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Bay Area men arrested in Valley fire area; weapon, burglary tools found in vehicle
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Three Bay Area men were arrested early Thursday after they were found in the Valley fire area, with one of them carrying a concealed weapon and burglary tools found in the vehicle.
Dyami Gene Connell, 23, and 28-year-old Michael James Jimenez, both of Brisbane, and 23-year-old David Michael Cesari of San Francisco were taken into custody following a vehicle stop, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
At 2:55 a.m. a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy was patrolling the evacuation area around Hidden Valley Lake. Brooks said the deputy parked at the intersection of Jerusalem Grade and Spruce Grove Road, conducting enforcement stops in the evacuated area.
Brooks said the deputy noticed a white Toyota Tacoma which, turned onto Jerusalem Grade from Spruce Grove road. He also noticed that the vehicle contained three male subjects.
The deputy conducted an enforcement stop of the vehicle and contacted Connell, who was the driver. Brooks said Connell was wearing camouflage clothing. Jimenez, the front passenger, was wearing camouflage pants and a black jacket while Cesari, the rear passenger, was wearing all black clothing.
Brooks said the three men told the deputy that they were going out Jerusalem Grade to get fuel. When the deputy questioned their story, they told him that they were going to access Knoxville to get around the hard road closure.
When he asked them to describe how they were getting around the closure and what the directions were to get to Lower Lake, they were unable to tell him, Brooks said.
The deputy asked them if they turned right or left after the Jerusalem Bridge and the driver said they were going straight at that point. Brooks said the deputy, who is familiar with the area, knew that you cannot drive straight, due to a fence and small embankment.
While talking to the subjects, Brooks said the deputy could smell the odor of marijuana emitting from the passenger area of the vehicle. He asked the subjects repeatedly if they possessed any weapons or drugs, which they all denied.
The deputy informed the subjects that he was going to search the vehicle. When he removed Cesari from the vehicle, he felt a hard object in his front right jacket pocket. Brooks said the deputy removed the object and found it to be a loaded .40-caliber magazine.
Brooks said the deputy then asked Cesari where the firearm was and he said it was tucked in the small of his back at his waistline. The deputy then removed a semi-automatic .40-caliber pistol, which was underneath a heavy jacket. He inspected the firearm and discovered it was loaded.
The deputy continued his search of the vehicle and located a full face concealing mask, three pairs of gloves, tools, duct tape, zip ties, numerous key rings with keys, acetone, lighter, headlamps, flashlights, binoculars, empty plastic bags, empty garbage bags, a backpack and large knives, according to Brooks.
The deputy noticed that the wheel wells of the vehicle had visible mud and he believed they had found a way around the hard closure through private property. Brooks said the subjects claimed to live on Black Bass Pass, but Central Dispatch had no incident history tying them to the residence.
All three subjects maintained they were not burglarizing residences. However, Brooks said a Napa County Sheriff's deputy had informed the deputy that the Toyota was spotted on Cobb the night before and it was believed they had possibly been burglarizing residences.
The Napa deputy had described the vehicle as being a white Toyota with a camper shell, which matched the description of the vehicle the men were in, Brooks said.
Cesari was arrested for possession of burglary tools, entering a closed disaster area, having a concealed unregistered firearm with ammunition, carrying a concealed firearm, carrying a loaded firearm in public and conspiracy to commit a crime, Brooks said.
Brooks said Connell was arrested for possession of burglary tools, entering a closed disaster area and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Jimenez was arrested for conspiracy to commit a crime and entering a closed disaster area, Brooks said.
All three subjects were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked. Brooks said the bail for each man currently is set at $100,000.