Ventura County - Faria Beach is one of Ventura County’s most scenic stretches of coastline, and draws thousands of vacationers to its sands. Offering spectacular views of the Pacific, there is no better place along U.S. 101 to take in a sunrise.

On the morning of September 11th, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Jim Kenney—on routine patrol in the area—may well have anticipated just such a peaceful moment as dawn broke over the beach. But when, according to VCSD spokesman Cpt. Patti Salas, Kenney spotted “an older model van stopped on the shoulder with an inoperative taillight,” his law enforcement duties took precedence over any thoughts of enjoying the view.

Enrique Patricio

Kenney proceeded to conduct a routine traffic stop for the van’s equipment violation, whereupon the van summarily “fled at a high speed”, ultimately traveling from the shoreline access road onto U.S. 101, hitting speeds in excess of 85 mph. As Sgt. Kenney pursued the van for more than 20 miles onto the eastbound SR 126, additional Sheriff’s units joined the chase into the city of Santa Paula where “it purposely crashed into road closure gates.”

It was at that point that the van’s driver alighted and took off on foot, running into a nearby riverbed. With aerial and canine units called in to facilitate the pursuit of the suspect, citizen reports began coming in to SVSD headquarters reporting a man hiding on private residential property. Shortly thereafter, the Sheriff’s helicopter unit observed their man walking along Telegraph Road, whereupon deputies from the Fillmore Police Station swept in and apprehended Enrique Patricio, a 29-year old resident of Ventura.

For his trouble, Patricio—slightly injured pursuant to his crashing the van—was arrested and transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on charges of auto theft, evading law enforcement, resisting arrest, possession of burglary tools, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking

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VCSTAR: Authorities find, arrest man who ran into river

Ventura County, Ca.
Late on the afternoon of September 11th, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department 911 Emergency was contacted with a report of a shooting in El Rio, just east of the City of Ventura. A known enclave of illegal gang activity, deputies from the VCSD Gang Unit promptly responded and learned that “a male victim was shot and fled the scene holding his neck,” according to spokesman Det. Doug Gojkovich.

With that rather distinctive description of the purported crime victim, deputies soon located the man who “had suffered superficial wounds to his face and neck which did not require medical treatment.” With multiple witnesses to the shooting, Bobby Medina, a 19-year old resident of El Rio and narcotics violation parolee was soon identified as the principal suspect.

As he was well known to local area law enforcement, finding Medina at his residence was a matter of course, and upon contacting him he was initially arrested for possession of a controlled substance. A search warrant of Medina’s residence ultimately led to the discovery of “additional evidence suggesting Medina was in fact the suspect in the attempted murder.”

Medina was transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on charges of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, and being a “prohibited person” in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He remains in custody with his bail amount set at $525,000.

According to Gojkovich, “the investigation is ongoing,” and any member of the public with information regarding these events is encouraged to contact Ventura County Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking

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VCSTAR: Man arrested in connection with attempted murder

City News Desk: Ventura deputies arrest shooting suspect

SACRAMENTO—The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office has identified a man found dead on a Valley Hi sidewalk in Sacramento on September 14 as Joseph Lee Stanley, 20. Valley Hi is a neighborhood in south Sacramento, just north of Elk Grove and Laguna.

Stanley, 20, of Sacramento was found by three pedestrians on the east side of Franklin Boulevard just north of Whisper Wood Way at approximately 9:00 p.m. Sunday evening.

The Sacramento Fire Department were the first responders to the scene and noted “obvious signs of trauma to the upper body” of the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Firefighters called in police officers who launched an investigation. Detectives and crime scene investigators spoke with witnesses and searched the area for evidence. According to a news release from the Sacramento Police Department, a motive for the assault is not yet known.

Santa Barbara - The joys of parenting are boundless, but none of them involve exposing small children to the world of illegal drug sales activity or proximity to loaded firearms.

That eternal verity seems to have been brazenly ignored by Juan Manuel Cisneros Gavia, a 41-year old father and resident of Santa Barbara. Gavia, as a result of his entrepreneurial endeavors in the illicit trade of methamphetamine, had been under surreptitious investigation by the Santa Barbara Police Department Narcotics Bureau for “several weeks”, according to SBPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Riley Harwood’s report to the media.

Police display confiscated guns

As the target of a multi-week investigation into the possibility that Gavia—perhaps unable to distinguish between the engrossing fiction of television’s award-wining Breaking Bad and the realities of real-world consequences attached to the conduct portrayed on that show—became the object of a search warrant and police surveillance in the early evening hours of September 9th when he was observed conducting what Harwood described as “two hand-to-hand drug transactions”.

When Gavia later drove away from his home, he was contacted in a presumptive “traffic stop”, during which time his residence was searched pursuant to the warrant. The product of that search was significantly incriminating, yielding nearly ten ounces of methamphetamine packaged for sale, .5 grams of heroin, and $3,000 in currency. Along with the illicit inventory, detectives also located firearms “staged in the premises”, all of which were observed to have been accessible to the six children residing in the home.

