Sacto 9-1-1

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

QUESTION: Was Daniel Chartraw sentenced May 2, and if so what was the sentence?
Submitted by: Chris, Los Angeles

ANSWER: According to U.S. District Court online records, Daniel Chartraw's sentencing has been continued to July 18.

A woman convicted of of drunken driving in a collision that injured two bicyclists in El Dorado Hills in 2008 is back in jail after nearly two years as a fugitive.

Brandi Morgan Thomas, 24, was driving under the influence of alcohol in 2008 when she swerved into the bicycle lane and struck two female bicyclists, who suffered major injuries. In March 2009, Thomas was convicted and sentenced to seven years in state prison. Her sentence was suspended and she was granted five years formal probation, which included the requirement that she "obey all laws," according to an El Dorado County District Attorney's Office news release.

In August 2011, Thomas was arrested on suspicion of several felonies, including burglary, forgery and conspiracy to commit a crime. She then fled the county and had been a fugitive until she was located last month in Michigan.

Eleven people have been accused of contracting without a license following an undercover sting operation Saturday at a house in El Dorado Hills.

The operation was conducted by the Contractors State License Board's Statewide Investigative Fraud Team with assistance form the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office and the Department of Consumer Affairs Division of Investigation. Of the 11 alleged offenders netted in Saturday' sting, three had a record of previous citations, according to a Contractors State License Board news release.

The suspects were found through advertisements in local pamphlets, on craigslist and from business cards posted on bulletin boards at local business, officials said. Undercover CSLB investigators solicited bids for exterior painting, landscaping, tree removal and fence replacement.

The first of five community meetings in 2013 presented by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office will be held later this month in El Dorado Hills.

The public will be able to speak to Sheriff John D'Agostini and other members of the sheriff's office during the meeting that runs from 6 to 8 p.m. March 21 at Oak Meadow School on Silva Valley Parkway.

The sheriff's crime analyst will speak about crime trends in the community. Law enforcement personnel will be able to answer questions about all facets of the sheriff's office.

An El Dorado Hills teen on a family outing died on Sunday in a Sierra sledding accident.

Dylan Ridolfi, 15, an offensive lineman on the unbeaten Oak Ridge High School freshman football team, was sledding with about 10 family and friends at Mt. Rose Sunday afternoon when the accident occurred.

Football was a passion for the teen, who stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 240 pounds. He also had a soft spot in his heart for kids, invariably being drawn to the smallest in the room at gatherings.

A former El Dorado County man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme.

Daniel Chartraw, 39, entered the plea today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. He is to be sentenced May 2 by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.

Between Jan. 1, 2007, and Nov. 30, 2011, according to court documents, Chartraw defrauded numerous investors by falsely representing investments in mines, mining and refinery equipment, oil commodities, precious metals concentrate, and multimillion-dollar certificates of deposit.

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

QUESTION: Did Daniel Chartraw get convicted?
Submitted by: Butch, El Dorado Hills

ANSWER: A trial date has not been set for former El Dorado Hills resident Daniel Chartraw.

Two men described by authorities as validated gang members from the Sacramento area were arrested in El Dorado County after they allegedly tried to sell marijuana to narcotics investigators.

On Tuesday, the Western El Dorado County Narcotics Enforcement Team received information from a Sheriff's Department employee that he had received an offer to trade a vehicle and one quarter pound of marijuana for a vehicle that he had listed for sale on Craigslist, according to an El Dorado County Sheriff's Department news release. Narcotics investigators initiated contact with the buyer, arranging to meet him Wednesday in a parking lot at 3935 Park Drive in El Dorado Hills.

The investigators contacted Somyouth Chanthongdao, 27, at his vehicle. After agreeing to the exchange, they were led to another, nearby vehicle and were shown approximately a quarter pound of marijuana in the trunk, officials said.

By Mark Glover
mglover@sacbee.com

A 37-year-old man was shot to death, apparently shortly after he entered a home in the 3100 block of Lo Hi Way in Placerville while armed with a handgun, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office said today.

Officials said the El Dorado dispatch center received a report of a gunshot in the area just before midnight on Friday. A second report said the man who had entered the residence and had been shot to death with a shotgun.

The fatally wounded man left the residence, but made it only as far as the outside of the door before he collapsed.

