LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Tribal Health is looking for American Indian and Alaskan Native eighth graders, 12th graders and college seniors from the Lake County community who will be graduating in the 2012-13 school year.
On June 18, Lake County Tribal Health will host the second annual “To Honor One is To Honor All” Tribal Community Event to recognize all American Indian/Alaskan Natives graduating this year from junior and senior high – including GED completion – and college.
During this event, graduates will be invited to make a special leadership drum with natural materials of wood, animal hides and sinew.
They will hear inspirational stories from Native American college graduates, learn about college opportunities and celebrate their educational achievement with their families and community.
If you know of an American Indian/Alaskan Native from the Lake County community who will graduate in the 2012-13 school year, please submit their name and contact information to Cassie Russ, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call 707-263-8382, Extension 212, by June 1 for a personal invitation to be mailed.
A new national strategy will help strengthen California’s ongoing efforts to manage climate change and protect natural resources.
In partnership with state and tribal agencies, the Obama Administration on Tuesday released the first nationwide strategy to help public and private decision makers address the impacts that climate change is having on natural resources and the people and economies that depend on them.
Developed in response to a request by Congress, the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is the product of extensive national dialogue that spanned nearly two years and was shaped by comments from more than 55,000 Americans.
“The specific implications of climate change on fish and wildlife are uncertain and will vary on a regional and state basis,” said Kevin Hunting, Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). “However, climate change is escalating and accelerating these threats, making it much more difficult and costly for agencies to manage. That’s why the development and release of the National Strategy is important because it serves as a foundation of a science-based and collective nationwide effort and is truly a national strategy – not just a federal strategy.”
The National Strategy provides a roadmap of key steps needed over the next five years to reduce the current and expected impacts of climate change on our natural resources, which include: changing species distributions and migration patterns, the spread of wildlife diseases and invasive species, the inundation of coastal habitats with rising sea levels, changing productivity of our coastal oceans and changes in freshwater availability.
The National Strategy builds upon efforts already under way by federal, state and tribal governments, and other organizations to safeguard fish, wildlife and plants and provides specific voluntary steps that agencies and partners can take in the coming years to reduce costly damages and protect the health of our communities and economy.
The strategy does not prescribe any mandatory activities for government or nongovernmental entities, nor suggest any regulatory actions.
In California, significant changes have been measured in its climate such as changes in temperature and precipitation since the late 1800s. The state is experiencing more frequent and larger wildfires.
Precipitation is shifting toward more rain and less snow, which has implications for species and habitats as well as for water supplies in its rivers.
Climate scientists project that in the coming decades California’s climate will warm even faster, with more frequent and intense heat waves, and further changes to the snowpack.
“Climate change is very real here and we’ve responded,” Hunting said. “The National Strategy and the 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy are examples of how federal and state efforts can work together to address climate change impacts to our fish, wildlife and plants. Addressing climate change is about partnerships at all levels. State fish and wildlife agencies recognize that climate change is a large-scale issue that will require a large-scale response to support robust populations and healthy habitats. We believe that this is the best insurance in an uncertain future.”
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Thanks to a partnership between a local credit union and a nonprofit, a Lakeport family will soon have a home of its own.
In 2012, Habitat for Humanity Lake County was presented with the unique opportunity to partner with Mendo Lake Credit Union.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Richard Cooper, Mendo Lake Credit Union presented a property in the city of Lakeport to Habitat for Humanity Lake County to be refurbished for one of Habitat’s partner families.
Volunteers from the community are aiding future homeowner Callie Swift in the refurbishment of what will soon be her family’s new home.
“I am so excited,” said Swift, a single mother of two. “I’ve helped on other Habitat homes; it is finally my turn. It’s a lot of physical labor, but will be so worth it. I’ll be two minutes away from work and I can see the lake from my deck.”
In addition to the property, Mendo Lake Credit Union employees and volunteers will participate in the refurbishment work and will assist Swift by providing beds for her two children.
“We are able to turn a bad situation into a good one,” said Cooper. “This is pretty exciting.”
This will be Habitat for Humanity Lake’s 17th home in the county and its first in Lakeport.
