Sacto 9-1-1

The chain reaction accident this morning on the Yolo Causeway that backed up traffic for at least an hour began when a driver didn't notice in time that vehicles had suddenly slowed, according to the CHP.

The crash involving five vehicles in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 was reported about 6:50 a.m. It all began when a woman driving a Chrysler applied her brakes and swerved to the right when traffic slowed, according to a California Highway Patrol press release.

The front of her car hit the rear and right side of a Honda and the left side of a Toyota Camry. The Honda then spun out of control and into the center median.

The Toyota Camry collided with the right rear of a Toyota Echo. The Chrysler that started the crashes, continued spinning out of control and also hit the Toyota Echo, according to the CHP.

Three drivers were taken to UC Davis Medical Center with minor injuries.

Taken into custody after an all-night standoff in West Sacramento, a woman who allegedly held her mother against her will, then slit her own wrists, became a fugitive for a short time Thursday morning.

Melissa Dodd, 38, briefly escaped from a police interrogation room about 9:15 this morning, said Sgt. Nathan Steele. He said the woman was left alone briefly in the room, which had two doors. One was locked, but the other had been improperly secured. He said she was recaptured within minutes.

According to West Sacramento Lt. Tod Sockman, a call for medical aid was received for a home on Marston Street about 7 p.m. Wednesday. As the father, who has health issues, was being loaded into an ambulance, his daughter, Dodd, stormed back into the home and locked her mother out of the house.

West Sacramento police say that a formerly missing 82-year-old woman has been found.

Georgina Crespo had was last been seen at 4:35 p.m. Tuesday when she left her home in the Southport neighborhood to go for a walk. Today, about 10:45 a.m., she was located in good condition and is now home.

West Sacramento police need help in finding an 82-year-old woman missing since Monday.

Georgeina Crespo was last seen at 4:35 p.m. Tuesday when she left her home in the Southport neighborhood to go for a walk. When she failed to return home at 10:45 p.m., family members called the police department to report her missing.

She is known to visit the area of Southport Town Center Plaza. Crespo has made statements that she might make an attempt to travel to Texas, according to a police press release.

She is described as Hispanic, 5 feet tall, 105 pounds, gray hair and hazel eyes. When last seen, she was wearing a beige sweatshirt, jeans and was carrying a green bag.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the recent burning death of a cat in West Sacramento.

The Yolo County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and RedRover, a national animal protection organization based in Sacramento, have each offered $2,500 toward the reward, according to Yolo County Animal Services.

Animal Services responded to a call in West Sacramento on at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday at Circle Park near Circle Street and Alabama Avenue regarding a severely burned cat. Witnesses reported that they had been walking to a friend's house near the park and saw what appeared to be a ball of fire moving through Circle Park.

Yolo County Animal Services officials are seeking information regarding an animal cruelty case in which a cat had to be euthanized because of severe burns.

Animal Services officers responded to a call about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday at Circle Park near Circle Street and Alabama Avenue. Witnesses said they had been walking to a friend's house near the park and had seen what appeared to be a ball of fire moving through Circle Park. When they investigated, they found a cat that was badly burned but still alive. They called for assistance and stayed with the cat until Animal Services arrived.

The cat, a stray with no known owner, was described as a female domestic short-hair brown tabby. It was transported to UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital for emergency care. Officials said the veterinary staff initially hoped the friendly cat would survive. But after they determined that the pain was unmanageable and the animal would lose its limbs, the cat was euthanized.

A Yolo County jury Tuesday found a West Sacramento man guilty of 47 counts of child molestation.

Michael Martinez also was convicted of five counts of possessing matter depicting sexual acts with a minor, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

The West Sacramento Police Department began investigating the case after receiving a report that Martinez was sexually abusing the child. With assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, police officers searched Martinez's home. They reported that an analysis of Martinez's cell phone revealed 20 videos showing him engaging in sexual acts with the victim.

West Sacramento police are seeking information regarding an individual who may be impersonating a police officer.