Police also display meth that they confiscated

With little likelihood that he’ll be nominated for Father of the Year, Gavia was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of heroin for sale, being armed with a firearm in the commission of a drug offense, and child endangerment. His bail was set at $100,000.

Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara Police Department, Santa Barbara County Jail Booking

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Noozhawk: SB Man arrested on Narcotics, weapons charges

KCOY: Endangered children leads to SB arrest

SANTA ROSA – Max Steven Jackson Weinreb was 21 years old and came from Mill Valley, a town in Marin County just north of the San Francisco Bay. While living in a nice home with a view, he had nonetheless found his share of trouble over the past couple of years. But he was perhaps in over his head when he and an unidentified friend met up with two men at the Vagabond Inn in Santa Rosa with the intent to sell them marijuana. Something apparently went wrong, and the result was that Weinreb was shot and killed by one of the men, both whom have since been arrested themselves.

Records show that Weinreb had been arrested in July of 2012, when he was 19, for possession of a false government ID and using false evidence of age – charges that usually mean a teenager trying to buy liquor with a false ID. However, a few months later, in February of 2013, he faced much more serious charges. At that time, he was arrested for possession of marijuana for sale, selling marijuana, and possession of a loaded firearm.

But Max Weinreb was much more than another young pot dealer. He was an aspiring hip hop artist and rap singer who went by the name Pro2col. According to his biography on his Faceook page “My Emcee name is “PRO2COL,” real name’s Max, I’m an MC/Producer/Lyricist/Promoter/Entrepreneur with big ambitions. I’ve been B-Boying for 6 years. I have been writing lyrics and recording for almost 2 years. I’m a pretty humble dude…” His music videos can be seen at his personal website www.pro2colmusic.com.

But it appears that neither his earlier arrests, nor his budding music career deterred him from his willingness to deal in marijuana, and on Sunday, August 31, he and a friend had made arrangements to meet two men, Donald “Buddy” Paul Parker, 35 of Vallejo, and David Edward Espinal, 46 of Sacramento, to sell them marijuana. The Press Democrat quoted Santa Rosa PD Sgt. Dave Linscomb as saying “It was a fairly large quantity of marijuana that would be considered for sale and distribution”  Weinreb and his partner met up with them at the Vagabond Inn on Cleveland Avenue in north Santa Rosa to make the transaction. However, things did not go as planned, and at 7:40 pm, shots rang out in the room.

The shooting occurred at this Santa Rosa Vagabond Inn.

Police were called when the gunfire was heard. Officers and emergency medical personnel were sent, and when they arrived, they found Max Weinreb in the room suffering from gunshot wounds to his torso. Attempts were made to save his life, but he was soon pronounced dead at the scene. Cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the chest. Weinreb’s friend, however, was not injured, and he reported that the two men, described as black males in their 20′s or 30′s, left the room through window. They were seen leaving the premises in a red car, taking the marijuana with them.

The investigation began, and Weinreb’s family offered a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the two men. Detectives were able to identify one possible suspect in the case, Donald Parker. A warrant was obtained for his arrest on homicide charges.

Donald “Buddy” Parker was tracked to this Vallejo neighborhood, where SWAT agents staked out the home.

Parker was tracked to his Vallejo home on Moonraker Drive after he was seen driving in the area. On Wednesday, September 10, at 11:00 pm, the Santa Rosa Police SWAT team, with assistance from the local Vallejo Police and air support from Highway Patrol units, surrounded his home on Moonraker Court in southern Vallejo. They then ordered him to surrender, but he instead tried to escape the dragnet through a neighbor’s back yard, but could not get past officers. He did not give up, however, and went back to his home, and tried hiding in a trash can. It didn’t work; he was found and arrested without further incident.

Parker’s history with the law includes an arrest in 2010 while he lived in Santa Rosa for burglary, possession of stolen property, possession and sale of controlled substances, cultivating marijuana, and resisting arrest.

As the investigation continued, and with Parker in custody, detectives identified David Espinal as the other suspect who left the scene with Parker. A warrant was obtained, and Santa Rosa police detectives, working in concert with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, located Espinal and arrested him at the Twin Rivers Adult School on Grand Avenue. He was booked into the Sacramento County Jail in the murder warrant and a parole violation. It is believed that Espinal fired the weapon that killed Weinreb.

The investigation continues, and anyone with information is encouraged to call the Santa Rosa Police Violent Crimes Investigation Team at 707-543-3590.