In order to provide homeownership opportunities for low-income, first-time homebuyers, Habitat for Humanity Lake County relies on donations and volunteers.
To find out how you can help, or for more information about Habitat for Humanity Lake County, visit www.lakehabitat.org , call 707-994-1100 or drop by the office at 16285 A Main St., Lower Lake.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Stockton man has been arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $100,000 from a Clearlake church where he previously was pastor.
Bruce Anthony Stark, 62, was arrested by Elk Grove Police Department on an outstanding Clearlake Police Department warrant for grand theft on Saturday, March 16, according to Clearlake Police Sgt. Nick Bennett.
Stark was booked into the Lake County Jail on Wednesday, March 20, for felony grand theft, with bail set at $40,000. Jail records indicated he later posted the required percentage of bail and was released.
Bennett said the case began in 2008 when members of the Hilltop Apostolic Church in Clearlake reported they were victims of a vehicle theft, misappropriation of church funds and grand theft of church property.
Stark was hired by the church as pastor in 2002. Between 2002 and 2007 it is alleged that he embezzled cash and property in excess of $100,000, Bennett said.
Clearlake Police Det. Carl Stein began a lengthy investigation which involved numerous cash transactions and illegal property mortgage collateral loans involving church properties where Stark converted the monies for his personal use, according to Bennett.
During the course of the investigation Det. Stein uncovered additional crimes Stark may have been involved in but were occurring in other jurisdictions, Bennett said.
After interviewing 26 people who were involved in the Clearlake case, reviewing years of bank statements and multiple county records, the case was submitted to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for a complaint, Bennett said.
Bennett said the Lake County Superior Court issued the arrest warrant for Stark in December 2012.
Stark’s booking sheet said he is scheduled to appear in Lake County Superior Court on Monday, April 2.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A fund has been set up to help a local couple with their effort to get a lifesaving bone marrow transplant for their young son.
Rodd and Kellie Joseph found out in February that their baby boy Ryland, born last October, has a rare and life-threatening disorder called Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, as Lake County News first reported earlier this month.
Children like Ryland with the more severe form of the disease, which predominantly affects boys, have a life expectancy of about 5 to 8 years, as Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome makes them prone to autoimmune deficiencies, bleeding, and other diseases like leukemia or lymphoma.
At this time, only a bone marrow transplant offers Ryland a full cure, and the costs of such a procedure are estimated at $1 million or more.
An account has been opened in the name of The Ryland Robert Joseph Be The Match Fund at Mendo Lake Credit Union in Clearlake to help with medical bills.
To donate to this cause, visit any Mendo Lake Credit Union branch and make a deposit to The Ryland Robert Joseph Be The Match Fund account, 7XXX2080.
A bone marrow drive and fundraiser for Ryland Joseph will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 20, at Lake County Fire Protection District’s Station 70, 14815 Olympic Drive in Clearlake.
Community members are urged to join the national bone marrow registry, Be the Match, www.bethematch.org , either by going online or by attending the April 20 event.
People between the ages of 18 and 44 are the key donor age group, although donors remain in the registry typically until age 61.
Testing is simple and painless, involving a cheek swab for DNA analysis, according to the registry.
There are currently 10.5 million registry members nationwide. Be the Match facilitated 5,800 bone marrow transplants in 2012, and earlier this month the registry reported that more than 800 people in California needed bone marrow transplants.
The Joseph family is encouraging people to register not just in the hope that they could find a match for Ryland, but also to help the thousands of patients nationwide needing the procedure.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A member of the state Board of Equalization will host a teleconference town hall in April on the state fire fee, which currently is the focus of a lawsuit and legislation seeking to overturn it.
Board of Equalization Member George Runner will host the tele-town hall beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 2.
For those who want to participate in the tele-town hall, they are asked to register in advance at www.calfirefee.com/townhall or by calling 916-324-4970.
Participants will receive a telephone call at the start of the tele-town hall connecting them with the group.
The fire fee, passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, assigned a fee to every parcel in the State Responsibility Area, as Lake County News has reported.