Deputies arrived at the scene just after midnight to find the man face-down. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was withheld pending notification of family members.

Sheriff's officials, noting that a homicide investigation is underway, declined to release additional details. No arrests have been made.

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

QUESTION: What was the sentence for Betty Gracia and Anthony Portillo for money laundering?
Submitted by: Forty Niner Wayne, Sacramento

ANSWER: Anthony Portillo of El Dorado Hills and his mother, Betty Gracia, pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento in April 2011 to money laundering and concealing a felony respectively.

An El Dorado Hills massage therapist has been arrested, accused of false imprisonment and sexual battery.

Patrick Lockard (pictured), 46, of Shingle Springs was arrested Wednesday by El Dorado County sheriff's detectives.

A woman reported that she was receiving a massage from Lockard at Massage Envy in El Dorado Hills when Lockard held her down and sexually battered her, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. Detectives began an investigation to corroborate the woman's statements and eventually arrested Lockard.

An El Dorado Hills woman. injured more than a month ago in an off-road crash on the Rubicon Trail, has died, according to the Sacramento County Coroner's office.

Rachel Anne Gray, 21, died at 12:08 a.m. Sunday.

She had last been reported in critical condition after her vehicle rolled off the Rubicon Trail on July 28, causing a 2-acre forest fire and stranding as many as 300 other Jeeps participating in the Jeepers Jamboree.

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

QUESTION: What is the status of the prosecution of Daniel Chartraw, accused of multiple financial schemes that duped people of millions of dollars? He was arrested and charged in May.
Submitted by: Sam Wiggins, San Diego

ANSWER: Former El Dorado Hills resident Daniel Chartraw was indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento on 18 counts of wire fraud in connection with uranium mines, oil commodities, precious metals in concentrate, dairy financing, gold refining and mining, and movie production.

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

QUESTION: What happened to the engineer from Rancho Seco who was accused of sending threatening letters to President Bush? It seems like there wasn't actually anthrax but an inert powder used. Was the guy convicted and sentenced to prison or a medical facility?
Submitted by: Emmi, Sacramento

ANSWER: Michael Lee Braun, who worked as a nuclear engineer at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's now-decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear generating plant, was arrested in 2006 for sending threatening letters and white powder to the Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills, where President Bush was appearing at a fundraising event for then-Rep. John Doolittle.

Thieves stole a new pickup from a car dealership in Folsom, drove it up Highway 50 and this morning crashed into a drug store to steal an ATM.

In the end, the culprits failed to make off with the cash machine from the CVS store in El Dorado Hills. And after the attempted ATM theft, they abandoned the stolen Ford F350 a short distance away, engine running.

Deputies arrived at the store, 4400 Latrobe Road, shortly after an alarm went off at 2:18 a.m. to find the pharmacy front doors on the ground and shattered glass scattered.

Store video security cameras showed that three people in two pickups were involved in the break-in. The white pickup was backed through the front doors and the thieves then tried to pull the ATM out the door.

When that didn't work, the thieves fled in both trucks, abandoning the new truck in the road about a mile away.

PHOTO CAPTION: The attached photos are of the suspects and their vehicles as they attempt to take an ATM machine from the CVS store in El Dorado Hills.

A man who apparently hanged himself from the H Street Bridge in Sacramento on Tuesday has been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as 22-year-old Wesley Michael Guidera of El Dorado Hills.

A Sacramento police spokesman said Tuesday that a witness saw Guidera put a rope or other type of ligature around his neck about 10 a.m. He then jumped off the bridge over the American River near California State University, Sacramento.

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.

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 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 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.

By Carlos Alcalá
calcala@sacbee.com

A Sacramento couple who were trapped for days in a snowed-in car in remote Placer County were happy and relieved today, a day after they were rescued.

Mark Schroeder and Janette DeGrace met with members of the media at Schroeder's home to talk about their ordeal, which went from a fun Sunday outing to a terrifying situation that had them fearing for their lives.

The two had gone to a remote mountain bar called Uncle Tom's Cabin on Sunday. On the way home, Schroeder's Porsche 911 got stuck in the snow and the couple spent three nights in the car near the Hellhole and French Meadows reservoirs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.