Sacto 9-1-1

El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting has been booked into jail on an arrest warrant alleging perjury and other charges.

A press release from the El Dorado County District Attorney's office today said Nutting was arrested today on two counts of filing false documents, perjury relating to failure to disclose income and having a financial interest in a county contract and failing to recuse himself from voting.

Nutting is scheduled to be arraigned on June 10 at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 1 of El Dorado Superior Court.

A Placerville man has been sentenced in federal count in Sacramento to 42 months in prison for his role in an interstate marijuana distribution conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. also sentenced Robert Edward Mulready to four years of supervised release following his time in prison.

Mulready previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to cultivate and distribute at least 100 marijuana plants, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Placerville police are investigating a possible link between an alleged kidnapping in the city this morning and Saturday's fatal stabbing of a an 8-year-old girl in Calaveras County.

"We have no confirmed nexus to the Calaveras County case," said Placerville police Capt. Mike Scott. But he said Placerville officers have been in communication with Calaveras County law enforcement officials following the arrest of 44-year-old Jason Wayrynen. Scott said a DNA sample also has been collected from Wayrynen.

Wayrynen, whose last known address was off Paul Bunyon Road in Camino, allegedly entered a Placerville apartment uninvited this morning and took a 15-month-old girl from her mother.

Placerville residents can receive timely information on police-related activities through a communication system that connects the community with the Police Department.

The Placerville Police Department is connected with Nixle, which allows officers on the street to send messages and citizens to receive real-time updates on incidents such as school lockdowns, road closures and missing persons. Residents can choose to receive the information by SMS, email, over the Web, or by mobile application, according to a Police Department news release.

Messages can be directed to specific geographic regions or groups, notifying school groups of campus lockdowns, for example, or businesses of burglary suspects. The system also can be used to notify tourists and other visitors about special events in the city.

Police encourage all El Dorado County residents, as well as people who often visit Placerville to sign up for Nixle.

To sign up, go to the city's website at www.cityofplacerville.org and click on the Nixle link. Put in 95667 as the zip code to receive information specific to the city of Placerville.

A three-month investigation by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department has led to the arrest of a 51-year-old parolee from Placerville accused of selling heroin to undercover detectives.

The investigation began in January, when sheriff's patrol deputies received a report of a man threatening the life of another person. The man accused of making the threats was identified as parolee Ronnie Chambers (pictured), according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

While investigating the threat, undercover detectives discovered that Chambers wanted to sell cocaine, sheriff's officials said. During January, undercover detectives called Chambers and arranged to purchase $200 worth of cocaine from him. They arranged to meet Chambers in Placerville, where Chambers reportedly sold them a substance that appeared to be cocaine. The substance, however, was later determined to be crushed pills that contained morphine, sheriff's officials said.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's office said a $10,000 reward is being offered to find a woman who has not been heard from in more than a year.

Sara Fawcett, (pictured) a Placerville Wal-Mart employee, called in sick Sept. 22, 2011. She was last seen or heard from the next morning, according to a missing person's bulletin.

The investigation into her disappearance continues. Her family is offering the reward.

Fawcett, 53, was reported missing by her father after she did not return home after several days.

Fawcett, who did not own a vehicle, usually borrowed her father's car, but the vehicle was not taken by the woman. Her belongings were also not taken from her residence on the family's Pollock Pines property.

At the time of her disappearance, the Sheriff's Department said it is unlike Fawcett to leave her home without her purse and cell phone.

She is described as 5 feet 1 inch tall, about 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Paul Hadjes at (530) 642-4713.

A Placerville man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Sacramento to participating in an interstate marijuana distribution conspiracy.

Dylan Hudson, 26, admitted to conspiring to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, Hudson was in charge of an interstate marijuana trafficking conspiracy. More than 1,100 pounds of processed marijuana, along with more than $329,000 in cash and eight firearms were seized during the investigation, authorities said.

By Anne Gonzales

afgonzales@sacbee.com

A rockslide briefly closed Highway 50 east of Placerville, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Eastbound and westbound lanes on the highway 27 miles east of Placerville were blocked, starting at 9:24 a.m. today. A CHP dispatcher said after 11 a.m. that the roadway had been reopened.

