not sure whether he is, in fact, the same person suspected in the robbery, von Schoech said.

The suspect was believed to be holed up in an apartment complex at Bamford Drive and Valley Hi Drive. Police located a handgun within the perimeter of the scene, but are not yet sure if it is related to the suspect and therefore are not sure whether the suspect remains armed, von Schoech said.

A male in his late teens is expected to survive after being shot during an apparent robbery in South Natomas, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman said.

Police responded about 2:25 p.m., to a report of a shooting that occurred near Azevedo and Coroval drives, said Konrad von Schoech, police spokesman.

Officers said the victim had been picked up by a passerby and driven to a nearby gas station, where the passerby called police, von Schoech said.

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials seek the public's help identifying the people responsible for a series of grass fires in the Rancho Cordova area.

Firefighters have responded to 12 intentionally set fires in the area over the past three weeks, according to a district news release.

Investigators believe the fires are related because of their proximity to one another and their occurrence in the late evening.

Two 19-year-old men from Nevada County who died in a crash last night when the car they were in hit a tree on Highway 49 have been identified by the county coroner.

Adam Berardi and Micah Maneelert-Lira were traveling southbound about 11:30 p.m. on Highway 49 near Tyler Foote Road northwest of Nevada City at an excessive speed, according to a press release from the California Highway Patrol.

Their car, driven by Berardi, drifted off the side of the roadway, causing him to abruptly turn to the left and then back to the right. The car then rotated, according to the CHP, sending it off the road.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

California prison officials expect to fall just short of a court-ordered reduction in inmate populations by December, but say they will be in compliance by next June and do not expect to have to ask federal courts for more time to achieve a lower inmate population.

Papers filed today with a panel of three federal judges who have ordered the state to improve medical and mental health conditions inside California prisons say moves by Gov. Jerry Brown will substantially meet the court's requirements.

The state's inmate population is required to be at 167 percent of capacity by December, and prison officials said they expect to reduce populations by 9,200 inmates, or about 169 percent of capacity.

By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com

A video of a Yolo County sheriff's deputy being gunned down in June 2008 prompted loud sobs and wailing from the victim's family in a Woodland courtroom this morning.

The emotional outburst prompted lawyers for defendant Marco Antonio Topete to move for a mistrial. Veteran defense attorney Dwight Samuel called it the worst outcry he had seen.

Judge Paul Richardson said he would take up the issue later today. He told jurors to ignore the outbursts and focus only on the evidence.

Two Sacramento region CHP airborne officers have been recognized for outstanding work.

Pilot Jeff Barbao and flight officer Jonathon Pierce have won the fixed wing operator of the year award sponsored by aircraft-maker GippsAero for the impact of their work.

Barbao and Pierce are assigned to the CHP Valley Division air unit based in Auburn. The division covers an area 160 miles in length and 130 miles wide, including Sacramento, Stockton and South Lake Tahoe.

By Sam Stanton
Stanton@sacbee.com

The Sacramento County District Attorney's office, which last month notified 25 workers that they faced layoff because of bleak financial conditions, did an abrupt about face Monday and told its employees that none of them will lose their jobs.

Cindy Besemer, chief deputy district attorney, declined this morning to discuss how her office found funding to retain 18 attorneys and five support staffers.

But an email she sent to all District Attorney employees on Monday said there will be no layoffs.

Folsom drivers on East Bidwell will be checked to see if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol Friday evening.

The police department will be staffing a checkpoint from 7 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday on East Bidwell at Orchard Drive, which is between Glenn Drive and Blue Ravine Road. In addition to looking for impaired motorists, police will be citing unlicensed drivers.

Community Service Officers and Citizens Assisting Public Safety volunteers will help uniformed officers. Funding for the checkpoint comes from the state Office of Traffic Safety's Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.

Roseville developer and fast-food entrepreneur Abe Alizadeh has had his contractors license revoked by state authorities.

The Contractors State License Board officially revoked the license of Stonegate Construction Inc. on Monday. Alizadeh is the head of the company, according to the licensing board.

A press release said that Alizadeh accepted terms of a settlement after a state investigation concluded that he had diverted construction funds and failed to pay subcontractors and material suppliers.

Personnel from the Sacramento Fire Department's newest station responded to the near-drowning of a 50-year-old woman at a Natomas apartment complex Monday afternoon -- two hours after the station was put into service.

Fire Station 43, in the 4200 block of El Centro Road, just north of Arena Boulevard, began responding to calls at 2 p.m., according to a fire department news release.

The second call it ran was a reported drowning in a swimming pool at the Hurley Creek Apartments, less than a mile from the station, fire department Asst. Chief Niko King wrote in an email.

Woodland police arrested three juveniles in connection with the mutilation and poisoning of 31 fish at Woodland High School over the weekend, according to a police department news release.

The suspects -- all boys and Woodland residents, ages 14, 12 and 11 -- were cited on suspicion of cruelty to animals, burglary and conspiracy, and were released to their parents, according to the police department release.

The killing of the 31 catfish, which were being raised by Future Farmers of America students for showing at the Yolo County Fair, was discovered by a student at about 11 a.m. Sunday in the school's agricultural area.

An alert witness helped Placer County Sheriff's deputies track down two bank robbery suspects minutes after the crime occurred Monday afternoon, according to a sheriff's department news release.

At about 2:25 p.m., the release states, a woman entered the Bank of the West branch in the 13400 block of Lincoln Way in Auburn and handed a teller a note, stating she was armed and demanding money.

The woman was given an undetermined amount of money and walked out of the bank, the release states.

By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com

A stranger jumped into a woman's car and stabbed her as she waited for her husband to finish work at a Florin-area gym on Saturday, authorities and the victim's husband said.

Omar Anguiano said his wife came to pick him up from the 24 Hour Fitness club on Florin Road near Stockton Boulevard where he works as a membership counselor.

She pulled into the parking lot and sent him a text message at 8:48 p.m., he said. Moments later he heard her screams and a horn blasting.

