Sacto 9-1-1

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: Did that chiropractor Todd Baldini ever answer for his embezzlement and fraud charges? Did he do any prison time? Was his partner, who disappeared, ever found and brought to justice?
Submitted by: Rosie, Rio Linda

ANSWER: According to a story in The Bee, chiropractor Todd Daniel Baldini of El Dorado Hills was arrested by state investigators in August 2004, accused of bilking automobile and workers' compensation insurers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of at least three years.

His partner, Reginald Martin "Marty" DePaoli of Carlsbad faced similar charges.

According to Sacramento Superior Court online records, Baldini and DePaoli pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of unlawful referrals under the state Insurance Code.

Felony counts of conspiracy and presenting false or fraudulent claims were dismissed.

The 2012 "fire season" will officially begin at 8 a.m. Monday, and fire officials urge residents, especially those living or recreating in rural areas, to use caution as the state enters a period of increased risk for wildfires.

The state's final snow survey May 1 found the statewide snowpack water content is only 40 percent of normal. From January though April, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection crews responded to more than 800 wildfires, nearly two and a half times the approximately 300 the agency responded to during the same period in 2011. This year's number also exceeds the five-year average of more than 600 wildfires for January through April, said Terri Mizuhara, spokeswoman for Cal Fire's Amador-El Dorado Unit.

So far this this month, she said, Cal Fire crews have responded to numerous small fires. Several in Amador and El Dorado counties have been escaped debris fires, Mizuhara said.

Daniel Chartraw, accused of multiple financial schemes that duped people of millions of dollars, entered a plea of not guilty in federal court today.

Chartraw, who had been a resident of El Dorado Hills, was indicted last week on 18 counts involving $2.4 million dollars in investments involving gold, dairies, movies and other allegedly bogus businesses.

Chartraw had been a fugitive until his arrest in Mexico in April.

He was scheduled to appear next before U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb.

The body of a skydiver has been recovered from the waters of Lake Tahoe.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office identified the man as 29-year-old Robert Ranieri of South Lake Tahoe. He was one of three skydivers who landed in the lake. The other two were rescued, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

The Sheriff's Office began receiving calls about 8:45 a.m. regarding a skydiving accident near Camp Richardson in South Lake Tahoe. The callers reported that three skydivers had landed in the lake and all appeared to be in distress.

The number of drivers cited for using their cell phones while driving in April was up over a year earlier.

The California Highway Patrol and 265 local police agencies last month handed out more than 57,000 tickets to drivers who were using a hand-held cell phone or texting. The compares to 52,000 tickets issued in April 2011.

"Unfortunately, we're seeing that the problem of cell phone use for talking and texting while driving is not going away anytime soon," said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the state Office of Traffic Safety.

His office has conducted an advertising campaign that has included the "Don't Be a Distracted Driving Zombie" television commercials that emphasize how up to 37 percent of brain power needed for driving gets switched to cell phone talking.

Federal authorities have arrested fugitive Daniel Lee Chartraw, a one-time El Dorado Hills resident who is accused of perpetrating huge frauds.

Chartraw is being held without bail in Sacramento after appearing in federal court Wednesday.

The FBI has not yet issued a statement on Chartraw's arrest but documents filed to obtain an arrest warrant accuse him of fraudulently having obtained a $1 million investment for an Arizona mineral extraction company he did not represent.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department announced one arrest and the seizure of more than $236,000 in cash, assault weapons and marijuana plants in a drug trafficking case that extended to Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.

The Western El Dorado County Narcotics Enforcement Team began the drug trafficking investigation Friday and discovered that a suspect in North Carolina was under investigation by authorities in that state for sales of marijuana, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. Several other suspects in other states also were involved in the sales and distribution of marijuana that was being shipped from suspects in the El Dorado County area, officials said.

Over the next three days, narcotics enforcement team detectives investigated and served several search warrants at locations, including 3873 Destiny Lane in Shingle Springs and 1161 Kathy Lane north of Placerville.

El Dorado County Sheriff's Deputy Bryan Payne will be recognized June 2 by Mothers Against Drunk Driving at the organization's annual awards event in Sacramento.

Payne was named April 25 as a recipient of the MADD 23152 Pin and a California Office of Traffic Safety commemorative badge.

The number is the California vehicle code section for driving under the influence.

Payne, with the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office for nearly four years, arrested 56 people for DUI in 2011, working out of the South Lake Tahoe Office.

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, and law enforcement agencies throughout the Sacramento region urge drivers to look twice for motorcyclists so all motorists can safely share the road.

California is home to more than 1 million licensed motorcycle riders, according to a California Highway Patrol news release.

"Whether a driver is at an intersection or changing lanes, they should always keep an eye out for motorcyclists," CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said in a written statement. "Because motorcycles have a much smaller profile than other vehicles, it can be difficult for drivers to judge the distance and speed of an approaching motorcycle."

In 2010, the most recent year for which data is available from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, 361 people died in California and nearly 11,000 others were injured as a result of a crash involving a motorcycle.

In addition to using safety equipment and riding gear, motorcyclists are encouraged to seek professional training before beginning to ride.

The CHP-administered California Motorcyclist Safety Program offers rider courses for beginning motorcyclists and for riders interested in improving their skills. The program operates more than 120 training sites statewide and expects to train 65,000 motorcyclists this year. For course information and locations, see the the website at http://www.ca-msp.org/.

A man with multiple convictions for driving under the influence has been indicted for murder in the September death of a South Lake Tahoe man.

An El Dorado County criminal grand jury on Thursday returned an indictment against Larry L. Halverson, 60, charging him with murder and other offenses in connection with the death 51-year-old Patrick Purnell, according to an El Dorado County District Attorney's Office news release. Purnell died when he was struck by a car driven by Halverson, who investigators allege was under the combined influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time.

Halverson did not immediately stop but returned to the scene later. At the time, authorities said, his driver's license was both revoked and suspended for prior DUI convictions.

The California Highway Patrol is continuing its investigation into a Saturday night roll-over crash in El Dorado Hills in which the driver suffered major injuries after being ejected from the vehicle.

The crash occurred shortly after 8 p.m. on Francisco Drive near Marina Park Drive. Liza Lombardi, 20, of El Dorado Hills was driving a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder. As she approached a slightly curved portion of the roadway, she failed to negotiate the curve. Her vehicle ran off the roadway and struck a roadway sign, a large boulder and two property fences before overturning several times and coming to rest on its side in the backyard of a residence, according to a CHP news release.