Read More:

Max Weinreb obituary: Legacy.com

Press Democrat: Police: Friend was in room when Marin County man killed at Santa Rosa hotel

A clinical psychologist, testifying as a prosecution expert witness, had found during an evaluation of accused killer Daniel Marsh that the adolescent may have exaggerated symptoms of a reaction to antidepressant medications he took about the time he allegedly committed his crimes. While testifying in Yolo Superior Court on September 12, Dr. James Rokop explained he had learned Marsh had discussed “overplaying” symptoms of a drug reaction with other inmates in Yolo County’s juvenile detention facility.

Marsh changed his guilty plea in the case to not guilty by reason of insanity back in June of this year. Marsh and his lawyers have based his defense on his taking antidepressant and mood-stabilizing drugs in April, 2013, when he allegedly murdered Oliver “Chip” Northup, 87 and his wife Claudia Maupin, 76, in their South Davis condominium.

Deputy Public Defender Ron Johnson asserted that Marsh’s medications caused his mental disease to escalate to the point where his homicidal urges became uncontrollable. Rokop, however, said during his testimony that Johnson’s assertion in that regard does not jibe with reports that Marsh’s depression and academic work seemingly improved while he was on the drugs. Rokop said these reports were made by doctors and teachers who routinely spoke with Marsh.

The psychologist testified that Marsh referred to his alleged victims as “stupid Davis people. They deserved this characterization, Marsh told Rokop, because the couple had left their window open so he could creep into their home. Rokop then testified in terrible detail Marsh’s description of the attacks.

Marsh told Rokop he got “an emotional high” which did not last long after the killings. In subsequent days, Rokop testified, Marsh killed several cats and a raccoon that lived in his neighborhood.

Public Defender Ron Johnson completed his partial cross-examination of Rokop during the afternoon of September 12. He’ll pick up his cross-examination as the trial continues this week. If Marsh is found guilty of the murders, a second phase of the trial begins; jurors must then determine whether Marsh was legally sane or insane when the murders occurred.

Read More:

Davis Enterprise: Psychologist: Marsh had ‘predatory aggression,’ not psychosis

Daily Democrat: Psychologists’ evaluation of Daniel Marsh ruled out psychosis

Police officers from the Roseville Police Department reportedly arrested a man earlier this week for allegedly attacking a relative with a meat cleaver, according to an official weekly crime report issued by Roseville PD.

Timothy McKown, 33, of Roseville, was reportedly arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, and carrying a concealed knife.

According to Roseville PD, on Monday, September 15 at 8:39 am, officers received a call and responded to a disturbance at an apartment complex in the 1000 block of Woodcreek Oaks Boulevard, the Heritage Oaks Apartments. Upon arrival, officers learned a male suspect — later identified as McKown — had reportedly struck a male relative on the arm with a meat cleaver and then ran away.

Officers reportedly found the suspect at the intersection of Main Street and Foothills Boulevard and arrested him. The victim had sustained minor injuries to his arm. McKown, who is now listed as a transient, was once a resident of the apartments, and in January of 2012 he was arrested for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant (domestic violence). It was not specified if this incident was related to that earlier arrest.

43-year-old David Christopher Murphy was arrested for two counts of petty theft under PC 666 (a) with three or more priors. On July 3, 2014 Murphy took a package from a front porch in Santa Clara. The victim was able to give police a copy of a surveillance video taken of the suspect when he came to the front door of the home, which clearly shows Murphy taking a package, which turned out to be of two air fresheners with an estimated value of $5.

It’s Murphy at the door…

Then again on July 6 Murphy struck again at the same home, taking another package from the front porch with an estimated value of $48. A “Be On the Lookout”, or BOL, was placed in the police processing system and forwarded to other agencies in order to try and capture Murphy before he struck again. However it wasn’t too long after the second report that a third report came reporting Murphy had struck again. He was seen on surveillance taking a package from the front porch of another resident in Santa Clara on July 7.

The reporting party also had video of Murphy taking several packages from their home, with an estimated value of around $200, over a period of a few days. Despite his brazen daytime thefts, it wasn’t until Aug 3 that a Santa Clara Police Officer located Murphy after a reports of a suspicious vehicle blocking the street near a driveway at a home, by someone that did not recognize Murphy as a resident in the area.

Santa Clara Police Officers arrived at the scene and identified David Murphy, who was still blocking the roadway as he stood just inside the door of his vehicle, which was parked near Winchester Blvd and Forest Avenue.  After making contact with Murphy, they asked to a search him and his vehicle. Murphy complied by saying, “Yeah, I guess”. That is when SCPD officers found three glass pipes with an unknown substance similar to methamphetamine, and a baggie containing a white powder crystalline substance, that later tested positive for methamphetamine, in his front pocket.

Baby on board…Murphys 2-year-old was with him at least some of the time.

Murphy was arrested for drug possession and for being under the influence, while having his two-year old son on seated in the passenger front seat of the SUV, the same car seen in video surveillance photos taken during the theft of the victims’ packages.

Realizing that Murphy was wanted in Santa Clara for the theft charges, officers asked him about the incident. Murphy denied being involved in the theft and asked for a lawyer. He was booked and later released on a $20,000 bail, that was later been reduced to $10,000.