A Sacramento County Superior Court jury has convicted Robert Hammons and Christina Martinez, both 26, for the first-degree murder of Clayton Skinner.

The jury also found true the special circumstances allegations that the murder was committed during the commission of a burglary, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. In addition, Hammons was found guilty of assaulting Skinner, 37, with a deadly weapon a week before the murder.

In June 2004, Hammons and two teenage brothers met Skinner at a convenience store near his home. Skinner invited them back to his South Natomas home to look at a car he was selling. Hammons used a steering wheel car club to assault Skinner, officials said.

A 32-year-old Auburn woman died Sunday afternoon on Interstate 80 when the vehicle she was driving drifted off the roadway and stuck a parked tow truck

Amy Keith was driving a 2003 Honda Accord in the right lane of westbound Interstate 80, west of Newcastle, about 3 p.m., traveling about 65 mph, according to a California Highway Patrol news release.

At the time, a Roseville tow-truck operator was stopped on the right shoulder of the freeway on the right side of his vehicle, monitoring traffic, officials said. In front of his tow truck, also on the right shoulder, was a white 2005 Chevy truck about to be towed by an All American Tow truck, which was parked directly in front of the Chevy truck.

Raging Waters water park at Cal Expo has been evacuated and 20 people have been taken to the hospital with what appear to be symptoms of chlorine exposure.

Assistant Chief Niko King of the Sacramento Fire Department said firefighters were called to Raging Waters at 2:11 p.m. regarding a hazardous materials incident and they detected an odor of chlorine when they arrived.

He said two people suffered severe respiratory distress, and others complained of burning eyes and throat.

A man believed to have been ejected from the trunk of a vehicle when it crashed early Saturday morning on Highway 50 near 65th Street has been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as Matthew Jacob George, 19, of Rocklin.

A spokeswoman fro the Coroner's Office said the cause of death has not been determined pending an autopsy.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Michael Bradley said CHP officers are continuing their investigation of the crash and returned to the scene today.

An Elk Grove woman was arrested Thursday afternoon for elder and child abuse as well as animal cruelty after police found three people living in filthy conditions on the 4600 block of Stuben Court.

At about 4 p.m., police found two children, a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old girl, as well as a 53-year-old woman living in Charlotte Permenter's home, which was covered in garbage and debris as well as dog, mouse, and rat feces.

Permenter, 32, was arrested and taken to the main jail. The elder woman was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, and the children were taken into custody by Child Protective Services.

Pets found in the home were taken to the SPCA.

Rancho Cordova police have located the parents of a little girl found wandering on a street this morning.

The girl, estimated to be about 2 or 3 years old, was found on Riesling Way about 9:45 a.m. by a citizen. The adult asked a neighbor to call Rancho Cordova police.

The girl apparently walked out of her home, police said. She was re-united with her parents shortly before noon.

By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com

An Elk Grove man sued that city this morning over being shot by one of its police officers after he had been searched and while he was lying handcuffed on the back seat of a police cruiser.

It is undisputed that John Hesselbein was shot by Officer Paul Beckham in the early hours of Jan. 30. The round from Beckham's assault rifle ripped through Hesselbein's left cheek.

Beckham and other officers later said in police interviews that Hesselbein was yelling he had a gun and appeared to be attempting to reach into the back of his waistband.

A second search following the shooting failed to turn up a weapon.

Lincoln Police today confirmed identities and circumstances in the deaths of two people inside a home in the 1500 block of Fourth Street.

Police said that evidence indicates that Noland Thomas, 67, shot his wife, Jo Ann Thomas, 71, and then killed himself.

City spokeswoman Jill Thompson said police dispatchers received a call about 4 p.m. Friday from a man who said he had shot his wife and was going to shoot himself.

A woman swinging on a rope over the American River near Rancho Cordova fell onto the banks, severely injuring herself.

Sac Metro firefighters were called to the Clay Banks, an area just upriver from River Bend Park, about 2 p.m. Sunday. Fire boat crew members, assisted by the fire district's helicopter, found the woman.

The woman, who was in her 30s, was drifting in and out of consciousness when rescue help arrived, said a press release from the fire district. She had suffered injury to her head and chest.

Friends told firefighters that she was swinging on a rope swing that broke. The woman fell 15 feet to the bank, hitting the ground face first. She was taken to UC Davis Medical Center.

The bodies of a 2-year-old girl and her 49-year-old father, Mourad "Moni" Samaan, will be taken the Sacramento County Coroner's Office for autopsies following the discovery of their remains in a wooded area a few miles from Grizzly Flat, a spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department said today.

An Amber Alert for the little girl, Madeline Samaan-Fay, was issued Friday after she was abducted by her father. Samaan received notification Aug. 6 that the girl's mother was awarded full custody of their daughter, ending a joint custody arrangement.

FBI agent John Cauthen said the father and daughter were last seen in Sacramento on Aug. 7, when the father uncharacteristically ceased all contact with other family members.

Firefighters have contained 60 percent of a wildfire north of Lake Brerryessa off of Berryessa-Knoxville Road.

The road remains closed as firefighters hope to have the fire fully contained by 8 p.m. today, according to the state department of forestry and fire protection.

The fire that began Saturday afternoon remains under investigation. It burned 400 acres.

No structures or evacuations were reported.

CalFire reported that more than 560 personnel fought the blaze including units from Napa and Lake counties, and various state and federal agencies. They worked throughout the night to build a containment line around the fire, and reported little movement and spread overnight.

By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@sacbee.com

A 21-year-old man could face felony manslaughter charges over a fiery one-car accident early Saturday.

The  California Highway Patrol arrested Jacinto Mendoza after he allegedly fled the scene of the fatal crash, which occurred shortly after midnight Saturday in the eastbound lanes of Highway 50 near 65th Street.

Witnesses told the CHP that they saw Mendoza's Subaru Legacy weaving before it hit a retaining wall and burst into flames.

Rocklin police are investigating a stabbing Friday that appears to have had no clear motive.

Police were called to the 5400 block of South Grove Street and found a woman who said she was attacked while in the parking area of an apartment complex.