Authorities said Lombardi was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle. She suffered major injuries and was taken by air ambulance to Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville.

Although hospitalized, Lombardi has been arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, according to the CHP.

A man fatally shot Saturday night near Union Valley Reservoir in El Dorado County has been identified by the county Sheriff's Office as Randall Gene Center, 25 of Colfax.

Sheriff's officials said Monday that circumstances leading up to the shooting are under investigation.

The Sheriff's Office received a 911 call at 8:10 p.m. Saturday from a camper in the Union Valley Reservoir area who reported that an individual had been shot. Officials said the location of the shooting was in an undeveloped, remote shoreline area with no road access and could be reached only by boat.

Sheriff's Department personnel responded to the area along with county fire and U.S. Forest Service units. When they arrived, they found the individuals involved in the incident, one of whom was dead.

A man was fatally shot Saturday night in an undeveloped, remote shoreline area of Union Valley Reservoir, El Dorado County Sheriff's officials said today.

Sgt. Jim Byers, in a report, said authorities received a call at 8:10 p.m. from a camper in the reservoir area. He said the area of the shooting has no access by road and can be reached only by boat.

Sheriff's officials responded to the site as well as El Dorado County fire and U.S. Forest service units, Byers reported. At the site, he said, they found the individuals involved in the case. One was dead.

By Marjie Lundstrom
mlundstrom@sacbee.com

Two nurses who worked at a Placerville nursing home have pleaded innocent to felony elder abuse charges in connection with the 2008 death of a Cameron Park woman.

Donna Darlene Palmer, 58, and Rebecca LeAn Smith, 38, appeared together in El Dorado County Superior Court on Tuesday to face charges by the California attorney general that their negligent care contributed to the death of 77-year-old Johnnie Esco, a Cameron Park home maker.

But the judge rejected a request by state prosecutors that the license of Palmer be revoked, pending the case's outcome. Palmer, a registered nurse, had been director of nursing at the El Dorado Care Center in Placerville when Esco died in March 2008 after a short stay.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office has scheduled public viewings this week of more than $50,000 worth of stolen property recovered last month during searches of a home and storage container in Pollock Pines.

On March 21, sheriff's detectives and members of the sheriff's special enforcement detail served search warrants at a residence in the 4500 block of Pony Express Trail and at a storage container in the 5600 block of Pony Express Trail.

Through several months of investigation, detectives had linked the storage container to occupants of the residence.

A Yolo County jury has convicted a Dunnigan man of kidnapping and engaging in sex with a 13-year-old El Dorado Hills girl.

Jason Stephen Sigur, 36, was convicted of 41 counts of kidnapping, sex with a child younger than 14, communicating with a minor for the purpose of committing a sex act, and burglary, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

Sigur met the 13-year-old girl on an Internet chat room in August 2010. He immediately began visiting the girl in person at her El Dorado Hills home, sneaking in through a bedroom window while the victim's mother slept in another room, officials said.

Citing two incidents that occurred last weekend, El Dorado County Sheriff's search and rescue officials urge people venturing into the back country to carefully prepare and plan for their travels.

On Satruday, Robert Barber of San Diego had gone for a walk in the woods off Kiowa Street in South Lake Tahoe when a fast-moving weather front moved into the Tahoe area, creating blizzard-like conditions. About 2 p.m., Barber became disoriented because of almost zero visibility caused by the heavy snowfall, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

When he could not find his bearings, Barber called 911. Global positioning system technology was used to narrow down Barber's location, and search and rescue personnel, along with a search and rescue dog, located him about three-quarters of a mile from area residences.

An April Fool's day trick was played on a man suspected of robbing a South Lake Tahoe bank.

Since Thursday, police had been looking for a robber who held up a Wells Fargo bank branch in a South Lake Tahoe grocery store.

Police said the young man entered the Raley's supermarket in the Heavenly Village Shopping Center and demanded money from a Wells Fargo Bank teller. The robber did not display a weapon.

A veterinarian said she is optimistic that a horse (pictured) will make a full recovery after being rescued this afternoon by firefighters from Sacramento and El Dorado county.

About 1:30 p.m., the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District received a request from the UC Davis Veterinarian Emergency Response Team asking for assistance rescuing a horse that had fallen down an embankment and into a small creek near the southern El Dorado County community of Somerset. The horse had been at the bottom of the embankment for four hours and was on its side, unable to stand, according to a fire district news release.

Veterinarian Cheyl Ellis of the UC Davis response team reported that the horse was unable to make it up the embankment under its own power, but she thought the animal could survive with firefighters' help.

Searches of two locations in El Dorado County have turned up stolen property with an estimated value of more than $50,000, according to sheriff's officials.

Sheriff's detectives and members of the sheriff's special enforcement detail on Wednesday served search warrants at two locations in Pollock Pines. One was a residence in the 4500 block of Pony Express Trail, and the other, a storage container in the 5900 block of Pony Express Trail, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

Through several months of investigation, detectives linked the storage container to the residence's occupants, officials said. When they searched the storage container, detectives found stolen property belonging to four different victims of burglaries that occurred in the Placerville, Pollock Pines and Pleasant Valley areas. They also found approximately five pounds of dried and prepared marijuana, as well as items commonly used in methamphetamine production, according to the news release.

El Dorado County Sheriff's officials are searching for a man who held up a Morgan Chase Bank branch in El Dorado Hills Thursday.

According to officials the man, described as in his 20s or early 30s, entered the bank on Town Center Drive around 1 p.m. and approached a teller.

He told the teller he had a firearm, but it was not seen, and he left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The man was about five-feet-six-inches tall and wearing a black beanie with white vertical stripes, a white long-sleeved thermal shirt and black undershirt, light denim jeans and a teal fanny pack.

Photo caption: Bank surveillance image courtesy of El Dorado County Sheriff's Office

One person was injured and another killed this morning in a one-vehicle accident just north of Diamond Springs in El Dorado County.

Details on the accident reported to authorities at 3:25 a.m. were not immediately available. However, the California Highway Patrol said that the sports utility vehicle overturned on Highway 49 between Truck Street and the Weber Creek bridge.