At a November 2011 meeting, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved a per-parcel fee of $150. For parcels also covered by local responsibility areas, there was a $35 per parcel reduction in the fee.
The state began billing property owners for the fees in 2012.
Opponents of the fee said it wasn’t going toward fire prevention but to the creation of a new bureaucracy. At the same time, the state took a reported $50 million from Cal Fire’s budget.
Since then, legislation has been introduced to try to repeal the fee. Runner, a vocal opponent of the fire fee, said the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed suit to overturn the fee. The Board of Equalization was served with the suit on March 12.
“Recent revelations regarding the state’s misuse of fire fee dollars have only strengthened our case that the ‘fire fee’ is really an illegal tax,” Runner, who plans to join the lawsuit through an amicus brief, said in a written statement.
Payments of the fee so far have generated $72 million in revenue for the state, Runner reported.
He said the 2013 round of bills – which had been set to be mailed April 2 – is being delayed in response to concerns about accuracy of billing data.
Last week, Runner had sent Cal Fire a letter asking for the delay until the Board of Forestry has the opportunity to correct the State Responsibility Area maps, as there have been concerns that inconsistencies in boundaries resulted in some property owners being incorrectly billed.
Cal Fire also has been under increased scrutiny after nearly $4 million was discovered in a secret fund, with the fire fees reportedly diverted for wildfire investigations.
“The fire fee is tax policy at its worst,” said Runner. “Ever since the Legislature enacted this illegal tax, it’s created one problem after another. If the Legislature doesn’t act quickly to repeal this fiasco, the courts need to strike it down.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Board of Parole Hearings has denied parole to a former Kelseyville man convicted of murdering a child in 1990.
At a hearing Thursday, March 21, the Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for convicted murderer and child abuser Leonard Scott Snider, 53, according to Lake County Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who attended the lifer hearing at the High Desert State Prison in Susanville to argue against Snider’s release.
Snider was found guilty by a jury on Aug. 31, 1990, of the first-degree murder of a 3 and a half year old Lakeport boy, and felony child abuse of another young boy, and sentenced to 31 years to life.
He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Robert L. Crone Jr. Snider was originally prosecuted by District Attorney Stephen Hedstrom, who is now one of Lake County’s Superior Court judges.
According to investigation reports, between 1988 and 1990 Snider was involved in several incidents of domestic violence against his girlfriends, including threats and physical violence.
The 8-year-old son of one of Snider’s girlfriends, during a 1990 interview, reported to a District Attorney’s Office investigator that Snider had been abusing him for a long time.
The victim reported being beaten by Snider many times, including beating him against a wall, slapping him, placing him in steaming hot water in a bathtub numerous times, smashing his face into things, giving him a black eye, kicking him in the groin with hiking boots, holding his head under water, pulling hair out of his head, tying a rope around his neck so he had difficulty breathing, and repeatedly beating, bruising and threatening the victim.
The child victim also reported Snider put a rubber band around the child’s genitals and repeatedly snapped it while covering the victim’s mouth so he could not scream.
On April 7, 1990, Lake County sheriff’s deputies and Lakeport Police responded to the hospital in Lakeport regarding a 3 and a half year old boy, the son of Snider’s new girlfriend at the time, who was dying from severe trauma.
Snider initially claimed that the boy had fallen off of a deck and injured himself. However, doctors at the UC Davis Medical Center determined the child had died from blunt force trauma to the head.
At the time the child had severe bruising to his body, cerebral trauma and swelling, scars on his body, scarring of his genitals, burns on his legs, and a fractured arm.
Police responded to the child’s home in Sixth Street in Lakeport and found several areas of blood inside the house. During the investigation Snider finally admitted he lost it and spanked the child too hard.
During the investigation an adult relative of the child advised investigators she had previously witnessed Snider beating the child, and had seen severe bruising to the child and chunks of hair missing from the child’s head. When asked at the time the child said Snider caused the injuries.
During a post-conviction interview Snider claimed that both children loved him, he loved them and he was like a father figure to the children. Snider blamed the child’s mother for the death and denied abusing the children.
In an October 2012 interview in prison Snider continued to deny committing any child abuse and claimed he was wrongfully incriminated.