Murphy then failed to appear in court on Sept 10, 2014 in Dept 35 in front of the Honorable Hector E. Ramon, and thus forfeited his bail bond in the amount of $10,000. A warrant for his arrest on $50,000 bail has now been issued.

Santa Barbara - With a mugshot appearance quite outside the norm for those commonly charged with felony drugs and weapons charges, Juan Nunez, a 49-year old resident of Goleta, had for the prior several weeks fallen under the scrutiny of the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Narcotics Unit.

Clearly adhering to the ancient wisdom admonishing against “judging a book by its cover”, according to Sgt. Riley Harwood, SBPD Public Information Officer, police were acting upon various sources of “information that Nunez was selling cocaine and methamphetamine” throughout the local area. Those tips were of sufficient import to provide detectives with an active search warrant specific to Nunez’s residence, and they acted upon that warrant at dawn on September 11th, just as Nunez was heading off to his place of legitimate employment.

Nunez was summarily “detained when he exited his residence”, Harwood reported. In his personal possession that morning were 11 bindles of methamphetamine and eight bindles of cocaine, raising questions, presumably, as to the sincerity of his “straight job” commitment at the workplace.

The subsequent search of Nunez’s apartment—which now involved a team of investigators from the Santa Barbara Regional Narcotic Enforcement Team–revealed an additionial 1.75 ounces of cocaine, 5.4 grams of methamphetamine, more than $8,000 in cash, a 9mm pistol, a .45cal pistol, and ammunition for both weapons.

Nunez never made it to work that day, as he was promptly remanded to the custody staff at Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on charges of possession of cocaine for sale, possession of methamphetamine for sale, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a drug offense, with his bail set at $50,000.

Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking

Read more:

Noozhawk: SB police arrest suspected drug dealer

KSBY: Suspected drug dealer arrested in Goleta

The Roseville Police Department has recently arrested five suspects in three different robbery cases, according to an official weekly crime report.

Kambarage Mayhand in a 2009 mugshot.

On Friday, September 12 at about 4:30 am, officers stopped a car near Sunrise Avenue and Lead Hill Boulevard. Inside the vehicle, officers reportedly found two suspects with stolen property, including a purse and electronic items. Their investigation reportedly led them to a recently burglarized vehicle in a nearby hotel parking lot.

Donell Joseph Higgins, 34, and Kambarage Earnest Mayhand, 40, both of Sacramento, were reportedly arrested on suspicion of burglary, possessing stolen property and burglar’s tools, and other related charges. Mayhand has been in frequent trouble, according to records. He has been arrested at least ten times in the past 6 years, on burglary and possession of burglary tools, vehicle theft, drug and paraphernalia possession, and parole violations. In 2009 he was part of a team of three who robbed a man in a disabled vehicle outside of the Red Hawk Casino in El Dorado County. Higgins also has a past, but with fewer arrests. His charges have included vehicle theft, possession of burglary tools and stolen property, and drug charges.

The Heritage Inn in Roseville

Then overnight between Friday, September 12, and Saturday, September 13, someone reportedly broke into an unrented, unoccupied hotel room at the Heritage Inn on the 200 block of Harding Boulevard, and spent the night. Officers made contact with two people found inside the room and arrested them.

Bianca Vanessa Arevalo, 29, of Rocklin, and Andrew Fonzie Kingsbury, 30, of Roseville, were reportedly arrested on suspicion of burglary, possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, and other related charges. Both of them have had a long history with local law enforcement as well. Records show at least seven prior arrests for Arevalo, including two incidents of petty theft, possession or being under the influence of a controlled substance, DUI, and “tresspassing on closed lands”. Kingsbury’s records show an arrest in 2007 for selling and transporting contolled substances and conspiracy. In 2012 he was charged with burglary and possession of stolen property. This year he has been previously arrested for both drug and burglary charges.

Two men enjoying Old Town Roseville on a bench early Sunday morning were accosted by two men, who robbed them of car keys and a phone.

And on Sunday, September 14, at 4:30 am, two men were reportedly sitting on a bench in the 300 block of Lincoln Street when two men they did not know hit them, grabbed car keys and a cell phone, and fled. The suspects were described as white or Hispanic males, one wearing a red tank top and one wearing a white T-shirt.

Early on the morning of Monday, September 15, officers reportedly arrested one of the suspects — Edward Thompson, 43, of Roseville — on suspicion of robbery, battery and conspiracy. Officers are continuing to investigate in order to identify the other suspect.

Santa Barbara County - With the start of a new school year, one might think that adolescents walking the streets of local communities should properly be either on their way to or from school, or perhaps headed to the local air-conditioned library where they might avoid the current afternoon high temperatures and enjoy the peace and quiet so necessary to complete daily homework assignments.