She was transported to a hospital for treatment, but police had no information on the extent of her injuries or whether she was released.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male, 5 feet 9 inches tall, with short hair and dark clothing.

Police were unable to locate the suspect in the complex.

Officials did not speculate on the motive and did not indicate what kind of weapon was used to stab the victim.

Police looking for an auto theft suspect got their man after a dog managed to get him out of a crawlspace under a Del Paso Heights house, according to the police log.

Officers went to a house in the 3900 block of Mahogany Street, looking for John Lewis, 50. After checking a residence and finding it empty, they determined Lewis was under the house next door.

They called out several times before sending in a police dog, who found the man hiding. However, he attempted to fend off the dog, before emerging with bites to his arms and leg.

Lewis was arrested on suspicion of auto theft and evading a police officer.

Sacramento police arrested a man early today who was found in possession of DVDs of movies that had been in theaters less than a week, according to the police log.

An officer on patrol at 3 a.m. saw a vehicle go through a red light with its trunk open.

After stopping the car, she could see DVDs in the open trunk and determined that they were very recent films, not yet released legally on DVD.

Tarrell Barringer, 26, was arrested for possession of pirated movies and possession of unspecified drugs.

Nevada County Sheriff's detectives found $18,000 and more than 5 pounds of marijuana in a car after surveillance in a Nevada City park, officials reported.

The Sheriff's Narcotics Task Force was watching activity in Callahan Park after taking complaints of drug activity.

After observing a drug transaction, they stopped a car and conducted a search of the vehicle, finding $18,000 in cash, the marijuana, an unspecified amount of methamphetamine, a meth pipe and a scale.

Officers arrested Charles Mason, 30, and Wendylyn Clemens, 24, both of Nevada County.

Two men with handguns held up a Redding marijuana collective Friday, taking an unspecified amount of marijuana and a laptop computer, Redding police reported.

The robbery at the Nothern Patients Group took place around 7:30 p.m.

A 21-year-old employee of the collective told police the men entered, forced an interior door and confronted him with guns - a long-barrel revolver and a semi-automatic handgun.

As a new school year begins, the California Highway Patrol urges motorists to be alert to traffic safety issues surrounding schools.

Roads near schools typically are congested during the morning and afternoon drop-off and pick-up hours. During these times, school officials and CHP officers have witnessed many traffic violations and near collisions, according to a CHP news release.

Officials urge motorists to watch for students walking along the street, crossing the street, within crosswalks and in the parking lot. Drivers are reminded to use drop-off zones when dropping off children at school, stop at all intersections controlled by stop signs and signal lights, and that people within the crosswalk have the right of way.

Lincoln Police report that two bodies have been found inside a home in the 1500 block of Fourth Street.

City spokeswoman Jill Thompson said police dispatchers received a call about 4 p.m. from a man who said he had shot his wife and was going to shoot himself.

Police arrived at the home within two minutes. When they arrived, officers reported hearing a pop that sounded like a gunshot.

Juan Carlos Carranco, 19, has been sentenced to 83 years to life in prison for the murder of Carlos Cervantes and two separate drive-by shootings, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

Carranco, who was convicted by a Sacramento County Superior Court jury in June, was sentenced by Judge Cheryl Meegan.

On Oct. 31, 2009, Cervantes was attending a party at the home of a cousin on Clover Manor Way in South Sacramento, when one of his friends became involved in a fight with Norteno gang members. Cervantes tried to break up the fight before Carranco walked up to Cervantes and shot him in the head, according to the news release.

Fire and utility crews have been dispatched to a water line break in the 8100 block of Lenhart Road, between Power Inn and Roseboro roads.

Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said initial reports indicated two houses were in the path of water flowing from the pipe. Roseboro Road also was reported closed to traffic due to flooding.

Cockrum said PG&E crews also were responding because of concerns that a gas line might have been broken.

According to the California Highway Patrol, fire crews have shut off the water.

Information on what caused the break was not immediately available.

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@sacbee.com

A Sacramento man accused of operating a real estate ponzi scheme has pleaded guilty to four federal counts of wire fraud.

Garry Bradford, 62, was president of a local "investment club" which took in $2.2 million from local investors between 2004 and 2008 to purchase land and local commercial buildings, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.

The club, dubbed the Millenium Capital Group, promised returns of about 18 percent to investors who dipped into their retirement accounts or refinanced their homes to invest with Bradford, an April federal grand jury indictment said.

A Sacramento man today pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine and MDMA, or Ecstasy, in a multistate drug conspiracy.

Son Nguyen, 41, was one of 51 defendants charged in nine related indictments stemming from a 13-month federal investigation with connections to six states: California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Alaska and Georgia. Drug seizures occurred in California, Alaska, Illinois and Georgia, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, Nguyen worked closely with the leader of one of the four drug rings that federal and state investigators dismantled in August 2008. Nguyen's operation sold methamphetamine and MDMA in California and shipped methamphetamine to Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

A 78-year-old West Sacramento woman has been found guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter in the death of a pedestrian in a grocery store parking lot.

A Yolo County jury on Thursday convicted Donna Marie McClure of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. The jury also found that McClure drove her car without a valid license and failed to yield to a pedestrian when she struck and killed Jewell Mattos in the parking lot of a West Sacramento Raley's store Oct. 1, 2009, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

According to witnesses and surveillance video, Mattos walked out of Raley's shortly after 10 a.m. and was halfway through the crosswalk when McClure ran into her with her car. McClure failed to stop until Mattos had been carried 20 to 30 feet.

A Sacramento woman was sentenced today to seven years and three months in prison for identity theft.

Carrie Chaves, 32, will be subject to three years of supervised release following her prison term for access device fraud and theft and receipt of stolen mail. U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. also ordered her to pay $42,000 in restitution.

According to her plea agreement, Chaves used her job as a secretary to write $45,000 in checks for herself drawn on her employer's bank account. She used information obtained from her employer's mail and other sources to open bank accounts and obtain checks and credit cards. Using the fraudulent checks and credit cards, she paid bills and bought personal items, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. The total loss was more the $70,000.