During his time in prison Snider has been a disciplinary problem and has been caught with inmate manufactured alcohol 10 times and has been disciplined for incidents of violence seven times.
At the March 21 hearing, Hinchcliff advised the parole commissioners that because of the severity, gruesomeness and callousness of the crimes committed against the children, along with Snider’s conduct while in prison, the Lake County District Attorney’s Office would be attending every parole hearing for Snider and making every effort to keep Snider in prison for the rest of his life.
Pursuant to a stipulation that included the agreement of the parole commissioners, parole was denied was for five years, and Snider’s next parole hearing will be in 2018, Hinchcliff reported.
Hinchcliff reported that the District Attorney’s Office will be at that 2018 hearing to oppose parole.
In an effort to eliminate dangerous behind-the-wheel cell phone use and texting, the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), California Highway Patrol (CHP), and more than 200 law enforcement agencies across the state on Tuesday announced high visibility enforcement operations during April’s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
The overall goal of the increased enforcement is to convince drivers of the dangers of distracted driving and reduce the number of people impacted by this risky behavior.
The “It’s Not Worth It!” theme emphasizes that a phone call or text isn’t worth a hefty fine or a collision.
“In a few short years, distracted driving has grown to be a nationwide traffic safety concern, and we all need to put forth the effort necessary to put an end to it,” said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. “Law enforcement agencies will be stepping up their efforts to help remind drivers to stay alert when behind the wheel and to not endanger their lives or the lives of others with distractions from mobile devices.”
In recent years, hundreds have been killed and thousands seriously injured in California as a result of collisions that involved at least one driver who was distracted.
Nationally, an estimated 3,331 people died in 2011. Any activity that diverts the driver’s attention away from the primary task of driving is distracting, but the recent dramatic rise in cell phone talking and texting has greatly increased the number of collisions.
“No text message or phone call is worth the risk of serious injury – or much worse,” said Brian Kelly, Acting Secretary of the Business, Transportation & Housing Agency. “Always keep your eyes on the road and hands off your phone while driving.”
Behind the wheel, cell phone use can significantly reduce the brain functions needed for safe driving, sometimes up to 37 percent. The cell phone conversation can cause such a reduction in proper brain function that good drivers are transforming seemingly into inattentive “zombies” behind the wheel.
To avoid falling victim to “zombie-like” distracted driving behaviors OTS is providing drivers with the following tips that can be implemented by any motorist:
Turn off your phone and/or put it out of reach while driving;
Include in your outgoing message that you can’t answer while you are driving;
Don’t call or text anyone at a time when you think they may be driving;
Adjust controls and set your song playlist before you set out on the road;
Stay alert and keep your mind on the task of driving- often after a long day at work or a not-so-restful night’s sleep, people’s minds can wander when behind the wheel. If you find yourself daydreaming – clear your head and focus on the road.
In 2012, the California Department of Motor Vehicles reported nearly 450,000 handheld cell phone and texting convictions, with more than 57,000 tickets issued in April alone.
The CHP and statewide law enforcement agencies are committed to ensuring our streets are safe by ticketing anyone found driving while distracted.
The fine for a first time texting or hand-held cell phone violation is $159, with subsequent tickets costing $279.
“Enforcement is just one part of this campaign,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The larger goal is educating motorists about the dangers of distracted driving and encouraging them to change their behavior behind the wheel. This effort is not about how many citations law enforcement officers can issue, but how many lives are ultimately saved because motorists made the right choice to focus their attention on the road, free of distraction.”
Drivers and passengers alike are invited to check out all the Distracted Driving Zombies and add comments on the OTS Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CaliforniaOTS , and follow OTS on Twitter @OTS_CA.
MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – A prescribed fire is planned for this Wednesday on the Grindstone Ranger District of the Mendocino National Forest, conditions permitting.
The Alder Springs Underburn is planned for approximately 250 acres and is located near Alder Springs off of Forest Highway 7.
The public may notice smoke in this area of the forest Wednesday, as well as residual smoke after ignitions are over, forest officials said.