Crews have been removing rock from the roadway.

Motorists can expect delays in the area, officers said.

The El Dorado County Sheriff has fired off an anti-gun control letter to Vice President Joe Biden.

"It is well known and proven with facts, not emotional inference, that gun control of any kind, has no effect on the reduction of crime, anywhere," wrote Sheriff John D'Agostini.

The letter, also sent out as a press release, was written to Biden Jan. 17.

To see the El Dorado County Sheriff's letter to Biden, click here.

The Obama administration is trying to get congressional support for a package of gun-control proposals, including an assault rifle ban. Biden helped formulate the proposals.

The gun control proposals come following the December shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that left 20 children and six staffers dead.

An 18-year-old is in jail on suspicion of homicide after the stabbing death of another young man last night in El Dorado County.

El Dorado County sheriff's deputies said they responded to the area of Brown's Road and Cold Springs Road, just north of Placerville, about 4 p.m. Wednesday where they were told a person had been stabbed.

They were also told that the person who stabbed 20-year-old Matthew Steele of Auburn had fled on foot. Paramedics arrived and transferred Steele to Marshall Hospital where he died about two hours later.

Deputies took Wesley Hampshire, 18, of Placerville into custody at his home on Brown's Road. He was later booked into county jail on suspicion of homicide.

Details on what lead up to the stabbing were not available.

PHOTO CAPTION: Wesley Ronald Hampshire

The El Dorado County Sheriff's office has added an investigator to focus on elder abuse.

Reports of elder abuse have increased nine percent since 2011 in the county. The county's population of residents over the age of 65 is 31.6 percent greater than the state's average.

Physical abuse takes in not only assaults, but inappropriate use of drugs, restraints and confinement. Financial exploitation involves the taking of an older person's money, either by a caregiver or a scam artist.

A stretch of Highway 49 near Diamond Springs has reopened to traffic after being closed for several hours due to a downed utility pole.

The pole and utility lines were reported down about 3 this morning. A California Highway Patrol traffic website reported that the pole snapped, but the reason for the failure has not been released. A CHP spokesman said there was no evidence that it had been struck by a vehicle.

The highway, between Fowler Lane and Missouri Flat Road, reopened shortly after 2 p.m.

The Placerville Police Department's SHIELD volunteer program has been expanded to include qualified individuals age 21 and older.

Officials announced that the acronym for the program previously limited to senior volunteers also has been modified to stand for "Specialized Help in Enforcement-like Duties."

SHIELD volunteers can participate in a variety of activities, including vehicle maintenance, office work, traffic control, special events, National Night Out, patrol and vacation checks, according to a department news release.The program offers participants training and an opportunity to provide basic law enforcement support, working alongside members of the Police Department staff.

For more information, call Julie Burns, the police chief's executive assistant, at (530) 642-5210.

By Loretta Kalb and Kim Minugh
lkalb@sacbee.com

Officials released the names Sunday of four people, including two children, who were killed in a two-car collision on Highway 50 just east of Placerville.

The crash happened around 6 p.m. Saturday, when a 2004 Toyota Prius headed west in the Apple Hill area veered across four lanes of traffic and into the path of a minivan.

Three people in the Prius who died at the scene were identified by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office as 38-year-old Sheng Kun Su, who was driving; 39-year-old Shu Zhen Zhao; and 8-year-old Shawn Su, all from Oakland.

By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com

A horrific two-car collision on Highway 50 just east of Placerville claimed the lives of four people Saturday night, including two children, when a car headed west in the Apple Hill area veered across four lanes of traffic and into the path of a minivan.

Early reports late Saturday had indicated that at least one person had died. Around midnight Saturday the word came that the death toll was much worse.

Three people in the car, a 2004 Toyota Prius, died at the scene of the crash, which occurred about 6:05 p.m. They were identified Sunday night as 38-year-old Sheng Kun Su, the driver; 39-year-old Shu Zhen Zhao and 8-year-old Shawn Su, all from Oakland.