A 38-year-old Roseville man has been arrested on suspicion of committing sexual acts on customers while working as a tattoo artist.

Placer County District Attorney's investigators and Roseville Police detectives served an arrest warrant Monday on Zechariah Carr (pictured) at his Roseville home.

Carr was arraigned Wednesday in Placer County Superior Court on charges of committing sexual acts upon at least two customers at tattoo studios where he was employed. He has worked at numerous tattoo studios in Placer and Sacramento counties, according to a Placer County District Attorney's Office news release.

By Peter Hecht

phecht@sacbee.com

Steven Paul Colver was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole and his teen lover Tylar Marie Witt was sentenced to 15-years to life after pleading guilty in a reduced charge in the murder of her mother, Joanne M. Witt.

The back-to-back sentencings came after family members of Joanne Witt, stabbed to death in the bedroom of her El Dorado Hills home, decried Colver, then 19, for talking advantage of a 14-year-old girl and carrying out the savage killing of her mother

"Steven Colver not only took the life of our daughter," said Norbert Witt, Joanne Witt's father, "but he also destroyed the life of our granddaughter."

He said Colver, then 19, introduced a young girl "to heavy narcotics and sex" and then carried out the savage killing of her mother.

Moments later, with Colver out of the courtroom, he turned to Witt, now 16, and told her how she deprived the family of a loving mother, sister and daughter "who dedicated her life to you."

"You were your mother's only child," he added. "You are a murderer. You and your boyfriend planned and executed...a vicious senseless murder."

Judge Daniel B. Proud imposed mandatory sentence against Colver, who was convicted of first-degree murder and special circumstances of lying in wait and killing a witness. He said he had "no reservations" about putting Colver, 21, away forever given the violence he carried out.

Accepting Tylar Witt's plea agreement of second-degree murder, he imposed the 15-years to life sentence with a lecture.

"Joanne Witt loved her daughter. She was a protective and carrying mother. She tried her best. I'm sorry Ms. Witt because the person who loved you more than anyone in the world, without reservation is gone."

The sordid criminal case - which ultimately involved the premeditated murder of the mother of a disturbed, rebellious girl - concluded as the father of the victim, the grandfather of the girl, told of the searing effect the case has had on his family.

The sentencing unfolded after Colver's trial revealed the saga of two deeply troubled teens, who killed Joanne Witt shortly after midnight June 12, 2009 and fled in a suicide pact after the had mother reported Colver to authorities for statutory rape over his relationship with Tylar.

El Dorado County prosecutors said Colver brutally stabbed Joanne Witt more than 20 times while she was sleeping in her El Dorado Hills home, ultimately killing her with a gaping cut to her neck.

A jury convicted Colver of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of lying in wait on June 15. Tylar Witt pleaded guilty to her role in the killing in September 2010.

Tylar Witt testified during trial that the teens had ascended the stairs to commit the killing together, Colver with a chef's knife from his restaurant job and she with kitchen knife from the house. But after Colver entered the bedroom and practiced slashing motions, she said she collapsed outside the door and, "I put my hands on my ear, closed my eyes and hummed," as her mother was murdered.

The girl testified that she was possessed by three spirits, "a demon from hell" named Toby, "Alex," her inner angel and Tylar herself, a troubled 14-year-old girl. Her calm demeanor in describing the plot was assailed by Colver's lawyer, Dain Weiner, who argued that the girl - not his client - killed Joanne Witt.

"Throughout this trial, you haven't shed a single tear," Weiner challenged the girl during her testimony.

"I have trouble crying in front of people," she answered.

When he asked her if she was acting, she answered, "No, I feel full emotion." She said she regretted her mother's death but, "I think I have actually only been able to cry, like bawling, about three or four times."

In his testimony, Colver claimed the girl called him to the house and greeted him with a bloody knife saying, "I finally did it. My mom is finally gone forever."

Under cross-examination, with a prosecutor introducing a 2007 journal entry in which Colver suggested a fascination with watching someone bleed to death, Colver described himself as suicidal, often self-loathing, but said he would never kill anyone.

Yet after the teens fled to San Francisco, where they attempted suicide by ingesting Fruit Loops and Red Velvet Cake laced with rat poison, their own writings pointed to their roles in the Joanne Witt's murder.

Colver wrote in a journal that he was so devoted to Tylar that he would "travel through the pits of hell" and "take the life of another" to have her.

"It is a true test when facing the test of taking the life of another to be with the one you love," he said.

After Joanne Witt's body was found, he texted an apology to a companion, declaring, "Our sin has reached the news."

Key testimony in the trial came from friends such as Matthew Widman, a gangly teen nicknamed "God," who testified that Colver showed him a bloody knife and described plunging it into Joanne Witt. Another friend, Matthew Bogert, a young man nicknamed "Squishy," told of calling Colver as the teens fled to San Francisco and hearing Colver confess that "he killed his girlfriend's mom, that her body is in her bedroom."

Unaware Colver was already romantically involved with her daughter, Joanne Witt had rented him a $500-month room in her house after the teens led her to believe he was gay and a platonic "big brother" figure to Tylar. The mother kicked him out after she found her daughter naked in a utility closet in the room, telling him she wouldn't file statutory rape charges against him as long as he stopped seeing her daughter.

That was apparently impossible. While high on Esctasy and No Doze, Colver had written in the girl's journal, "Tylar Goddess Marie Witt, I love you more than you can possible imagine. I would gladly face scorn...or eternal damnation if it meant I could have you in my life."

A friend of Colver's, Courtney Epperson, 22, who let him stay at her apartment after he left Joanne Witt's house, said Tylar called constantly and "just wouldn't let them separate, even for a day."

Joanne Witt later gave El Dorado authorities her daughter's diary, detailing a sexual relationship with Colver.

At their San Francisco hotel, following their failed attempt to poison themselves, authorities found a suicide note from Tylar that read, "You, mother, made me a whore, to the man I love."

A story she wrote, set in medieval times, later reached friends in the mail. It described young lovers betrayed to authorities by an oppressive mother.

