CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake Police Department investigation into an alleged home invasion robbery last week linked the crime to a Middletown man arrested over the weekend for an attempted robbery and shooting.
Clearlake Police Sgt. Nick Bennett said 33-year-old Middletown resident John Chester Cook was determined to be a suspect in the home invasion, which occurred last Thursday, August 23, two days before Cook is alleged to have shot a Kelseyville man in the stomach during an attempted robbery.
In addition, Bennett said police arrested 23-year-old Clearlake resident John William Brott for his alleged involvement in the robbery.
Bennett said that on Aug. 23 Clearlake Police Officers responded to the Harbor Lite Resort on Lakeshore Avenue on a report of an assault victim.
Upon arriving at the scene, officers contacted the victim, 63-year-old Clearlake resident Paul Norson, who Bennett said informed officers that two unidentified suspects approached him at the front door of his residence and displayed a handgun and forced him back into his residence.
Norson stated one of the suspects was possibly armed with a sawed-off shotgun. Bennett said the suspects beat Norson with the handgun then ransacked the residence stealing two guitars, a wallet and a cell phone.
A witness on the scene identified one of the suspects as Cook. During his arrest two days later as a result of the shooting, sheriff’s deputies found a black handgun that had been stolen in a burglary in Clearlake and may have been used in the assault on Norson, Bennett said.
During the continuing investigation into the case Brott was identified as another suspect, Bennett said.
He said Clearlake Police detectives were called in and completed a search warrant for Brott’s residence, located at 3000 13th St.
Early Monday morning Clearlake Police detectives and officers executed the search warrant on Brott’s residence and Brott was located and arrested. Bennett said officers located the two stolen guitars and one sawed off-shotgun.
Brott was later transported and booked into Lake County Jail, where he was booked for felony second degree robbery, with bail set at $250,000, as well as felony first degree burglary and a misdemeanor bench warrant. Jail records indicated he remained in custody on Tuesday afternoon.
Cook also remains in custody on a no-bail hold, with a new attempted murder charge added to his booking sheet.
Additionally, further information was discovered during the service of the search warrant which linked Cook to a separate robbery which had occurred in the city of Clearlake. Bennett said that case is now being forwarded to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for further charges on Cook.
This investigation also developed information which linked criminal activity occurring in other areas of Lake County which was turned over to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Bennett said.
Clearlake Police Department is asking anyone with additional information on this case to contact Detective Alvarado at 707-994-8251.