One might indeed think that…if one lived in a utopian world where there were no undisciplined and out-of-control teenagers drawn to the hazards of involvement with criminal street gangs. That utopia is apparently an unknown ideal to the six young men involved in what Santa Maria Police Department spokesman Sgt. Eizio Lara described for the media as “a gang-related stabbing” that reportedly took place just after dark on the night of September 9th on a local neighborhood street.

When officers responded to a 911 Emergency call at that location, they discovered “a victim who had suffered multiple stab wounds,” who had also been assaulted les than a week prior by unknown assailants. At that point, the SMPD Gang Suppression Team brought all their investigative resources to bear and determined that Wilfredo Hernandez and Omar Raymundo, both 18-year old residents of Santa Maria, were responsible for both attacks.

Along with Hernandez and Raymundo, detectives located four additional juvenile males who had participated in the violence. All six suspects were contacted by Gang Suppression Team detectives and placed under arrest, charged with attempted murder with gang enhancements.

The juveniles were booked into Santa Barbara County Juvenile Hall, while Hernandez and Raymundo—having reached the age of legal majority—were booked into Santa Barbara County Jail.

Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking

Read more:

KSBY: Police arrest 2 men, 4 juveniles in stabbing

Santa Maria Times: Six arrested in gang-related stabbing

KCOY: Six suspected gang members arrested

SACRAMENTO—Sacramento Police have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the May shooting at Peregrine Park in Sacramento where one man was killed and six others injured, including a seven-year-old girl.

Sacramento homicide detectives traveled to Las Vegas on Friday, September 12, 2014 and took Avery Hill of Sacramento into custody. Hill was arrested on suspicion of homicide and attempted homicide and booked into Sacramento County Jail. Warrants and additional charges are pending.

A warrant had been issued for Hill on August 25, but he was already in police custody in Las Vegas at the time on unrelated charges, according to a news release from the Sacramento Police Department.

Kelly Thomas and Orlando Rhinehart were previously arrested in the shooting death at Peregrine Park.

A Sacramento homicide unit, along with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, worked to extradite Hill back to California.

In mid-August, police arrested Kelly Thomas, 22, and Orlando Rhinehart, 28, on suspicion of homicide. They each face murder charges. The shooting on May 10, 2014, happened during a child’s first birthday party at 3031 Guadalajara Way in Natomas and appeared to be gang related.

The suspects targeted several men at the party, and shot several times from a handgun. Jacoby James, 29, died at the park. The injured seven-year-old has since recovered.

BOULDER CREEK, Calif – A Civil Court case being heard in October has already garnered a history of activities not usually associated with a civil case. 44-year-old Nicole Ann Staiti was arrested for perjury under PC 118, after failing to serve a legal document to one of the parties in the civil case, which stems from a car accident that occurred in Santa Cruz County. 35-year-old Sean Ray Pfeffer, who is pleading his case in court, had also made harassing phone calls and placed harassing signs after being involved in a traffic collision with Steven Zeller and filing a lawsuit.

On May 15, during a trial held at the Superior Court of California, Civil Division, in which a Civil Case filed under Pfeffer v. Zeller, Case #1-14-SC-056489 was in jeopardy of being thrown out, but not before legal charges were brought against the plaintiff for harassing the named defendant. It was also during a court hearing that Nicole Staiti had made statements that she knew to be false.

It was found on May 16 that Pfeffer had created false documents in order to cover up the fact that he and Staiti had failed to serve the correct papers to the defendant in the case, a violation of PC 134, preparing false evidence.

Through July 30, 2013 – May 16, 2014, it was believed that the plaintiff used personal identifiable information against Zeller, who had hit Pfeffer in a traffic accident earlier in 2013. Zeller was said to have rear-ended Pfeffer in the collision. On numerous occasions Pfeffer had called and harassed Zeller. According to court documents, Pfeffer even went so far as to place metal signs and paper fliers giving notice to drivers to “Beware, Zeller is a danger to others”.

On May 5, 2014 court documents revealed that Nicole Staiti lied about serving court papers to Zeller. When Staiti had gone to Zeller’s home, she found that he was not there. So under the direction of Pfeffer, they went to his in-laws, where she briefly talked with his wife’s parents. They asked who she was, but without answering she just dropped the court papers on the ground saying “the person who just served you”. Realizing that the papers were in fact legal documents, the mother-in-law told the judge that Zeller was in fact out of state at the time and that the documents were not given to him directly.

It was also during this time that Pfeffer had made threatening phone calls to Zeller saying, “Hey, Zeller you got till midnight. Call Gieco, you [redacted] punk. I’ve tried to be patient with you. I’ve tried the legal way”.

In October of 2013 Pfeffer was contacted by the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department, who told him that the signs were illegal and that he needed to take them down and stop posting them. Pfeffer didn’t stop there. He went to Zeller’s workplace and demanded he meet with him. However, fearing for his safety, he chose not to meet with Pfeffer in the parking lot.