"That's when their hope vanished," she wrote, "and when this man, this 19-year-old man became a killer." She told of the girl sneaking the boyfriend into her house, where he stabbed the mother "in her sleep, killing her and freeing themselves."

The real life-lovers are now being sent away to prison. Tylar's could be eligible to be freed on parole at 29. Colver's freedom is over.

Photo captions: Top - Steven Colver steps out of the elevator on the way to his sentencing at the El Dorado County Superior court in Placerville on Friday, August 12, 2011. Bottom - Tylar Witt is escorted out of the courtroom after being sentenced at the El Dorado County Superior court in Placerville on Friday, August 12, 2011. Photos by Randall Benton.

A judge today sentenced an Oak Park man accused of stabbing a police officer during a melee inside the defendant's home to a year in county jail.

Irvin Berkeley Brown, 62, was convicted June 30 of felony obstruction of a peace officer and two misdemeanors, resisting arrest and evading an officer.

Brown also had been charged with two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer. His Sacramento Superior Court jury could not reach a decision on those two counts and Judge Laurie M. Earl declared a mistrial.

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 2-year-old Sacramento girl abducted by her father on Sunday.

Without releasing much detail, FBI agents said in a press release that the circumstances of her abduction lead them to believe that the life of the little girl, Madeline Samaan-Fay, may in jeopardy. The statewide alert was issued this afternoon.

According to the FBI, the child, Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay, was taken by her father, Mourad "Moni" Samaan, 49, a United States citizen born in Egypt. He is 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs 160 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Samaan is known to drive a dark green 1998 Toyota 4-Runner with California license plate 3XRM111.

Madeline is described as 2 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 28 pounds. She has curly brown hair and brown eyes.

"In spite of extraordinary efforts by our field agents and local law enforcement, we have been unable to develop any leads on the whereabouts of the child or her father since this Saturday," said Special Agent in Charge Herbert M. Brown.

The public is asked to call (916) 481-9110 with any leads.

Sacramento police were kept in the early morning hours with three separate incidents involving patrons in bars or restaurants in the grid.

The first was reported at 1:58 a.m. today when a 31-year-old man who was kicked out of a bar near 29th and J streets began yelling at a group attempting to leave the area in a vehicle. Police said the man then punched out the driver's side window of the vehicle.

A passenger in the car got out and was punched, knocking him out and possibly breaking his jaw. The man was booked on suspicion of battery and vandalism.

A man who strangled a woman and set her body on fire was sentenced today to 34 years to life in prison.

Jose Duarte, 25, received the term for the killing of Alicia Ray, 20, whose body was found Aug. 10, 2008, in her apartment in the 2000 block of West El Camino Avenue.

Jurors convicted Duarte of both murder and arson in June.

Defense attorney Stacy Bogh asked Sacramento Superior Court Judge Russell L. Hom to only impose the medium term for the arson. The judge declined, saying that the fire "desecrated" Ray's body "in many ways," to the point where "the victim's mother couldn't even look look at it after that." The judge then gave Duarte the eight-year maximum on the arson count.

Some members of Duarte's family left the courtroom in anger. They muttered remarks under their breath towards Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz and claimed the defendant was innocent.

A 5-year-old girl suffered a broken leg when a pickup hit a Lodi home this morning, police said, resulting in the arrest of a man suspected of driving under the influence.

Lodi police said they arrested Jeff Dobretz (left), 21, of Lodi on suspicion of drunken driving, hit and run and reckless driving with injury.

Police said in a press release that at 4:20 a.m. a pickup crashed through a fence and into a home in the 700 block of Pinot Noir Drive. The pickup crashed into the little girl's bedroom, pushing her bed into a wall.

A new group of state game wardens graduate from the academy today -- including several from the Sacramento region.

The 39 men and women will attend graduation ceremonies in Paradise, Butte County. The class includes 28 cadets who are already hired as wardens by the state Department of Fish and Game and 11 cadets who paid their way through the academy with the hope of becoming game wardens.

"They represent the department to the hunting and fishing community while protecting valuable natural resources," said DFG Chief of Enforcement Nancy Foley in a press release.

Woodland police today arrested two people in connection with the burglary of a residence Wednesday afternoon.

A resident returning to her home at 1618 Carnelian Court at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday interrupted the burglars. The intruders fled the home, discarding stolen property as they ran, according to a Woodland Police Department news release.

A witness gave chase and caught one of the suspects. Another suspect in a vehicle attempted to run over the witness. The witness then let go of the suspect he had detained, and the suspects got into the vehicle and headed northbound on Camino Way.

A Yolo County jury has convicted a Yuba City man of first-degree murder in the death of his wife.

The jury also found that Ignacio Favela Mendoza, 41, discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury and that he committed the murder while attempting to kidnap his wife.

On May 26, 2007, Mendoza went to an orchard outside of Zamora and approached his wife with a shotgun drawn and demanded that she get in the car with him, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release. A fellow worker tried to calm Mendoza, but Mendoza fired one shot from 4 feet that killed his wife after she refused his demands.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said early today that a 28-year-old man who walked away from his residence in Arden Arcade on Thursday afternoon has been found.

Sheriff's officials said Joshua Carroll was considered at risk because of his medical condition. He had been in a catatonic state since May and is prone to seizures, which may have precipitated his condition.

He is reported to be unsteady on his feet and has difficulty speaking but is able to understand when someone speaks to him.

Firefighters are battling wildland fire that has burned about 100 acres in the area of Smartsville in Yuba County.

Chelsea Fox, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the fire, which is 70 percent contained, is in a sparsely populated area of Chuck Yeager and Waldo roads. She described the terrain as grasslands and rolling hills.

Some road closures are in effect in the area, but no residences are threatened.

Fox said approximately 100 firefighters are on scene, along with five air tankers and two helicopters.

A 19-year-old man who barricaded himself in a Valley Hi home this afternoon has been taken into custody by police, ending a nearly four-hour standoff.