One person was transported to the hospital and one died on the scene. Highway 49 was blocked until 5:56 a.m.

A Placerville airplane dealer was ordered today to forfeit illegal profits and to pay a fine for accepting apparent drug proceeds.

On Feb. 16, Stancil Enterprises Inc. pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento to charges against the firm, its owner and president, Joseph Stancil, and a salesman at the company, Daniel Mathis. Joesph Stancil spoke on behalf of Stancil Enterprises at the sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.ordered to the corporation to forfeit approximately $428,000 and to pay $500,000 in criminal fines for conspiring to aid and abet the structuring of financial transactions, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

The former head of the El Dorado County Deputy Sheriff's Association was arrested today and charged with embezzling from the organization and with stealing from a person who loaned him $100,000 that was not used for the designated purpose.

Donald Phillip Atkinson was arrested on 44 felony counts after an investigation conducted by the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office with assistance from the office of Attorney General Kamala Harris, which announced the arrest.

Prosecutors allege that Atkinson falsified documents and used funds from the deputies' group for his own benefit, including taking checks written for charitable purposes and using them for personal purposes.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department is seeking the public's assistance in locating the family of two women who were found dead in their South Lake Tahoe residence Feb. 26.

What caused the death of twin sisters Patricia and Joan Miller, 73, has not been determined, but authorities said foul play has been ruled out. The cause and manner of death is still being investigated by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office and South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

The Sheriff's Office typically does not release the names of deceased individuals without first contacting family members, but officials said this case is unusual.

A fund has been set up for the children of a woman found dead in her Cameron Park home last month and the man accused of killing her.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies arrested Todd Winkler, 45, after he allegedly killed his wife, 37-year-old Rachel Winkler, after an argument in the couple's home Feb. 27. They had been having marital problems, according to sheriff's officials.

Authorities have not released Rachel Winkler's cause of death.

The couple's children - ages 4, 2, and 9 months - were home at the time of the attack. They are now in the custody of Rachel Winkler's father, Don Hatfield. Family and friends say Hatfield recently lost his wife to cancer and lost his home in the mortgage crisis a year ago.

The fund has been set up to help Hatfield, an artist, find a larger home where he can raise his three young grandchildren with the help of a nanny, according to friends and family.

Donations can be made to Wells Fargo bank account number 6990388875. The routing number is 121042882. For information about how to donate via PayPal, or about fundraising efforts, go here.

Authorities have identified the woman found dead in her Cameron Park home Monday as 37-year-old Rachel Winkler.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies found Winkler after responding to a request for a welfare check. At the home on the 3100 block of Aeronca Way they also found the victim's husband, 45-year-old Todd Winkler.

Detectives learned that the couple had been experiencing marital problems and had a dispute earlier in the day, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department.

A Cameron Park man was arrested this evening after El Dorado County sheriff's detectives determined that a suspicious death at a Cameron Park residence was a homicide.

Todd Alan Winkler (pictured), 45, was arrested at 6 p.m. in connection with the death of a female at a home in the 3100 block of Aeronca Way. Winkler was booked into El Dorado County Jail, where he is being held without bail, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the home at 10:35 a.m. today after receiving a report that an individual was dead inside the residence.

By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@sacbee.com

A Placerville aircraft dealership that helped several alleged drug traffickers from Mexico conceal the purchases of six airplanes has agreed to forfeit more than $428,000 as part of a plea deal.

Appearing before U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. today, Joseph Stancil, president and owner of Stancil Enterprises Inc., admitted that his company and its employees helped buyers from Sinaloa, Baja California and Sonora, Mexico evade federal reporting requirements for large cash transactions.

Federal law requires U.S. businesses and banks to file a currency transaction report anytime a person makes a cash purchase of $10,000 or more.

A 20-year-old Pollock Pines man is in custody, accused of burglarizing a Placerville-area home twice in five days.

Travis Cunha (pictured) was arrested Feb. 9 and is being held without bail bail in El Dorado County Jail in Placerville, accused of first-degree burglary.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies responded to the 2700 block of Morts Court at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26 to investigate a residential burglary. Someone had forced open a locked window and once inside, the burglar stole video gaming systems, video games, a compound bow, pellet rifle and jewelry, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

BREAKING NEWS ALERT via Carlos Alcala:

A Sacramento area couple missing since Sunday has been found alive many miles from the area where a search was being conducted in southern El Dorado County.

Mark Schroeder and Janette DeGrace were found Wednesday afternoon after Schroeder hiked miles through snow near Georgetown, in the northern part of the county, and guided a rescue helicopter to DeGrace, said Jim Jungsten, who had co-ordinated search efforts.

They were being transported to Auburn where Schroeder was expected to be treated for frostbite, Jungsten said.

A man who was apparently suffering delusions fired a handgun into the home of his sister in Galt, wounding his brother-in-law, police said.

The man then fled before being captured on Highway 50 about 8:30 a.m. near Bass Lake Road in El Dorado County.

Galt police said the incident began about 6:30 a.m. in the 900 block of Whitford Court in Galt when Lonnie Ray Orman, 41, went to his sister's home under the erroneous impression that his niece was being harmed.

One man is in custody and warrants have been issued for two other suspects in connection with recent burglaries in El Dorado Hills and neighboring communities.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies stopped a suspicious black Mercedes sedan about 10:45 p.m. Jan. 27 because it was being slowly driven through neighborhoods in the area of Mormon Island and Lake Ridge Oaks in El Dorado Hills, according to an El Dorado County Sheriff's Department news release.

Deputies determined that three men inside the vehicle were either on parole or probation. They were identified as Jacob Scott Mack and Mark Jon Williams, both 21, and Jason Earl Rogers, 30.

A man suspected of committing numerous residential burglaries in Granite Bay over the past few months has been arrested.

Jason Earl Rogers (pictured), 30, of Citrus Heights, was booked into Placer County Jail today on suspicion of residential burglary and possession of stolen property. He was originally arrested by El Dorado County sheriff's detectives, who discovered a large amount of stolen property during a search of his home Feb. 2, according to a Placer County Sheriff's Office news release.

The El Dorado County detectives were looking for a a burglar who had kicked in the front doors of dozens of homes and stolen jewelry. Placer County detectives joined the search of Rogers' home and found property belonging to Granite Bay victims.