The next court date is being held in Dept 35 in the San Jose Hall of Justice at 9:00 AM on October 10, 2014.

SAN JOSE – According to Albert Morales with the San Jose Police Department, “On September 12, 2014 at approximately 2:22 A.M., the San Jose Police Department 911 Communication Center received a call of an unresponsive person lying on the sidewalk in the 1100 block of North 15th Street, within the San Jose city limits”. It was there, in the area near the Burger King, that officers located the unresponsive female victim who had been severely beaten by a young adult male suspect.

Kevin Enamorando

Morales said, “Sometime during the night, the victim was beaten to death by the suspect”. The victim of the beating was later identified as Betty Jennings, who was found face down with multiple visible injuries. Morales said, “Due to the severity of the victim’s injuries, she was pronounced deceased at the scene”.

Morales said, “Follow up investigation by San Jose Police Officers led to the identification and arrest of the suspect-18 year old Kevin Enamorando”. It is believed that the victim and suspect were transients, and had gotten into an argument near an area known for homeless individuals to camp out.

There were also numerous others that were hanging out in the area when the suspect attacked 58-year-old Jennings. Those individuals were able to give police a description and name of the suspect responsible for her death. Morales said, “Arriving Officers were provided information that the suspect was sleeping in the area and responsible for the assault”.

A motive behind the beating is unknown at this time. SJPD Officers arrested the suspect and transported him to the San Jose Police Department for processing before he was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on the charge of PC 187, felony murder. There are no other suspects in the savage beating death of Jennings. Morales said, “At this time, we believe Enamorando is the primary suspect”.

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to contact Detective Sgt. Guire or Detective Sgt. Davies of the San Jose Police Department’s Homicide Unit at (408)277-5283.

Read More:

San Jose Mercury News: Tragic details emerge in deadly beating of woman by fellow transient

He Was Wearing The Same Clothing As In The Surveillance Footage

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA—Detectives with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection to a rash of commercial burglaries that have plagued the little town of San Juan Bautista for weeks. The suspect, Manuel Pacheco, is behind bars tonight at the San Benito County Jail because police spotted him walking while wearing the same clothing from the surveillance tapes.

Manuel Pacheco

The investigation started on September 4, when San Benito County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to two separate burglaries and two attempted burglaries. On September 11 the same suspect, believed to be Pacheco, broke into five commercial buildings on Third Street in the early morning hours.

Police stated that Pacheco attempted to burglarize a sixth commercial business on the same street but was unsuccessful.  But bad news for Pacheco, investigators were able to obtain fingerprints and clear surveillance footage from the business.

Early Friday morning, September 12, while detectives were canvassing the area, they received word of a burglary that was occurring on Fairview Road. Then, as detectives were finishing up their investigation of the burglary, they received a call of another burglary occurring on the 200 block of Third Street.

As they drove up to the scene, they encountered Pacheco, who was walking in the area of the crime wearing the same clothes from the video from the previous burglaries.

Investigators searched Pacheco’s apartment and found some of the stolen property.

When deputies tried contact Pacheco he bolted on foot and could not be located. Deputies found his vehicle with items from the previous burglaries still in it. Deputies also searched his home in Hollister, and found even more items from the other burglaries.

“This was possibly one man or more, going from store front to store front forcing the doors open and taking whatever they could grab quickly.”  San Benito County Sheriff’s Captain Eric Taylor said.

He was taken into custody that day and booked into the San Benito County Jail. The investigation is still on going.

HESPERIA – Two men were charged with having sex with 17-year-old and 14-year-old victims, the result of an investigation that began on Sept. 7.

Two days later, Victor Callejas-Vargas, 22, of Hesperia, and Jesse Rodolfo Rios, 19, of Hesperia, were arrested after investigators from two police departments and a special unit concluded the initial stages of the inquiry.
The two men, who police believe assaulted other girls, appeared in court on Wednesday for arraignment.

Jesse Rodolfo Rios

Eventually, deputies from neighboring Hesperia Police Dept., along with investigators from the Crimes against Children Detail, joined the investigation, which was headed by Det. Michelle Brand and Sgt. Dana Foster.
Callejas-Vargas, an employee and youth pastor at the Centro Cristiano de Fe Church in Victorville, was arrested. The second suspect, Rios, is a member of the same church. Both victims were members of that church, according to investigators.

The Victorville police received the report of a possible inappropriate sexual relationship that took place between a 14-year-old female and two adult males. Further investigation led to the second victim. Callejas-Vargas faces three charges. He was booked on charges of sex with a minor three years younger, sex with a minor with the suspect over 21 and the victim under 16 and oral copulation with a person under 16.

Rios faces two counts. He was booked on charges of oral copulation with a person under 18 and sex with a foreign object. The church is located on Cottonwood Ave. in Hesperia. Both men, held at the High Desert Detention Center, were being held on $100,000 bail.