The department received a report Sunday regarding someone driving a red mid-2000 model Ford Mustang with a red and blue flashing light and siren. The driver of the vehicle stopped a woman in the area of Promenade Street and Southport Parkway using a siren and flashing lights, according to a Police Department news release.

Police ask that anyone with information regarding the vehicle call police dispatch at (916) 375-6474 or Detective Eric Palmer at (916) 617-4935.

If anyone is stopped by a vehicle and is uncertain whether it is a police vehicle, the motorist may proceed slowly to a well-lighted public location while calling police dispatch, officials said.

Police have released new information about last week's massive manhunt that began in West Sacramento and ended with the fatal shooting of the suspect in Sacramento County.

Among the newly released details is the fact that authorities found out during the course of their search Friday that the suspect, later identified as 38-year-old Jimmy Lee Graves, had stolen a high-powered and "extremely dangerous" rifle from the machine shop where the manhunt began, said Sgt. Nathan Steele, spokesman for the West Sacramento Police Department.

The Remington Model 700 rifle is the same used by most police snipers, Steele said, and has a reach of more than 400 yards. It is a legal weapon often used for hunting.

State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrest of several gang members and their associates in the Sacramento region.

The arrests, according to a state Department of Justice news release, highlight the Yolo Narcotic Enforcement Team's continuing efforts to combat gangs and narcotics trafficking in local communities. The team is made up of all law enforcement agencies in Yolo County and is led by the state Department of Justice.

The operation in West Sacramento was dubbed "Operation Red Sash" because of the Northern Riders and Broderick Boys criminal street gangs' affiliation with the color red and the Nortenos criminal gang, officials said.

Steve Welch of Sacramento had one adrenaline-pumping morning when he was carjacked this morning by the man who has now the subject of the manhunt on the causeway.

Welch, 45, an employee of a West Sacramento metal fabricating business, had just left a coffee shop and was near a second hand store in his truck when a man came running at him near West Capitol Avenue and Harbor Boulevard.

"I was in my pickup and driving," he said. "He is running up with a shiny revolver, pointing it at my face."

The armed man demanded Welch's pickup.

Yolo County Animal Services officials seek the public's help in locating dogs involved in five different dog-bite incidents during the past week.

Three occurred in Davis, one in Woodland and one in West Sacramento.

The first incident occurred about 5:30 p.m. April 12 in Davis in a field near Richards Boulevard near the Royal Oaks Mobile Home Park. Officials said a woman was bitten several times by a large black dog believed to be a Labrador retriever, possibly wearing a red collar. The dog was last seen entering the mobile home park, but investigative efforts at the park failed to locate the dog.

A man who had spent three days drifting on the Sacramento River after the motor on his sailboat failed was rescued and his boat secured Tuesday after he rowed to shore in a dinghy.

West Sacramento firefighters were summoned to the riverbank across from Sacramento's Pocket area after the man reached shore, said Eric Edgar, division chief with the West Sacramento Fire Department.

Edgar said the man had been living aboard the 26-foot sailboat for about three years and usually was moored in the Discovery Park area.

The Yolo County District Attorney's Office advises people to be alert to a scam involving phony text messages to cell phone users.

Officials cite two messages in particular. The first begins: "Dear Walmart Shopper, Congratulations you have just won a $1000 dollar Walmart Gift Card." The second begins: "Apple is looking for people to Text & Keep the New iPad 3!" Both messages ask the cell phone users to click or go to a website provided.

Authorities advise people to delete these messages.

A man was killed on Wednesday afternoon when struck by a passenger train in West Sacramento.

West Sacramento police said that the man was found dead on the rail line in the area of Commerce Drive near the IKEA store about 3:45 p.m.

His name has not yet been released by the Yolo County Coroner's office.

The Yolo County District Attorney's office is accepting applications for a Citizens Academy designed to acquaint people in the community with the various aspects of the criminal justice system.

Th academy, which will begin May 3, is sponsored by the District Attorney's Office in partnership with the Yolo County Sheriff's Office; Yolo County Probation Department; and the Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland police departments.

The goal of the academy is to educate the public, and to improve relationships and communication between the different communities in Yolo County and the criminal justice system, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.