Sacramento Police Department spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said Donald Griffin came out of the home voluntarily shortly before 7 p.m. after SWAT team members fired tear gas into the residence on Richion Drive near Bamford Drive. Leong said Griffin was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

Griffin arrived at his ex-girlfriend's home about 4 p.m., armed with a knife, Leong said. Callers told dispatchers they heard screaming coming from the house, he said.

Fire officials are seeking information regarding a series of arson-caused grass fires reported early Wednesday evening in the Rosemont-Lincoln Village area.

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews were dispatched to the first of three small grass fires at 6:44 p.m. in the area of Bradshaw and Old Placerville roads. A combined total of approximately a half-acre burned, and all three fires occurred within a quarter-mile and 15 minutes of each other, according to a fire district news release.

Nine fire firefighters responded, and investigators determined that the fires resulted from arson.

Anyone with information that might assist investigators is asked to the district's administrative office at (916) 859-4300.

A firefighter suffered minor burns this morning while fighting a fire at a home in the Arden Arcade area believed to have been caused by an unattended barbecue.

Sacramento Metro and Sacramento City firefighters were dispatched to a house fire in the 2200 block of Tallac Street at 10:48 a.m. and arrived to find a rear patio on fire with flames extending onto the roof and into the attic, according to a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District news release.

As firefighters were attacking the fire, the patio and rear roof collapsed. A Metro firefighter was struck by falling debris and knocked into a swimming pool. Officials said he suffered minor burns and was taken to UC Davis Medical Center for treatment.

Sacramento police want the public's help in catching some tobacco product thieves.

Two young men are suspected of smashing the front window of a market in the 3400 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Oak Park at about 1:30 a.m. July 26. One suspect was photographed breaking the security camera in the parking lot.

The suspects took almost $1,000 in cigar wrappers. They are described as black, 16-19 years old, with medium builds.

Woodland police say a man who suffered a head injury in an attack near his home is holding his own in intensive care.

Police are also asking for help in finding the assailant who badly injured Pascual Lopez, 74, on Wednesday.

Police said that Lopez was found unconscious in a pool of blood about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 400 block of Academy Lane. Lopez was taken to UC Davis Medical Center.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

The tragic saga of two teens' forbidden love and the murder of El Dorado Hills mother Joanne M. Witt reaches its conclusion tomorrow.

Steven Paul Colver, 21, and Witt's daughter, Tylar Marie Witt, 16, are due to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. in a Placerville courtroom.

Colver faces life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted June 15 of first degree murder for brutally stabbing Joanne Witt to death June 12, 2009. Tylar Witt is expected to receive a sentence of 15 years to life under a plea bargain struck in exchange for her testifying against her boyfriend.

Though the overall number of hate crimes reported in California in 2010 remained constant when compared to 2009, the number of crimes against Hispanics increased nearly 50 percent, according to the Attorney General's office.

In 2010, 119 anti-Hispanic hate crimes were reported in the state, up from 81 in 2009, according to a news release from the office of Kamala Harris.

A total of 1,107 hate crimes were reported in 2010, compared to 1,100 in 2009, the release states.

Jurors began deliberations today in the murder trial of two defendants accused in the beating death of a South Natomas man during a 2004 robbery.

Robert Lee Hammons and Christina Martinez are charged in the July 2, 2004, killing of 37-year-old Clayton Skinner.

Testimony began on July 20 in the case against the two 26-year-old defendants.

Correctional officers at New Folsom Prison searched for contraband after they caught a former inmate who they said snuck back onto prison grounds.

Marvin Lane Ussery, 48, was arrested Thursday for being an ex-felon on prison grounds. Ussery was paroled June 1, 2009 after serving time for robbery. He was once held in California State Prison, Sacramento -- sometime called New Folsom.

Correctional officers have noticed a trend in which ex-inmates with knowledge of prison grounds will climb a fence into an institution and hide a backpack of cellphones and drugs. Later, an inmate weed-abatement crew will smuggle the contraband back into cells.

A free fishing derby for kids is scheduled for Saturday in Sacramento.

The derby is sponsored by the Sacramento Police Activities League and state Department of Fish and Game.

The derby will be from 8 a.m. to noon at the Granite Regional Park lake at Romana Avenue and Power Inn Road. The lake will be stocked before the competition, and anglers will compete to catch the biggest fish.

Windows in dozens of vehicles were shot out Wednesday night or early this morning in Antelope.

Authorities say they don't know how many vandals were involve but that a person or people wielding BB or pellet guns roamed the area firing at vehicle windows. No suspects have been identified or arrested, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

The first report of a shattered window came in about 4:40 a.m. today. Deputies responded to that call in the 3900 block of Diane Drive.

The teenage driver killed in a head-on collision with a cement truck Wednesday has been identified.

The Sacramento County Coroner's office today identified the victim as Julian Nicholas Pereira, 19, of Elk Grove.

The crash occurred shortly before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Elk Grove law enforcement officials said. Pereira, driving a pickup truck, was northbound on Bradshaw Road when he drove across the double-yellow line into the southbound lane and into the path of the cement truck, police said.

Burglars rammed open doors of a Cal Expo big box store before making off with thousands of dollars in jewelry.

Thieves smashed open steel doors on the north side of the Costco, 1600 Expo Parkway, about 2 a.m. The two men drove their car through the double doors in reverse, smashing them open.

Once inside, the thieves broke a large glass jewelry display case, said Sacramento Police Sgt. Louis Pease.

"They took every piece of jewelry out of there," Pease said.

Descriptions of the men were not available, in part because the store was dark when the break-in occurred. Police are checking video of area businesses for possible images of the burglars or their car.

PHOTO CUTLINE: Police say two burglars rammed their vehicle through these doors at the Cal Expo Costco store early this morning then stole all the jewelry inside.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sgt. Norm Leong, Sacramento Police Department

Two men were arrested today in Yuba County in connection with the burglary of a barn in Smartsville.

A deputy was called to the 8100 block of Thousand Oakes Trail shortly after 6 a.m. after a resident discovered that someone had broken into a barn on the property during the night and stolen several items.