Because of the large number of cases in Placer County, Rogers was extradited today, officials said. He is being held on a no-bail parole hold.

A Santa Barbara County man was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento for his involvement in marijuana growing operations in El Dorado County.

Ryan Louis Ennis, 39, of Buellton was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to nine years for conspiring to cultivate marijuana.

In sentencing, Judge Mendez described Ennis as the leader and financial backer of a sophisticated, well-funded marijuana operation, saying that he provided marijuana to distributors on the East Coast, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

A coroner's investigation of a of a man's death in a rural area of of El Dorado County turned up a store of explosive materials.

About 11:30 a.m. Friday, El Dorado County sheriff's deputies were called to the 2300 block of Sandridge Road in the southern part of the county regarding a report that a man had been found dead in his driveway. Deputies confirmed that Donald Smith, 69, appeared to have died of natural causes, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. As part of the coroner's investigation, deputies then undertook to inventory and ensure safe keeping of Smith's property.

While checking a shop located a ways from the main residence, deputies found items they believed to be of a suspicious nature. They summoned the sheriff's bomb squad, and technicians confirmed that the items were explosive ordnance and explosive compounds.

South Lake Tahoe police are looking for a man who robbed the Wells Fargo Bank inside a Raley's store this morning.

About 11:25 a.m., a man walked up to the bank teller inside the Raley's at 4010 Lake Tahoe Blvd. and demanded cash, according to a Police Department news release. He didn't claim to have a weapon and none was seen during the robbery, police said.

The man took an undisclosed amount of cash, then walked away from the bank and out of Raley's. He was last seen walking east from the shopping center toward the area of Heavenly Village Way and Bellamy Court.

Volunteers with the El Dorado County Sheriff's Team of Active Retirees -- STAR -- will offer fingerprint service for children in keeping with the National Child Safety Council's Young People Prints.

The services will be provided free of charge for children and teenagers younger than 18 at the Sheriff's Town Center substation, 4354 Town Center Blvd., Suite 112, El Dorado Hills. A parent or legal guardian must accompany the child.

To ensure prompt service, call (530) 642-4728 or (916) 933-2578 to find out when a volunteer will be available. The substation's normal office hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walk-ins are welcome.

By Carlos Alcalá
calcala@sacbee.com

A year after taking office El Dorado County Sheriff John D'Agostini reported that his office issued nearly four times as many concealed weapons permits in 2011 as in the previous year.

The total number of permits was 844, according to a statement by D'Agostini issued by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office.

The office issued 217 permits in 2010, just over a fourth of the amount for 2011.

One person was arrested and nine others received notices to appear in court during a recent Contractors State License Board sting operation in Amador County.

The undercover operation was conducted Friday at a Pine Grove home by the board's Statewide Investigative Fraud Team and investigators from the Amador County District Attorney's Office.

Investigators, posing as homeowners, sought bids for general construction and painting projects at a multievel house on 7 acres. The 10 people who bid more than the legal threshold of $500 for labor and materials will be required to appear in court for contracting without a license, according to a Contractors State License Board news release. They also face an additional misdemeanor charge for illegal advertising.

A Sacramento man and two juveniles have been arrested in connection with an El Dorado Hills burglary.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies were called to the Bridlewood subdivision at 4:40 p.m. Jan. 11 regarding a report of several individuals jumping over the fences of residences.

Residents in the area told deputies that three males wearing dark clothing and gloves were roaming the area. When residents approached the suspicious-looking individuals and told them they were going to call the Sheriff's Office, the three ran from the area, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

A hunter reported missing Tuesday afternoon in El Dorado was found dead this morning.

The 50-year-old man was reported missing about 3 p.m. Tuesday, and search and rescue teams worked throughout the night trying to locate him, according to an El Dorado County Sheriff's Office news release.

The search resumed this morning, and an additional 25 search members arrived at the command post. About 9 a.m., one of the teams searching the area on foot found the hunter on the side of the mountain. Sheriff's deputies arrived and confirmed that he was deceased.

Fire officials are reminding people with medical conditions requiring oxygen therapy to steer clear of fire, whether in the form of burning cigarettes, or open flame from gas stove tops, lighters, matches, candles or wood stoves.

"The oxygen molecules from an oxygen tank literally cling to clothing, hair, bedding, furniture, etc. and can cause a fire to burn faster, hotter and at lower temperatures," Unit Chief Kelly Keenan, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Amador-El Dorado Unit, said in a written statement.

The warning comes following a recent fatal fire in Pollock Pines that officials say may have been started by a individual smoking while on oxygen therapy. One person died and another was injured.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department is asking the public's help in identifying a "person of interest" sought in connection with several burglaries and attempted burglaries that have occurred over the past 45 days in the Rescue area, near Starbuck Road.

Homes typically have been entered during the daytime by forced entry or other means, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. Items stolen have included jewelry, money, cell phones and appliances.

Photos (above) from a residential surveillance system shows a man who appears to be white, in his 20s with short hair. In the photos, he is wearing a green "matrix" logo shirt, black pants and black shoes. Sheriff's officials said a white vehicle shown in one of the photos is not related to the subject.

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide in connection with an arson fire earlier this week in El Dorado County.

At about 7 a.m. Wednesday El Dorado County sheriff's deputies responded to a fire in the Mt. Aukum area at a home in the 8200 block of Kirk Lane.

Pioneer District firefighters were already on the scene to extinguish the blaze. A sheriff's department press release said that a deputy's investigation revealed that a house guest at the home is suspected of being responsible for the fire.

Deputies found Amber Nash, 33, in the area and placed her under arrest on suspicion of attempted homicide and arson.

An Auburn woman who died Sunday afternoon when she lost control of her motorcycle on Salmon Falls Road has been identified by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department as Vickie G. Altman.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Altman, 52, was northbound on her 2007 BMW motorcycle on Salmon Falls Road north of Pilot View Road in El Dorado County at an unknown speed about 3:45 p.m. when she traveled off the roadway. The motorcycle hit a utility pole and Altman was thrown from the bike. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The CHP said there were no witnesses to the accident.

A lone motorcyclist died when she traveled off Salmon Falls Road and hit a utility pole on Sunday afternoon.