Officials of the Afghan Community Center in West Sacramento are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual or individuals who stole video surveillance cameras from the building earlier this month.

Two men suspected of stealing the equipment were photographed by surveillance cameras, according to West Sacramento police.

About 5:55 a.m. March 8, two men stole six video surveillance cameras mounted on the exterior of the center at 700 Glide Ave., and police today released their images, which were caught on surveillance cameras.

West Sacramento police are looking for a man who fled from them this morning after driving the wrong way on Interstate 80.

Police are looking for Lino Garcia Jr., 34, on suspicion of evading police and vehicle theft. Garcia is 5 feet 5 inches tall and has a shaved head.

Police said they tried to stop Garcia for a vehicle violation about 7:45 a.m. today. He didn't stop and a one-minute pursuit was called off for public safety when police said Garcia began driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80.

He exited the freeway and hit another vehicle at Harbor Boulevard and West Capitol Avenue, police said. He was last seen fleeing in the 700 block of Glide Avenue.

A passenger, Christina Rangel, 30, was taken into custody.

Garcia has a felony warrant for his arrest out of Napa County, police said.

A man standing outside a West Sacramento church this evening was shot in the face by a stray bullet fired during what appears to have been a rolling gun battle, according to police.

The man's injuries are not life-threatening, said police Lt. Deanna Stevens.

Police first received calls about shots fired just before 7 p.m. Callers then reported a man had been shot outside the church at Park Boulevard and Westacre Road, Stevens said.

Witnesses said there had been an exchange of gunfire between two vehicles, a shootout that appears to have continued for almost a mile from the scene, Stevens said. Police found shell casings in two other locations: in the area of Fernwood and Norfolk streets and the area of Stone Court and Stone Boulevard.

Stevens said she did not know how many total shots were fired or what caliber guns were used. However, she said it appears a window of one of the vehicles was shattered during the incident.

One of the vehicles was described to police as a lowered, white Chevrolet pickup with two black male adults inside, Stevens said. The other car was described as a small van or a sports utility vehicle, brown and gray or pewter in color with one black male adult inside.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call West Sacramento police dispatch at (916) 375-6474.

Yolo County Sheriff's deputies arrested a mother and son suspected of burglary after their driver bolted on foot, leaving them stranded in the back seat of a car at a West Sacramento auto parts store, authorities said.

The incident began at about 4:20 p.m. Monday when deputies responded to a report of car break-in near the Sacramento Weir on Old River Road, the sheriff's department said in a press release.

While deputies were en route, the woman whose car had been burglarized received a text message from her bank saying her ATM card was being used at a Shell station on West Capitol Avenue. The suspects had left the gas station by the time a deputy arrived, Sgt. Lance Faille wrote in the press release.

A Yolo County jury Monday convicted three gang members of attacks in a Lowe's parking lot in West Sacramento two years ago.

The three defendants, Jose Antonio Duran, 20, Salvador Benjamin Vasquez Jr., 20, and Joseph Vincent Sisneros, 21, all of Sacramento, are members of the Norteno street gang, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release. Following a two-week trial, all three were convicted of robbery, battery, assault, witness intimidation and street gang activity for their attacks on three people April 19, 2010.

Authorities said the initial victim was eating a meal from a fast-food restaurant in his car in a nearly empty parking lot about 10 p.m. The three men took his iPod, wallet and keys, then beat him, causing two facial fractures, while the victim pleaded for them to stop.

By Robert D. Dávila
bdavila@sacbee.com

The driver of a stolen commercial van was booked into Yolo County Jail after leading law enforcement officials on a highway chase from West Sacramento to the Tracy area, officials said.

Jeremy Allan Pratt of West Sacramento was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of several felonies, including possessing stolen property and evading arrest, California Highway Patrol Officer Adrian Quintero said Wednesday.

Officials said the chase began around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday when an officer from the CHP's auto theft unit saw Pratt get behind the wheel of the parked commercial truck on Jefferson Boulevard in West Sacramento. The officer was investigating cases involving stolen commercial vehicles in West Sacramento when he spotted the van and found it was reported stolen.

