Twenty-five-year-old Joshua Jay Paulick was arrested on Oct. 8 and booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of discharging his weapon in a negligent manner, assault with a firearm and making criminal threats, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman said Paulick also faces misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and brandishing a firearm. Paulick posted a $15,000 bail the night following his arrest and was released.
At about 7:40 p.m. Oct. 8 the Lake County Sheriff's Dispatch received a call from Paulick who reported a vehicle and several subjects had trespassed on his property on Grange Road in Middletown and that he was detaining the men with a rifle, Bauman said.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and found Paulick standing in the road in front of his property holding a rifle, according to Bauman.
Two other men, later identified as 21-year-old Trenton Reid and 47-year-old Lewis Reid, both of Clearlake Oaks, were parked nearby in their vehicle, Bauman said. Paulick surrendered his rifle without incident and deputies investigated.
Paulick told deputies that had been in the backyard of his property when he saw the Reids’ vehicle drive down Grange Road and stop near his property. Bauman said Paulick reported getting his rifle and going to confront the men as he allegedly thought they were trying to steal his marijuana.
According to the men in the car, however, they were on their way home from Santa Rosa and had to urinate so they pulled off of Highway 29 onto Grange Road to relieve themselves, Bauman reported.
All accounts indicated that when Paulick approached the men, he is alleged to have ordered them to stop and then fired one round from his rifle into the dirt. Bauman said Paulick is alleged to have ordered a third man, identified only as Thomas Rannie, to run away and Rannie ran into a nearby field.
As the two Reids tried to get back into their car, Paulick allegedly ran up to them, pointed the gun at the car and ordered Lewis Reid to give him the keys, Bauman said. Paulick then allegedly fired another shot down the road and apparently held them at gunpoint until deputies arrived.
While no one happened to be injured, Bauman said the incident serve as yet another public reminder of the potential dangers associated with the cultivation of marijuana, whether legally or illegally grown.
The sheriff’s office reminds people to show due caution when venturing onto unfamiliar or sparsely populated areas that may be host to marijuana grow. Bauman said it is not uncommon for growers to resort to the use of firearms to protect their crop and the end result may not always be as fortunate as last Friday’s incident.
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