The 52-year-old woman from Auburn was driving her 2007 BMW motorcycle northbound on Salmon Falls Road north of Pilot View Road in El Dorado County at an unknown speed around 3:45 p.m.

The motorcycle left the roadway, struck a telephone pole and the woman was thrown from the bike.

The name of a man who died in a head-on crash Wednesday night in rural El Dorado County has been released by sheriff's officials.

He was identified as 35-year-old Brian Joseph Hale. The California Highway Patrol said he was a Roseville resident.

The crash occurred about 6:30 p.m. on Mt. Aukum Road south of Paradise Ranch Road. Preliminary indications are that a car driving southbound on Mt. Aukum Road may have been traveling without headlights turned on when the driver crossed the center line, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The varsity baseball coach at Union Mine High School in El Dorado County was arrested Thursday, accused of engaging in sexual activity with a minor.

Lt. Bryan Golmitz, spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department, said David Robert Freeman (pictured), 38, was arrested by sheriff's detectives as a result of information received in December. Freeman was booked on suspicion of engaging in sex with a minor and oral copulation. He was released on $175,000 bail.

Golmitz said the victim is a female juvenile. Because detectives are still investigating the allegations, Golmitz said he could not discuss details of the case. Once the investigation is completed, he said, it will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office.

Fire officials are investigating the cause of an early morning fire at a mobile home park in Pollock Pines in which a 68-year-old man died and his wife was injured.

The El Dorado County Coroner's Office this afternoon confirmed that the man found dead in the mobile home was John Harlan, said Battalion Chief Mike Pott of the El Dorado County Fire Protection District. He said Harlan's wife, Virginia, was taken to Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, where she was treated for smoke inhalation and minor burns, and released.

Firefighters were called to the Wagon Wheel Mobile Home Park at 24 Hub St. at 12:19 a.m. The mobile home park is across the street from a district fire station. Medics arriving at the Hub Street address reported that fire was visible through the front door and flames were coming out the rear windows of the single-wide mobile home.

A Roseville man died in a head-on crash Wednesday night in rural El Dorado County.

The crash occurred about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Mt. Aukum Road south of Paradise Ranch Road. Preliminary indications are that a car driving southbound on Mt. Aukum Road may have been traveling without headlights turned on when the driver crossed over the center line, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The car hit a pickup traveling in the opposite direction head-on. The accident remains under investigation.

El Dorado County officials are still seeking a suspect who shot a pet cat with what is suspected to have been a crossbow.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call in Diamond Springs Dec. 20 and found a cat with a bolt, such as fired from a crossbow, lodged in its head.

The projectile apparently went in through an ear and did not break the skull, said Henry Brzezinski, Director of Animal Services for the county.

A man was airlifted to the hospital today with burns on the front of his body after escaping from a mobile home fire in Pollock Pines.

Battalion Chief Mike Pott said that at 9:48 a.m. today the El Dorado County Fire District received the report of a burning residence at the Whispering Pines mobile home park, 6008 Pony Express Trail.

At least half of the single-wide mobile home was on fire when the first engine arrived. Bystanders said that occupants had escaped from the burning residence so firefighters first set about to put the fire out.

A driver with a blood alcohol level of 0.11 percent crashed into the back of a South Lake Tahoe motel today, rupturing a natural gas main, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department said.

The accident occurred at about 8:30 a.m. when a driver identified as Ronald MacKenzie, 26, of Colorado tried to turn from La Salle Avenue onto Cedar Avenue.

Because he did not slow from a speed estimated at 40 mph, the driver lost control and ran his Toyota pickup into the back side of the Ski Haus Lodge.

Arriving personnel could smell the gas leak from a block away and evacuated the area while the gas main was secured.

MacKenzie was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Photo caption: Crash photo/South Lake Tahoe Police Department

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

An El Dorado County man who fled while being investigated for allegedly raping a 14-year-old in 1998 was arrested today in New Jersey.

Pasquale Patrick Senatore, 45, has been on the run since 2002, when investigators attempted to question him about allegations he forcibly raped a girl repeatedly over a three-month period.

Over the past few years, the U.S. Marshals Service and El Dorado County Sheriffs teamed to try to locate Senatore. He was located today in New Jersey when officers spotted him getting into a van.

Senatore was taken into custody without incident, according to the U.S. Marshal's office. He will be extradited back to El Dorado County, where he faces charges of forcible lewd acts on a child.

Convicted wife beater Richard Hamlin will spend at least another 10 years behind bars after his request for parole was rejected today, California prison officials said.

Officials said he won't be eligible for another parole hearing for 10 years.

His case was one of the most brutal domestic violence cases to hit El Dorado County. Hamlin, a former Sacramento prosecutor, was sent to prison in 2006 after he was convicted of torturing his wife over a nine-month period by punching her, stabbing her with writing pens, cutting her with a sword and pistol-whipping her. He was sentenced to seven years to life in prison.

His ex-wife and three of his children were opposed to his release from Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga. They said they remain terrified by him.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies say a 48-year-old man allegedly shot and killed his step-father on Sunday in Placerville.

Richard Petroski is suspected of shooting John Gale Malia, Jr., 69, Sunday on property where the two lived in Placerville. Petroski is hospitalized in a Sacramento hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot injury.

Deputies were called to the 3000 block of Deer Canyon Road on Sunday after someone reported a shooting. When they arrived, deputies found Malia on the floor inside the residence.

By Whitney Mountain
wmountain@sacbee.com

A Placerville man died in the hospital Sunday after his stepson allegedly shot him in the head.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies received a report of a shooting in the 3000 block of Deer Canyon Road in Placerville just after 8 a.m. Sunday.

When they arrived at the house, they found John Gale Malia Jr., 69, of Placerville on the floor with a gunshot wound to his head. He was still alive, but later died at a local hospital.

Wind-driven fires have burned more than 300 acres in El Dorado County and the Eldorado National Forest since Thursday morning, but officials say they are gaining the upper hand as winds taper off today.

"The high winds predicted for today did not occur. Luckily, they were wrong," said Teri Mizuhara, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Amador-El Dorado Unit.

North and northeast wind gusts that neared 75 mph over ridge tops caused fires to spread rapidly in the Pollock Pines, Grizzly Flat and Omo Ranch areas of El Dorado County. Cal Fire crews, along with the U.S. Forest Service and several local fire departments, have been fighting fires that have burned approximately 160 acres. Mizuhara said a house that had been unoccupied for some time and an out building burned in the Omo fire in the Omo Ranch area, but no other structures are threatened.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has been busy today fighting wind-driven fires throughout the foothills.