A chase that began about 6 p.m. in West Sacramento ended more than 90 minutes later near Stockton when the driver of a stolen box truck finally surrendered to California Highway Patrol officers.

Sgt. Trent Tyler of the West Sacramento Police Department said the CHP has been investigating cases involving stolen box vans, and this afternoon they spotted a stolen van that was parked and unoccupied on Jefferson Boulevard. When a man got in the vehicle and started to drive away, CHP and West Sacramento police officers attempted to stop it.

Tyler said the truck driver tried to ram an unmarked CHP car and then a police car, and law enforcement officers gave chase.

A West Sacramento man has been sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for a murder that reportedly was triggered by a dirty look.

Christopher Allen Smith, 31, was sentenced Friday by Yolo County Superior Court Judge Stephen Mock for the murder of Gidd Gomel Robinson IV.

Shortly after noon Nov. 3, 2009, Smith, who is white, was driving with his 7-year-old son in his pickup truck after leaving his father's house in West Sacramento, when he encountered Robinson, an African American man, who was walking his children to school.

By Kim Minugh and Melody Gutierrez
kminugh@sacbee.com

West Sacramento police arrested River City High School football coach Arturo Bustamante today on suspicion of molesting four female students over the course of a year, according to authorities.

Bustamante, 42, turned himself in to police after being notified that there was a warrant out for his arrest, said police Lt. Tod Sockman. The coach, who also teaches social science at River City High, was booked into the Yolo County Jail this afternoon on three counts of felony lewd or lascivious conduct with a child 14 or 15 years old and six counts of misdemeanor annoying and/or molesting a child under 18.

He was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Sockman said the four victims are 15 or 16 years old. He did not know how they came into contact with Bustamante, but said the alleged incidents all occurred on the high school campus.

One of the four alleged victims came forward to police in September, Sockman said. During the course of their investigation, police identified three other alleged victims.

The alleged molestation took place over the course of about a year leading up to the time police were notified, Sockman said.

Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, 916-321-1038. Follow her on Twitter @Kim_Minugh.

Members of the West Sacramento Police Department will deliver Christmas packages Thursday to local families.

For more than 15 years the West Sacramento Police Officers Association's annual Christmas drive has provided clothing and toys to needy families. Traditionally, the program provides for approximately 20 families in the community, according to a Police Department news release.

This year, members of the department's SWAT team asked for toy donations at the local Walmart store. Thanks to an outpouring of public support, more than 500 toys were received in one day. The additional toys will be provided to local charities.

Christopher Allen Smith of West Sacramento has been convicted of murder in the shooting death of a man who reportedly gave him a dirty look.

A Yolo County jury on Wednesday found Smith, 31, guilty of murder for killing Gidd Gomel Robinson IV on Nov. 3, 2009. Smith also was convicted of shooting from a vehicle and shooting a firearm causing death, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

Shortly after noon, Smith was driving with his 7-year-old son in his pickup truck after leaving his father's house in a residential neighborhood in West Sacramento. Smith, who is white, encountered Robinson, who is black, as Robinson was walking his children to school. After Robinson gave Smith a "hard stare" and Smith "flipped him off," Smith drove his truck around the corner and loaded his gun, officials said.

By Ed Fletcher
efletcher@sacbee.com

Breaking news: The three missing children have been found safely in El Dorado County, California Highway Patrol officials confirmed Monday evening. The vehicle was spotted Monday evening on Forney Road in El Dorado County by a sheriff's officer.

He was taken into custody "without a fight," said Tod Sockman, a spokesman for the West Sacramento Police Department.

-------------------- Earlier story --------------------

Local authorities are asking for the public's help in finding a man they suspect battered his wife, tossed his 1-year-old son across a bedroom and then abducted the three older children.

West Sacramento fire officials were unable to identify the cause of an odor that sent one person to the hospital early this afternoon.

Acting Battalion Chief Scott Pfeifer said that about noon, employees of businesses in an industrial park area along Riverside Parkway and Reed Avenue reported an ammonia-like smell that caused some people to complain of respiratory problems.