Read More:

The Sun: Hesperia youth pastor, parishioner plead not guilty to sex with teenage girls

Victor Valley News: Two church members arrested for sex crimes

SANTA ROSA – Is local resident Henry Sholten a colorful character who likes to challenge people of their conventional lives and think differently, or is he mentally ill and crying for help while putting people in danger?

Sholten’s Facebook page presents images of his colorful paintings, often done on the back of manila envelopes, and videos of him singing songs while playing a guitar, accordion, or rapping to Booker T and the MG’s song “Green Onions”. But he has an extensive criminal history, and was arrested once again this week after causing extensive damage to a stranger’s vehicle for no apparent reason.

A painting by Henry Sholten (Facebook)

According to a story published in 2006 in the Sonoma West Times, Sholten’s noteworthy antics began in 2001. That site, along with the SF Gate, details how Sholten was arrested several times for disturbances and a “lack of clothing” at Healdsburg’s skate park. At an appearance in court for one of those infractions, Scholten leapt on a clerk’s table toward the judge and shouted, “You’ll never take me alive.” He was immediately subdued by bailiffs, according to the stories. However, they also report six convictions for misdemeanor battery, two for vandalism, and one for felony battery.

The SFGate quoted Healdsburg Fire Chief Randy Collins in describing a May 2003 incident when Sholten was at the Villa Chanticleer, a community owned event location that was once a resort hotel. Often used for weddings and other special occasions, at that time it was the location of Healdsburg High School’s prom. During a prank to “impress people” the 24-year-old man got stuck in the chimney, and had to be pulled out by the Fire Department. Around that time he was also known for driving a wildly painted van around town with the words “The Love Machine” on the side. He was known for singing and playing his guitar around town, and living in back alleys and near the Russian River.

All of that led to the 2006 incident when he was charged with four counts of arson, for starting structure fires in Healdsburg. He was reported to have started the fires using paper and other material, but when one of them, at a small residential style office building on Fourth Street didn’t take well enough, he returned and used an accelerant to get it going. He also apparently spread the word about his actions, and at least five people reported that he told them he had done it. One woman even had lunch on a park bench with him and recorded his confession on her phone. Then Police chief Susan Jones said “He said Healdsburg is a nice, quiet city but rather boring and he wanted to raise some chaos.”

During his trial, his mental competence was always at issue. He spent some time in Atascadero State Hospital and underwent several conflicting psycological evaluations after his arrest. He finally pleaded no contest in 2009 to two charges of arson, and was sentenced to five years, four months. With credit for time served, he was due for release and parole around 2009 or 2010. He was also ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution to the three area fire departments. The $500,000 estimated damage he caused was likely covered by insurance.

After his release, in 2010, Sholten posted this poem on his Facebook page:
Unknown vortexes, lay waiting in my subconscious.
Strange and familiar faces seems to whiz by when I close my eye’s at night.
I need no law to tell me what to do.
All I want to do is LOVE you, like the pants need the rain so do I.
Is this hello or goodbye?
I don’t know why, but before the sandman comes, I always lust for some comfort in a dog eat dog, lord of the flies and the man with the most toys typo world.
This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship my dear did you see that movie were all hook on TV said the movie star in his or her mind they were.

Sholten’s latest antics were in this neighborhood in Santa Rosa.

At some point Sholten appears to have migrated south, to Santa Rosa. This Tuesday, September 16 at about 4 pm, police were called to a residential neighborhood in south Santa Rosa, on Deturk Avenue near the Fairgrounds. Someone had reported that a man had smashed out his car’s windows, and then threw a ladder at it, causing extensive body damage. The victim said he did not know the assailant. The responding officers saw the man nearby, who turned out to be Sholten. He ran away, however, and they set up a perimeter in the area. He was soon seen on the roof of one of the houses, and tried to get away, jumping from roof to roof.

Once he ran out of accessible roofs, he jumped to the ground, and ran inside one of the houses. He didn’t stay long, and was then climbing over fences. A resident then directed police to his backyard, where Sholten was found hiding in shrubbery. Despite being cornered, he did not give up easily. He fought off the officers, and one of them used his Taser gun to try to subdue him. Sholten removed the Taser probes and continued to fight until finally being subdued.

The 35-year-old was medically examined for any injury sustained during his attempt to escape, and then taken to Sonoma County Jail for booking on felony vandalism, resisting arrest,  and three outstanding warrants for past vandalism and resisting arrest. He will no doubt undergo further psychological examination, but this last incident may put him over the “3 strikes” provision of California law and result in a much longer sentence than he has faced before. Doug McCasland, writer for the Sonoma West Times, quoted Sholten as saying in his 2006 court proceedings “I’m hecka bored in there, I got way too much stuff to do … Y’all should just let me go.” That likely won’t happen for a while this time.