Forest visitors are asked to be aware of their surroundings and watch for prescribed burning operations to maintain personal and firefighter safety.
Areas where prescribed burning operations are taking place will be well signed with increased fire personnel and agency traffic in the area.
Prescribed burning is an important tool for the forest to use for hazardous fuels reduction and forest health improvement, including wildlife habitat.
Prescribed fire is applied by trained professionals in a skillful manner under specific weather conditions in a defined location to achieve specific objectives. Each prescribed fire can be different visually depending on the forest types, fuel load and how long fire has been absent from the area, including both wildfires and prescribed fires.
Forest officials said prescribed burns are conducted when there is a window of opportunity and specific conditions and criteria are met before, and will be sustained during and after, the burn.
Visitors are encouraged to contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316 for more information.
Confirmation and updates on prescribed fire activities can also be found on Twitter, @MendocinoNF, or visit www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino .
LUCERNE, Calif. – On Tuesday evening at the Lucerne Hotel, Marymount California University hosted a dinner to update community leaders about the college’s new campus at the site and to introduce a host of visiting students.
Marymount President Dr. Michael Brophy said the evening also was an opportunity for the university to bring together its two families – the new one in Lake County and those students and staff who came from Southern California.
The students have kept busy during their spring break visit, taking part in what Brophy called an “archaeological dig” at Anderson Marsh – which college officials said actually was a trash cleanup project – and enjoying time at Blue Lakes, with plans to visit Lucerne Elementary School and a food pantry, with a hike of Mt. Konocti and a visit to the redwoods also planned. They’re staying at the Lodge at Blue Lakes due to construction still being under way at the Lucerne Hotel.
Speaking to more than 100 people in the hotel’s dining room, with its view of Clear Lake, Brophy said of the building, “This is an amazing testament to this county leadership.”
He gave special mention to Kelly Curtis Intagliata, Marymount’s director of communications, who played an important role in selecting the new university name; retired County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox; Cox’s successor Matt Perry; Eric Seely, deputy county administrative officer for special projects; and Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook for their work to give Marymount a home in Lake County.
Last fall, Marymount signed a lease agreement with the county of Lake for the Lucerne Hotel, which will become its third campus, in addition to Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro.
Built in the 1920s, “the Castle” – as community members have known the hotel for decades – was purchased by the county in 2010 and then offered as an educational campus through a request for proposals sent out to colleges and universities.
Brophy said that request for proposals – written by Cox, who has since retired – landed on his desk in June 2011.
“It really inspired us,” said Brophy, explaining that Marymount’s trustees thought a rural location would be great to add to its research offerings.
Brophy said Lake County will be the university’s rural research location, with Rancho Palos Verdes the urban location and students also able to work at a Methodist university in Ghana.
This year, Marymount will have what Brophy called a “quiet” opening as small numbers of upper division and graduate students begin arriving.
During his Tuesday evening remarks Brophy explained that students from Southern California will come to Lake County to take part in internships and research on a wide range of topics.
In 2014 college officials expect to offer more educational opportunities. “We’re going to deliver in a major way” at the upper class levels, said Brophy, with Marymount to seek accreditation to award degrees to students who study at the Lucerne campus.
In the meantime, they’re searching for a campus executive director who is expected to be in place by July or August, Brophy said.
That individual, Brophy explained, will – among other things – work on “town and gown” relations and hiring staff.
Over the next 18 months the university will be looking for good educational talent for the Lucerne campus, Brophy said.
Marymount is expanding its educational offerings in many ways. Last September it announced the application to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges for accreditation for two new master’s degrees programs – master of science in community psychology and a master of science in leadership and community development – for a fall 2013 launch.
College officials also reported that Marymount will begin offering professional development and personal enrichment courses beginning late this summer targeting local educators, members of the business community and Social Services and Mental Health employees.
In addition, they are planning for a transfer program to begin in fall 2014 for students from Yuba College and Mendocino College.
Brophy said Tuesday that the institution’s new name – Marymount California University, announced last week – also is an acknowledgement that Marymount has moved beyond its Southern California roots and found a new home in Lake County, Brophy said.