When firefighters arrived, the odor had dissipated. Pfeifer said fire crews spent about an hour contacting businesses in the area but were unable to locate the source of the odor.

He said an employee of one area business was taken to a hospital after complaining of feeling ill.

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.

An 18-year-old man wanted in connection with an attempted homicide in West Sacramento was arrested today in Sacramento.

The U.S. Marshals Service announced that Deshaun Christopher Buford was taken into custody without incident at the University Village Apartments, in the 7700 block of La Riviera Drive, west of Howe Avenue.

About 9:30 p.m. Aug. 25, Buford allegedly fired an automatic 9mm submachine gun into a residence on Proctor Avenue in West Sacramento. Several bullets just missed a young mother and her 2-year-old child who were inside, according to a Marshals Service news release.

A 78-year-old West Sacramento woman has been sentenced to a year in county jail for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Yolo County Superior Court Judge Timothy Fall also sentenced Donna Marie McClure to five years felony probation and ordered her to pay more than $26,000 in restitution to the victim's family, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

A Yolo County jury on Aug. 12 found McClure guilty in the death of Jewell Mattos, who was struck by McClure's vehicle in the parking lot of a West Sacramento Raley's store Oct. 1, 2009.

A Sacramento man was arrested in West Sacramento early today after allegedly attempting to steal tubing from a local beverage company.

Police received a call from the employees of the 24-hour operated Nor-Cal Beverages plant at 1955 Cebrian Ave. about 12:30 a.m. that a man had driven onto the property and started loading the back of his pickup truck with tubing from the site.

When the Comse Aldaco, 33, saw police arriving, he got in his truck and drove through a gate that employees had closed to keep him on the property, said Lt. Tod Sockman, West Sacramento Police Department spokesman.

By Rick Daysog

rdaysog@sacbee.com

A federal grand jury has indicted six Sacramento area residents in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that allegedly bilked $1.8 million from several banks.

Angela Shavlovsky, 52, of Sacramento; Vitaliy Tuzman, 31, of West Sacramento; 34-year-old Alexander Kokhanets of Roseville; 38-year-old Boris Murzak and 40-year-old Zinaida Murzak, both of Sacramento; and Valeri Mysin, 31, of Citrus Heights were charged Wednesday with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

A Sacramento man died in the hospital Friday evening after being stabbed several times outside a motel in West Sacramento, according to police.

West Sacramento police responded to the scene at the Towne House Motel on the 900 block of West Capitol Avenue at around 6:53 to find the 29-year-old victim lying in the parking lot with several stab wounds to his upper body. Authorities have not yet released his name.

After attempting to flee the scene, the two suspects, Billy Wolfington, 28, and Shannon Silva, 30, both of West Sacramento, were found hiding in nearby bushes by police.

The two men were arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They are being held without bail at the Yolo County Jail.

The California Highway Patrol is warning motorists of congestion and delays on eastbound and westbound Highway 50 in the area of Harbor Boulevard in West Sacramento because of a fatal accident.

According to the CHP website, a crash occurred about 8:55 p.m.

One vehicle overturned and the driver of that vehicle tried to run from an officer. The man reportedly jumped over the center divider and was struck by a vehicle.

The CHP's communications center reported that officers were still on scene investigating the crash and no additional information was immediately available as of late Thursday night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

A public briefing regarding a two-day sex-offender sweep will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Yolo County District Attorney's Office, 301 Second St., Woodland.

District Attorney Jeff Reisig, along with other county, local and state law enforcement officials, will discuss the results of "Operation Vigilance," a compliance and enforcement check of Yolo County's registered sex offenders.

During the past two days, 130 law enforcement officers from agencies in Yolo County - as well as the FBI, California Highway Patrol and State Parole - conducted sex offender compliance checks in Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, Winters, Capay, Esparto and Dunnigan, according to a District Attorney's Office news release. Officials said 436 registered sex offenders live in Yolo County. Most were convicted of rape, child molestation or possession of child pornography.