Read More:

SFGate: Healdsburg arson suspect arrested (2006)

Sonoma West Times: Henry Sholten arrested for arson

BERMUDA DUNES – An early morning blaze was contained and is being investigated as a hate crime based on racial slurs.

Early Monday morning, Riverside Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the residential blaze in the 78800 block of Avenue 42, Bermuda Dunes. Upon the deputies’ arrival, they were informed by fire personnel that the fire was likely arson.

The fire, which had engulfed one unit of a duplex, was knocked down in about 30 minutes and contained to one unit, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Rick Griggs said. There was smoke in both units when firefighters arrived, but fire personnel reported that it was only drift smoke in the second unit.

The residence was reported to have been vacant since last Monday’s torrential rains. The units had suffered from flood damage and been abandoned. According to Sergeant Randy Vasquez, graffiti referring to a specific ethnic group was located at the premises.

The Desert Sun reported that a derogatory word toward blacks was scrawled in what appeared to be red spray paint on the garage of the home. However, the Desert Sun also reported that the owners of the property noted that the word had been misspelled and they did not feel that it was intended as a hate crime.

However, Thermal Station Investigators will be investigating the incident as a possible hate crime / arson with the assistance of Cal-Fire.  The Riverside Sheriff’s Department is asking for anyone with information regarding this crime to call Investigator Burgie at the Sheriff’s Thermal Station at 760-863-8990 or Sheriff’s Dispatch at 760-836-3215 and refer to case # C14 258 0002.

Read More:

KESQ: Arson investigators looking into fire

SACRAMENTO— Thanks to information provided from a tip, Folsom Police have recovered church audio and visual equipment that was stolen last week. The equipment, which belonged to Bayside Church, was found after detectives searched a home on Wildomar Way in Carmichael on Monday, September 15.

Stockton’s affinity for guns is made evident in images he shared on Facebook.

On Friday, September 12, police requested information about the theft that had occurred between August 31 and September 7 from a storage container on the Folsom Middle School campus. Philadelphia Insurance and InterWest Insurance Inc. had offered a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved.

After receiving a tip, police obtained a warrant to search the Carmichael home of 45-yeear-old Brian Stockton, where they found the stolen audio and visual equipment.

Police obtained a warrant to search Stockton’s home, located on Wildomar in Carmichael.

In addition to the church’s stolen equipment, police also found two stolen vehicles, an enclosed trailer, a watercraft, a small quantity of methamphetamine and psilocybin mushrooms, and numerous weapons including three handguns, two rifles, an assault rifle and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition. Stockton, 45, is a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition. He had been arrested in 2012, once for possession of a narcotic controlled substance, and later for burglary and conspiracy.

Police arrested resident Stockton and booked him into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of offenses related to possessing stolen property, drugs, ammunition and firearms.  Police said the investigation is continuing.

Santa Barbara County - There are several very simple tenets that should be foremost in the mind of anyone aspiring to a career as a car thief: 1) Avoid stealing cars on Sundays; criminals are generally less active on the Sabbath, and police have plenty of time to watch passing traffic in hopes of spotting a stolen car; 2) Refrain from driving a stolen vehicle around anywhere close to the city where the stealing occurred (everybody’s looking for it); 3) If the cops spot you while driving the stolen car and you see flashing red lights behind you, be sure that the car is capable of high-torque, acceleration, and top-end speeds in excess of any high-powered police cruiser; 4) Do not attempt to evade arrest by either running over a cop or ramming his black-and-white; 5) Don’t think you can win a footrace with cops unless you happen to be Usain Bolt.

Sadly for his future as a successful car thief, Steven Diaz, a 23-year old resident of Santa Maria, seems to have been unaware of these fundamental guidelines on the morning of September 15th. It was approximately 10:30 a.m. on that day when patrol officers of the Santa Maria Police Department spotted a parked car that had earlier been reported stolen.

Rather than simply approach the car and start recording its VIN data, however, according to SMPD spokesman Sgt. Eligio Lara, “the officers conducted surveillance of the vehicle”. It wasn’t long before their patience was rewarded with the appearance of Diaz, who climbed behind the wheel of what is known in the parlance as the “hot car”.

When officers made contact with Diaz to announce his immediate arrest, however, he fired the ignition and made a sincere effort to run down one of the men in blue, whereupon he drove off and ran smack into the officers’ patrol unit. By then another patrol unit had arrived on scene, and Diaz took the opportunity to run into that second black-and-white before speeding off.

As the two patrol units gave chase for a full eight minutes through city streets, Diaz ultimately alighted from the stolen car and made an attempt to flee on foot, apparently unaware of the dismal success record of such endeavors. Diaz was shortly thereafter brought into submission, arrested, and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of car theft, evading, and resisting arrest. Additional charges are pending.

Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking

Read more:

Noozhawk: Suspect arrested after leading SM police on chase

Santa Maria Times: Suspected car thief arrested