The deputy also received information that some of the stolen property might be in the 8400 block of Blue Gravel Road, according to a Yuba County Sheriff's Department news release.

Detectives joined the investigation, which led to searches of residences in the area of Blue Gravel Road.

The Yolo County Coroner's Office today released the names of the three people killed in Monday's fiery crash on Interstate 5 near Woodland.

They were identified as Robert Lee Taylor, 53, and Linda Danell Taylor, 49, both of Monmouth, Ore., and La-nessa Leann DeMillo, 2, of Tacoma, Wash.

Robert LaBrash, chief deputy coroner, said the cause of death, whether from the impact of the crash or ensuing fire, has not been determined.

Davis police used a Taser to subdue a man who allegedly assaulted his brother and other family members.

Police were called to an apartment at 2324 Shasta Drive about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday regarding a disturbance. Jose Paniagua, 30, of Davis had become upset with his brother for not letting him use a cell phone, according to a Police Department news release. Paniagua allegedly assaulted his brother and other family members and began breaking things in the apartment.

A police officer arrived and confronted Paniagua inside the apartment. Paniagua then picked up a large shard of glass to arm himself, and disregarded numerous commands from the officer directing him to disarm himself and cooperate, officials said.

By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com

One motorist is dead and another suffered minor injuries shortly before 12:30 p.m. today in a head-on collision involving a cement truck and a pickup truck, Elk Grove law enforcement officials said.

Elk Grove Police spokesman Officer Christopher Trim said the driver of the white pickup truck was headed north on Bradshaw Road when he drove across the double-yellow line into the southbound lane of traffic and into the path of the cement truck.

The impact with the cement truck occurred on Bradshaw north of Elk Grove Boulevard, Trim said in an interview.

The state Board of Parole Hearings denied a release today to a man who was convicted of a 1992 gang murder in West Sacramento, an official with the Yolo County District Attorney's Office said.

Harold Rigsby, now 35, won't be eligible for another parole hearing for five years as a result of the denial issued today by a parole board panel at Pelican Bay State Prison, Yolo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven said.

Rigsby was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the Dec. 14, 1992, shooting death of 23-year-old Pierre Fortier of East Sacramento. Rigsby, a member of the Broderick Boys gang in West Sacramento, had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

By Hudson Sangree

hsangree@sacbee.com

After a series of unusual delays, the trial of accused cop killer Marco Antonio Topete is scheduled to start next week in Yolo Superior Court.

A jury selection process involving more than 1,000 potential jurors is slated to wrap up Monday and opening statements are planned for Tuesday, court officials said.

A judicial gag order prevents lawyers from talking about the case.

View a gallery of images

By Whitney Mountain
wmountain@sacbee.com

Sacramento firefighters battled a fire Wednesday that sent a plume of black smoke high into the sky north of downtown and sent three firefighters to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

The blaze started about 1 p.m. at River City Waste Recyclers in the 700 block of North B St.

Assistant Fire Chief Niko King of the Sacramento Fire Department said firefighters were expected to continue monitoring the site Thursday.

State Department of Justice officials said agents took down a drug trafficking organization on Wednesday, arresting 10 people.

A four-month investigation led to the arrests. The alleged drug trafficking organization targeted by the DOJ's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement spread over six counties, including Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado.

Major marijuana grow sites were found in El Dorado, Shasta and Napa counties. Thousands of plants, several firearms and two pounds of crystal methamphetamine were seized.

Search warrants were issued, including seven for structures in Placer, Sacramento and Butte counties, a DOJ spokeswoman said.

The retrial of a woman who shot her estranged husband to death two years ago got under way today in Sacramento Superior Court.

A jury in May acquitted Jennifer Ann Dalton of first-degree murder in the July 13, 2009, killing of her husband, Craig Dalton, 39.

Jurors could not reach a decision on the lesser offense of second-degree murder, prompting the retrial that began today with opening statements by Deputy District Attorney Chris Ore and defense lawyer Linda Parisi.

Jennifer Dalton, 42, shot her husband in the garage of their Elk Grove home. She claims she is a battered woman who killed her husband in self defense.

Sacramento police need help in identifying two masked robbers who held up a gas station.

The two men entered the AM/PM at Norwood and Jesse Avenues at about 9:50 p.m. Aug. 1 and demanded the clerk open the cash register. One of the robbers was armed with a gun.

The suspects fled with the money in black car believed to be an Acura TL with tinted windows and chrome rims. A black Cadillac Escalade was seen driving away at the same time but it is unclear if it is related to the robbery.

Sacramento police detectives have determined that a man's death this morning was in fact a suicide.

Police were called to a home in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Sacramento about 1:30 a.m. today. The caller said that a 43-year-old man had committed suicide.

Police found the man in the backyard of his home at 53rd and T Streets, a gunshot wound to his upper body.

The California Highway Patrol has released details of a fatal collision involving a motorcycle and car on Fair Oaks Boulevard over the weekend.

The CHP said Byron Michael Gonzales, 39, of Sacramento was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle westbound on Fair Oaks Boulevard near Mission Avenue about 10:50 p.m. Saturday. Traveling southbound on Mission Avenue was a 79-year-old man driving a Toyota Camry.

The driver of the car made a left turn onto eastbound Fair Oaks Boulevard, crossing in front of the motorcyclist, the CHP said in a press release.

An 87-year-old Oroville man has been sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to possess child pornography.

Bruce Clinton Johnson was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez. Johnson's son, Donald Wayne Johnson, 47, also of Oroville, pleaded guilty March 22 to receiving child pornography and was sentenced in June by Judge Mendez to 15 years in prison.

According to court documents, on Nov. 11, 2010, a computer repairman contacted Butte County sheriff's deputies after he found animated images of child pornography on a printer belonging to Donald Johnson. Between April 11, 2007, and Nov. 8, 2010, IP addresses linked to Bruce Johnson's residence that he shared with his son were identified offering images and videos of child pornography through a file-sharing network.

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A Sacramento man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for felony copyright infringement.