As of 5 p.m., Cal Fire reported that seven fires had burned more than 130 acres in El Dorado County.

Cal Fire spokesman Dainel Berlant said the largest of the seven had burned 80 acres in a remote section of El Dorado County, off Sciaroni Road in the Grizzly Flat area.

The gun that fired accidentally, killing a 10-year-old Keegan Swinney Tuesday, was a Remington Airmaster .177, El Dorado County Sheriff's officials reported Thursday.

Swinney and some friends were shooting the gun in a backyard before he was accidentally shot by one of the boys who was cradling the weapon in a non-shooting position.

The Remington Airmaster is shown as available for $79.96 on Walmart.com to buyers over 18 years old.

The Three Wise Men didn't have to label their gold, frankincense and myrrh, but in these days of terrorism fears, it's a good idea to label gifts - including those left at churches.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of a suspicious package - a taped, unmarked cardboard box - at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Camino Tuesday, Sheriff's officials reported.

After a bomb squad robot was unable to identify the contents, a technician suited up and x-rayed the package, revealing that it contained books.

A specialized tool was used to open the box and confirm its contents.

"Donations are a way for all of us to help someone who may be less fortunate," according to a release on the incident from the Sheriff's Office. "When making a donation to charitable organizations please consider marking the exterior of the package appropriately so not to alarm the recipients and potentially activate emergency response."

By Bill Lindelof and Carlos Alcalá
blindelof@sacbee.com

The name of an El Dorado Hills boy who died after being shot with a pellet gun has been released by officials.

He was identified Wednesday as 10-year-old Keegan Swinney.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies responded about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a shooting on Waterman Court in El Dorado Hills.

Two men were hospitalized and others are sought following an assault in El Dorado County.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon on the 6000 block of Outingdale Road in the Somerset area. When they arrived, they were directed toward a residence where they found the victim, identified as Ricky Laybourne, sitting on the ground, bloody and semi-conscious.

Deputies determined that Laybourne lived in the garage at 6150 Outingdale Road. He and the landowner, Robert Dickson, had been involved in a tenant-landlord dispute. Laybourne believed the landlord had sent individuals to harass him and intimidate him into leaving, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. During an encounter with the unidentified individuals, Laybourne was hit several times with a blunt object, officials said.

Changes in deputy shifts have allowed the El Dorado Sheriff's Office to add to its Special Enforcement Detail, which handles duties that deputies can't because of call demand.

"They run from call to call," said Lt. Bryan Golmitz, speaking of the regular shift deputies.

The enforcement detail will come into an area, "when we start to see a trend," Golmitz said.

For example, handling ongoing calls would not allow deputies to stake out an auto burglary hot spot, he said.

The California Highway Patrol is reminding motorists to buckle up before taking to the road.

The CHP will be paying particular attention to drivers and passengers who aren't wearing seat belts during a Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign beginning Friday and continuing through the Thanksgiving weekend.

The minimum cost of an adult seat belt violation in California is $142, and up to $445 for not properly restraining a child younger than 16 years old. If the parent is not in the car, the driver is issued a ticket.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies are looking for a man who robbed the Umpqua Bank in Cameron Park this morning.

No one in the bank at 4011 Plaza Goldorado was injured during the robbery, which occurred at 9:43 a.m..

Bank employees told sheriff's deputies that the man approached the merchant teller with a small sign that had writing on it. The man demanded money and when the teller said there was no more, he pulled a handgun and began waving it around, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the Sacramento region will join the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday.

During the event, agencies will offer convenient locations where people can drop off their expired, unused and unwanted pills free of charge, with no questions asked. By doing so, officials say, the public can help prevent drug abuse and theft.

Drop-off sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Prescription drugs that languish in home medicine cabinets are susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse, creating a public health crisis, according a U.S. Department of Justice news release. Nationwide, 2 1/2 times more people abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined, according to the recently released 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The study showed that the majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

Five Sacramento-area men have been indicted in connection with a marijuana trafficking conspiracy.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento today returned a 23-count indictment charging Thomas Holzmann, 24, Peter Holzmann, 23, and Joseph Andrade, 24, all of West Sacramento, as well as Jonathan Sherman, 27, of Sacramento, and Eddy Arevalo, 29, of the El Dorado County community of Somerset, with conspiring to cultivate and distribute marijuana, and various other drug offenses.

Sherman also was charged with multiple counts of structuring and money laundering. Structuring occurs when large sums of currency are broken up and deposited in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid filing reports required by federal law, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies arrested a man suspected by Oregon authorities of killing of his brother and sister-in-law.

Gary L. Goins, 58, of Pollock Pines was arrested Tuesday at 1 p.m. at a gas station in the 4700 block of Sly Park Road by El Dorado deputies who were acting on information provided by Josephine County Sheriff's detectives in Grants Pass.

El Dorado deputies first checked for Goins at a Pollock Pines residence. When he could not be found at the home, deputies searched for his vehicle, which was found at the gas station.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

El Dorado County Animal Services officials are searching for dogs that bit people in two separate incidents, one in South Lake Tahoe and the other in Grizzly Flat.

On Oct. 16, a 17-year-old boy was bitten about 6:30 p.m. on the South Tahoe Middle School soccer field on Al Tahoe Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe. The teenager and his brother began playing soccer with the dog's owner and another man, and the dog suddenly bit the youth, according to an El Dorado County Public Health Department news release. The dog owner left the area and no information was exchanged.

The dog is described as a larger size dog, possibly a golden retriever-boxer mix. The dog's owner is described as white, in his late 20s with light-colored hair.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

An indictment unsealed this morning in El Dorado Superior Court adds one new felony conspiracy charge and two misdemeanor charges to those facing former Placerville Mayor David Machado.

Machado now faces a total of three felony and two misdemeanor counts stemming from in the political scandal over an alleged cover-up of his property dealings in Placerville.

Authorities allege that he concealed his involvement with the property by transferring title back and forth between himself and his son and that he had work performed without city permits on two properties he owned in the city.

A South Lake Tahoe investment broker has pleaded guilty to stealing from clients' investment and retirement accounts.