He offered his thanks to everyone who had welcomed Marymount California University to Lucerne.
Marymount’s students, he added, would make everyone proud.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The California Department of Water Resources will conduct the season’s next-to-last snow survey this Thursday, March 28.
It is expected that the manual measurements will confirm electronic readings showing that snowpack water content is well below normal for the date.
Remote sensors on Tuesday indicated that statewide, snowpack water content is 54 percent of average for the date. That is also 54 percent of the average April 1 reading when the snowpack normally is at its peak before the spring melt.
The snowpack normally provides about a third of California’s water as it melts into streams, reservoirs and aquifers in spring and early summer, the Department of Water Resources reported.
November and December storms built a heavy snowpack early this season, but conditions since have been unusually dry, the agency said.
How much record dry conditions in much of the state have depleted the snowpack will be assessed by surveyors from DWR and cooperating agencies as they take measurements up and down the mountain ranges.
One focus of attention Thursday will be on the manual survey scheduled for 11 a.m. off Highway 50 near Echo Summit.
Despite the dwindling snowpack, most key storage reservoirs are above or near historic levels for the date, according to the agency.
An exception is San Luis Reservoir, a critical off stream reservoir south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that is only at 63 percent of its historic level for the date. San Luis, which has a capacity of 2,027,840 acre-feet, normally is filled by pumping from the Delta, which has been restricted to protect Delta smelt and salmon.
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
DWR currently estimates that it will be able to deliver 35 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of water requested by the 29 public agencies that distribute State Water Project water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.
The delivery estimate was reduced from 40 percent on Friday due to dry weather and pumping restrictions to protect Delta smelt and salmon.
The final SWP allocation for calendar year 2012 was 65 percent of requested deliveries. The initial delivery estimate for calendar year 2011 was only 25 percent of requested SWP water.
However, as winter took hold, a near record snowpack and heavy rains resulted in deliveries of 80 percent of requests in 2011.
The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.
The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of pumping restrictions to protect Delta fish – was in 2006, state officials said.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A man who Monterey County officials had been seeking since 1997 for a homicide was arrested last week following a traffic stop in Glenn County.
Fidel Rios-Soto, 39, of Renton, Wash., was taken into custody for drug charges and later booked for the murder warrant, according to Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones.
At 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, the California Highway Patrol conducted an enforcement stop on a vehicle for a vehicle code violation on southbound Interstate 5, south of the County Road 20 overpass, Jones reported.
Officers contacted the driver, Rios-Soto, and an adult female passenger, both of Washington state. Rios-Soto was cooperative and advised the officers he had methamphetamine and approximately $6,000 of U.S. currency on his person, Jones said.
Glenn Interagency Narcotics Task Force (GLINTF) agents were called and took over the investigation. Jones said the CHP officer on scene advised GLINTF agents there possibly was an outstanding felony arrest warrant for homicide out of Monterey County for a Fidel Rios-Soto, but with a different date of birth. The outstanding warrant was issued in 1997.
GLINTF agents located approximately 16 grams of methamphetamine, approximately $24,000 in U.S. currency, and a loaded handgun inside the vehicle. Jones said the street value of the narcotics was estimated at $1,600.
GLINTF agents, in conjunction with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, continued the investigation to determine the true identity of Rios-Soto, Jones said. The identity was confirmed by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office by photos, tattoos, surgical scars, and by comparing latent print cards that were provided by GLINTF.
On Friday, March 22, Fidel Rios-Soto was booked for the felony warrant for homicide, with bail set at $500,000, Jones said. On March 19 he had been booked by GLINTF agents on the fresh local narcotics and weapons violations, with bail set at $55,000.
Glenn County Sheriff’s correctional officers also obtained a no bail Immigration & Customs Enforcement hold on Rios-Soto, Jones said.
Rios-Soto alleged that he was currently living in Renton, Wash., and worked for NW Classic Landscapes, also located in Renton, according to Jones.
Arrangements will be made to have Rios-Soto transported to Monterey County to answer for the alleged homicide. Jones said Glenn County GLINTF will continue to assist Monterey County as needed.