According to court documents, Yan Akhumov, 46, owned Music Land stores in West Sacramento, Citrus Heights and North Highlands. His rental and for sale inventory included unauthorized copies of Hollywood movies such as "The Godfather" and "Indiana Jones." In 2007, the FBI warned Akhumov not to distribute pirated works.

On July 6, 2009, agents searched his businesses and seized more than 80,000 CDs and DVDs, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. In his plea agreement, Akhumov admitted that among those disks were pirated materials worth between $70,000 and $120,000.

The case resulted from an investigation by the FBI and the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crime task Force.

Fire officials said the 3300 block of Third Avenue has be reopened after a natural gas leak in the area late this afternoon prompted evacuation of the Sacramento Food Bank.

Assistant Chief Niko King said fire crews remained on scene until 7:15 p.m. to support Pacific Gas & Electric Co. crews called in to repair a break in a 2-inch gas line.

Police closed Third Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets while repairs were under way.

The Sacramento Food Bank in the 3300 block of Third Ave. has been evacuated because of a leak in a 2-inch natural gas line, according to the Sacramento Fire Department.

Assistant Chief Niko King said the Sacramento Police Department has closed a Third Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews are on scene.

The transition from southbound I-5 to eastbound Highway 50 was closed for nearly three hours Tuesday after a big rig overturned and scattered debris in the roadway.

The accident was reported at 1:37 p.m. and didn't reopen until 4:32 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol website.

While the roadway was being cleaned up, traffic was diverted off westbound Highway 50 at Jefferson Boulevard, and I-5 traffic was diverted to Sutterville Road.

The Sacramento police seeks the public's help in identifying three suspects in two unrelated bank robberies that occurred earlier this summer.

At 1:21 p.m. June 28, a woman entered a bank in the 4700 block of Freeport Boulevard, approached a teller and presented a note demanding cash, according to a Police Department news release. The teller complied and the woman walked out of the bank.

She was described as white, in her late 30s to early 40s, 5 feet, 8 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds, with a large build and blond hair in a pony tail. The woman was wearing a brown baseball cap, white T-shirt and blue jeans.

I Street in front of the Sacramento County Jail has re-opened after the police bomb squad determined there was not an explosive object in a parked car.

A woman entered the jail about 11 a.m. and told officials that there was a suspicious device in her car. Officials got people away from the area and the police bomb squad was summoned.

I Street between Sixth and Seventh street is closed but nothing of a dangerous nature was found in the car. Traffic was restored at about 12:30 p.m.

UKIAH, Calif. -- Law enforcement officials say they've concluded a massive raid of illegal marijuana grows on public lands in the heart of Northern California's pot country, and it netted 132 arrests.

Read the full story here.

A man died Sunday after being shot last month at a South Sacramento apartment, police said.

Sacramento police said that officers were called to the 5700 block of Mack Road on July 30 shortly before 1 a.m. They found Raymond Johnson, 23, suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds.

He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were called to the scene of the shooting.

Because a life jacket that does not fit properly can put a person at risk of drowning, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has a few tips when choosing a life jacket.

* Choose only a life jacket approved by the U.S. Coast Guard and the correct size for the weight of the person. The U.S.C.G. stamp of approval, size, whether it is for a child or an adult, and appropriate weight of the wearer should be listed inside the jacket. A person's chest size and stomach size may come into play when selecting the right life jacket.

* Use the "touchdown" test to see if your life jacket fits properly: Lift your arms above your head as if signaling a touchdown. The chest portion of the jacket should not touch your chin when you look left, right or over your shoulder. If the jacket passes this test, it most likely fits. If possible, try it in shallow water. The life jacket should not ride up on your body. However, ride-up may happen if your stomach is larger than your chest.

* Weigh a child and measure for chest size under the arms before shopping for a child's life jacket. A properly fitting jacket should be snug but not tight.

* Check for proper fit of a life jacket on a child. Wearing the jacket, the child should stand normally with arms at his or her sides. Grab the jacket at the shoulders and firmly lift. The jacket does not fit if it moves more than three inches up and down the child's body during the test.

* Ensure a life jacket for an infant or child has a crotch strap to help keep the life jacket on, an oversized float collar to help keep the head out of the water and a grab loop for easier water rescue. All straps should be intact and fastened at all times.

The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Two cats died in a trailer fire in Woodland this morning.

The residents of the double-wide mobile home at 907 Bourn Drive were able to escaped before the fire swept through their home att about 4 a.m. However, Woodland firefighters were not able to save two cats who died.

The cause of the fire, which caused extensive damage, is under investigation.

An initial investigation has revealed that the wreck Monday afternoon on Interstate 5 that left three dead may have started with a truck that was traveling at unsafe speed when approaching traffic slowed by lane closures.

Six vehicles were involved in the crash. Two adults and a child died in the fiery crash on southbound I-5 in the Woodland area Monday afternoon.

Seven other people were injured. Their conditions and the names of the dead were not yet available today.

Traffic is slow on eastbound Interstate 80 near Newcastle after a pick-up truck towing a trailer crashed, spilling debris.

The pickup was traveling eastbound between Penryn and Newcastle at the Gilardi Road overcrossing about 4 a.m. when the driver lost control and hit a guardrail and bridge abutment.

The two slower lanes of the interstate were initially blocked. The slow lane is still blocked and may stay that way for most of the day to repair guardrail damage, according to a California Highway Patrol traffic website.

The crash damaged about 100 feet of guardrail. The driver was transported to a hospital with minor injuries.

Sacramento police responded to nine calls involving guns over the weekend, and recovered a gun during a tenth, according to police reports.

One person was injured by gunfire, and multiple people were arrested, the reports state.

Here's a recap of the incidents, beginning Friday morning and ending Sunday night, as relayed in police reports:

The body of a Sacramento man who was reported missing while fishing Sunday has been found.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department reported that the body of a man pulled from the Mokelumne River about 6:45 a.m. has been identified as that of Michael William McBee, 61.

The official cause of death is pending an autopsy and toxicology results, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.