Lori Zoval, 46, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud for embezzling client money while employed as an independent contractor with a brokerage firm in Folsom. As part of the plea agreement, Zoval agreed to pay restitution, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, Zoval used her position of trust to embezzle at least $24,939 from the investment and retirement accounts of her clients between October 2005 and April 2006. She admitted to stealing funds by telling her clients that she was setting up tax shelters that required her to transfer funds into the names of third parties that she called "provisional employees." To facilitate the fund transfer, she fraudulently created documents making it appear that her clients authorized the money transfers.

A man wanted by the Concord Police Department was arrested early this morning after his vehicle was spotted on Highway 50 near Placerville.

The El Dorado County sheriff's dispatch center was notified to be on the lookout for Doran Long, 50, who was described as armed and dangerous, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. He was suspected of discharging a firearm in an inhabited building and attempted homicide. The notice stated that he was last seen driving a 1999 red Toyota Tacoma pickup.

At 5:40 a.m., a sheriff's deputy located the vehicle traveling westbound on Highway 50 in the Placerville area. The deputy followed the vehicle until other sheriff's deputies were in position to make a felony stop.

A South Lake Tahoe police dog successfully tracked a suicidal man to a forested field, finding him on the ground with slit wrists.

The rescue occurred Friday when police responded to the area of Markoffer Way and Pioneer Trail on a report of a man 34-year-old man who had been depressed and drinking heavily. His family also said that he had cut his wrists.

Officer Mark Hounsell, the handler of police dog Argo, responded to the scene to track the man. Argo led officers to a field with tall pines near the intersection of Keller Road and Markoffer Way, not far from the original call.

There on the ground, along a line of trees, the dog found the man. Paramedics were summoned, treated the man for his self-inflicted injuries and took him to the hospital.

The driver involved in an alleged street racing crash in El Dorado County in which his three passengers were killed has pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter.

Mark Steven Barrerra, 22, of Rocklin today pleaded no contest in Placerville to three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, said Joe Alexander, El Dorado County deputy district attorney.

Barrera was accused of participating in a form of street racing in November 2009, when he lost control of his friend's car and crashed into a tree on Salmon Falls Road.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office is warning the public of a credit card scam, after receiving reports from several victims.

Victims give this account of how the transaction occurs, according to a Sheriff's Office news release:

Your phone rings and if you have caller ID, a 1-888 number will appear. The caller offers a low fixed-rate interest rate on a credit card or credit card consolidation. The caller then asks for credit card numbers, expiration dates, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden name and other verification passwords.

Once the caller has obtained the information, the caller tells you they need to process the information and will call you back. In addition, there will be a one-time financial fee, which will vary in amount.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies are asking for the public's help in finding a woman who was last seen a week ago.

Sara Jane Fawcett (photo right), who worked at the Placerville Walmart, called in sick on Sept. 22. She was heard from a day later.

U.S. Forest Service crews will begin prescribed fire operations Friday near the west end of Ward Canyon on Lake Tahoe's west shore.

The project involves about 2 acres, and the operation may continue through the week, weather and staff permitting.

Residents and visitors can expect to see smoke from the burn area and smoke may be visible on Highway 89, according to a Forest Service news release. Officials said efforts are made to reduce the effect of smoke on community areas.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard has filed a claim against the U.S. government over failings by federal parole agents to detect her presence in the home of sex offender Phillip Garrido from 1991 through 1999, according to her publicist.

Dugard, kidnapped by Garrido in 1991 when she was 11, already has won a $20 million settlement from the state for failings by California parole agents who supervised Garrido from 1999 until she was discovered alive two years ago and freed.

Now, her publicist says she has filed a claim seeking payment for the period during which federal parole agents were supposed to be supervising Garrido at his Antioch-area home.

By Carlos Alcalá
calcala@sacbee.com

The arraignment of ex-Placerville mayor David Machado scheduled for today has been postponed.

Machado is now scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 18. He was arrested in August on felony charges connected with his property holdings in the city.

Machado was later removed as the city's mayor.

An El Dorado County Distict Attorney's complaint alleges Machado hid ownership of property within the city's Redevelopment Zone in violation of disclosure laws. It also said he did unpermitted work on his properties within the city and attempted, in some cases, to cover that up.

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com

Tylar Marie Witt, who as a 14-year-old girl summoned her 19-year-old boyfriend to kill her mother, says she is heartbroken Stephen Paul Colver later claimed that she was the one who fatally stabbed Joanne Witt in their El Dorado Hills home.

PHOTO GALLERY: The Colver-Witt murder trial

"When I found out that he was going to point the finger at me, the only thing I could question was ...that he told me that he was gonna love me no matter what -- forever," Witt says in an interview with the ABC's 20/20 to be broadcast Friday night. "For all eternity -- ever. And I guess that's not true anymore."

On Aug. 12, Colver, 21, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for brutally stabbing Joanne Witt at least 20 times in June 2009 after the mother reported him to authorities for statutory rape over his relationship with her daughter.

Tylar Witt, now 16, testified against Colver at the trial and was sentenced to 15 years to life under a plea deal that could make her eligible for parole at 29.

A 46-year-old Mexican national has been sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison for his involvement in a marijuana and methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy in El Dorado and Placer counties.

U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on Monday sentenced Adrian Ortega-Diaz of Michoacan, Mexico, one of 12 people in a drug trafficking conspiracy that involved multiple firearms, and significant quantities of marijuana and methamphetamine, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, Ortega-Diaz acted as a manager of a conspiracy to grow marijuana on public lands and to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine in Northern California. He and his co-conspirators were charged with running two marijuana grows, one in El Dorado County and one in Placer County, on public land, with each containing more than 1,600 plants. Investigators seized a number of firearms and more than 3,300 marijuana plants, plus several pounds of high-grade methamphetamine in Elk Grove and the Stanislaus County community of Denair.

The California Highway Patrol will conduct a sobriety checkpoint and roving patrols in El Dorado County on Saturday night as part of an effort to keep impaired drivers off the road.

The checkpoint, staffed by CHP officers, will be set up about 8 p.m. and will continue throughout the evening, according to a news release. Officers will control traffic at the checkpoint to evaluate drivers' sobriety, check drivers' licenses and hand out literature warning of the dangers of drinking and driving.

CHP officers also will be assigned to roving patrols in the checkpoint area to seek out motorist who are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

By Kim Minugh

kminugh@sacbee.com

A 4-year-old boy is presumed to have died in a residential house fire in Pleasant Valley early this morning, according to authorities.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department received a call about a structure fire and people screaming just before 12:30 a.m. today, according to a news release from spokesman Lt. Bryan Golmitz.

When deputies arrived, people at the scene told them a 4-year-old boy was still inside the burning home, the release states. Firefighters extinguished the fire and found a deceased person inside the residence.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, the release states. No other information has been released.

By Denny Walsh


A man described by prosecutors as a major supplier of methamphetamine in the Sacramento area was sentenced Wednesday to 14 1/2 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute the drug and for money laundering.

Miguel Vasquez, 39, formerly of Cameron Park, was a primary target of a long-term investigation featuring court-authorized wiretaps of telephone conversations. He was "determined to be a major source of supply of methamphetamine in the Sacramento area and to persons shipping and selling significant quantities of methamphetamine to the Midwest and Hawaii," according to U. S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.

Vasquez forfeited to the government more than $700,000 in cash, funds from several bank accounts, two parcels of real property and two vehicles, all deemed to be part of or acquired with his ill-gotten gains.

Of the 19 defendants in the case, 16 were sentenced before Wednesday to prison terms ranging from 12 to three years. Two are awaiting sentencing.

The Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. - The family of a Yale University graduate student killed in a research lab before her wedding day in 2009 is suing the school, claiming it had failed to adequately protect women on campus for years.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the family of Annie Le late Tuesday afternoon in New Haven Superior Court.

The strangled body of the 24-year-old Placerville native was found at the Yale research lab on Sept. 13, 2009, the same day as her scheduled wedding and five days after she disappeared.

An animal research technician in the same building, Raymond Clark III, is serving 44 years in prison for the murder.

Yale officials say there's no basis for the lawsuit and no additional security measures could have prevented the killing.

Automobile travel is expected to be up slightly this Labor Day weekend -- and the California Highway Patrol will be ready to pull over any drunken drivers.

The American Automobile Association estimates that 27.3 million people plan to travel on the nation's roadways, a 0.5 percent increase from last year. Overall, travel is expected to dip due in part to higher air fare costs.

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."

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A man who died this morning when the logging truck he was driving on Highway 50 crashed into the American River has been identified as Steven John Evans (pictured), 50, of Pollock Pines.

The exact cause of death is pending further investigation, according to the El Dorado County Coroner's Office.

The crash was reported about 6:15 a.m. between Kyburz and Whitehall. The rig ended up partially in the water, spilling logs and fuel. The cab of the truck remained out of the river, but the driver was pinned inside the wreckage, said CHP officer Rich Wetzel.

The California Highway Patrol said Highway 50 is open again with alternating one-way traffic after a logging truck crashed into the American River, killing the driver.

The crash was reported about 6:15 a.m., the rig ending up partially in the water, spilling logs and fuel. The cab of the truck remained out of the river but the driver was pinned inside the wreckage, said CHP officer Rich Wetzel.

The CHP, CalFire, El Dorado County sheriffs deputies and the coroner responded to the scene between Kyburz and Whitehall. Also responding was the state Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Fish and Game to check on fuel leakage into the river.

The highway was closed for about two hours while the wreckage was cleared. The route opened with alternating traffic past the crash site about 10:30 a.m.

Thanks to the public's cooperation, juveniles responsible for a wildland fire Sunday in El Dorado Hills have been identified, authorities say.

Investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Amador-El Dorado Unit, in conjunction with the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office, were able to identify the two youths, according to a Cal Fire news release. Investigators will work with the El Dorado County Probation Department, the youths and their families to complete the Juvenile Fire Setter Assessment Program, officials said.

The youths were not named because of their age.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

With the Phillip Garrido fiasco as a backdrop, legislative and law enforcement leaders today agreed to work toward preventing a similar one.

In a public meeting at the state Capitol convened by state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, and El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, officials discussed the failures that led to Jaycee Lee Dugard remaining Garrido's captive for 18 years and offered ideas on how to improve supervision of sex offenders.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

The California Highway Patrol is urging residents to sign up for a service that sends Amber Alerts to cell phones via text message - one more way residents can help authorities find missing children fast.

The service, which is free regardless of your wireless plan, sends alerts tailored to your area based on the zip code that you provide. You can provide up to five zip codes, and authorities recommend you at least add the zip codes in which you live and work.

To sign up, visit www.wirelessamberalerts.org. Alerts can also be sent in Spanish.

Authorities hope dental records will help determine whether the body of a diver recovered from Lake Tahoe last week is that of a man who reportedly went missing in the lake 17 years ago, an El Dorado County Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

The Sheriff's Department was alerted to the body by another diver who reported seeing it at a depth of about 265 feet, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Bryan Golmitz.

Last Wednesday, a team from the Sheriff's Department used a remotely operated vehicle fitted with a camera to locate the body - which was still wearing dive gear - on an underwater shelf off Rubicon Point, which is near Highway 89 in South Lake Tahoe.

Arson investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection seek the public's help in locating two youths who were observed leaving the scene of a wildland fire in El Dorado Hills on Sunday afternoon.

The fire occurred about 4 p.m. in the area of Borders Drive and Trieste Way.

The boys were described as white, 13 to 14 years old, with average-length brown or black hair. They were wearing shorts but no shirts, and were carrying skateboards, according to a Cal Fire news release.

Anyone with information about the suspects or the fire is asked to call Capt. Doug Ferro with Cal Fire's Amador-El Dorado Unit at (530) 647-5234.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

In a blistering assessment of how badly officials bungled their oversight of rapist-kidnapper Phillip Garrido, El Dorado County prosecutors have compiled a list of dozens of instances for which his parole should have been revoked, many of them that would have saved Jaycee Lee Dugard from being abducted.

The 162-page report from El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson's office includes numerous federal and state documents that have previously surfaced since Dugard was rescued from 18 years of captivity in August 2009.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies arrested two Sacramento men on the weekend, after receiving reports the men were stripping copper wire from a closed lumber mill.

Deputies responded to a burglary report Saturday just before 1 p.m.

Two men were reportedly taking wire and other items from the non-operational mill.