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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake man was arrested early Friday morning after authorities say he stole a Lake County Fire Protection District ambulance from the scene of a fire.
Derrick Kyle Schuleter, 24, was taken into custody by a Clearlake Police detective who, along with the fire chief, tracked Schuleter down in the Lower Lake area, according to Sgt. Rodd Joseph.
Joseph said that at 7 a.m. Friday Clearlake Police officers responded to a report of a possible stolen ambulance from the scene of a fire near Walmart.
Information received by Clearlake Police Dispatch was there was an unauthorized male voice using the emergency radio in Medic Unit 7013, Joseph said.
At the time of the call, Joseph said the Lake County Fire Protection District was actively working a wildland fire off of 18th Avenue, near St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake. The fire was located close to the area where the Extension fire would break out Friday afternoon.
Clearlake Police Dispatch was able to confirm with Lake County Fire Protection District that one of their ambulances, Medic Unit 7013, had just been stolen from the scene of the early morning fire, Joseph said.
Joseph said Clearlake Police officers immediately began checking the area for the stolen ambulance. One of the firefighters had left his cellular phone inside the stolen ambulance and was able to track it.
Det. Elvis Cook and Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta responded to the area of Morgan Valley Road and Oak Haven Road, in unincorporated Lake County, where the stolen cellular phone was last tracked, Joseph said.
While en route to that location, dispatch obtained new coordinates for the stolen phone, now putting it on Morgan Valley Road near Sloan Ranch Road, according to Joseph.
Joseph said Cook and Sapeta arrived in the 21000 block of Morgan Valley Road and observed a male subject – later identified as Schuleter – walking down a dirt driveway toward Morgan Valley Road.
Schuleter had blood on his hands and admitted to stealing the ambulance, Joseph said. Schuleter was found in possession of the stolen and tracked cellular phone, another stolen phone from the ambulance and other stolen medical equipment from the ambulance.
Jail records showed his bail was set at $20,000. He remained in custody early Saturday.
The stolen ambulance was found farther up the dirt road where Schuleter was seen walking, Joseph said.
Joseph said the ambulance was heavily damaged, with the rear cargo area having been ransacked in an apparent attempt to try and steal medication and supplies. A newer recreational vehicle parked near the stolen ambulance also had been vandalized.
Schuleter was arrested by Cook and transported back to the city of Clearlake for processing and medical treatment for injuries he sustained during his crime spree, Joseph said.
During questioning, Joseph said Schuleter admitted to stealing the ambulance, driving to where it was located and vandalizing the unrelated recreational vehicle.
Schuleter was charged with theft of an emergency vehicle while on an emergency call, tampering with a motor vehicle, malicious mischief to a vehicle, several counts of possession of stolen property and driving without a license. He later was booked into the Lake County Jail, according to Joseph.
Joseph said the case will be forwarded to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for filing.
The stolen ambulance was returned to the Lake County Fire Protection District office. Joseph said it has been taken out of service for repairs.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Lake Community Pride Foundation will present the sixth annual Power to the Youth event on Saturday, Aug. 6.
The popular festival will offer physical activities, youth entertainment, music and community education from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Clearlake's Austin Park, 14077 Lakeshore Drive.
This year's event will feature a basketball tournament for different age groups and a skate park competition for varying skill levels in scooters, BMX and skateboarding with prizes for the winners.
It is free to enter these activities and all participants must register in advance and/or be prepared to play at 10 a.m. on the day of the event.
Glory Day's Flag Football League will have its annual Power to the Youth flag football event.
A stage in the front of the park will feature this year's musical lineup: Fetti Rich, Masta Slash Beatz and The Lyricist and more.
Multiple bouncy houses and free horse rides as well as local agency booths offering activities and information about their services will be available throughout the park.
Ranging from education to politics to health care and local businesses, more than 30 booths will be featured at this year's event.
Admission to the event is free so bring the whole family.
Lake Community Pride Foundation is a nonprofit group who maintains and supports a teen shelter, Safe House of Lake County, supports the youth performing arts and organizes youth events for the community.
If you're interested in holding a booth for the event, volunteering for the event, or donating towards the cause of the event, please contact Bruno Sabatier at 707-695-0834 or at
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Friday morning crash involving a REACH aircraft in Humboldt County claimed the lives of four people.
REACH Air Medical Services and Cal-Ore Life Flight confirmed that the accident involved a Piper Cheyenne aircraft associated with Cal-Ore’s base in Crescent City.
Three crew members and a patient were on board the plane, REACH reported.
“This is one of the saddest moments in our history,” the organization – which also serves Lake County – said in a Friday afternoon statement.
REACH said the plane departed at 12:29 a.m. Friday from Crescent City Airport, bound for Oakland International Airport
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that at around 1 a.m. Friday the pilot of the twin-engine Piper PA31 declared an emergency due to smoke in the cockpit, and indicated he was going to return to Crescent City.
However, radar contact with the aircraft was lost about five miles northeast of Arcata Airport, and communication with the aircraft ceased at about 1:05 a.m., according to reports from the sheriff's office and REACH.
Authorities including the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, US Coast Guard, Cal Fire, Civil Air Patrol, California Highway Patrol Air Division and the Office of Emergency Services launched a search for the plane.
Sheriff's officials said search and rescue teams found a crash site with a quarter-mile-long debris field on private timber company in the Cranell area, located north of McKinleyville, at around 10 a.m.
At that point, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office confirmed two fatalities, secured the scene and notified the National Transportation Safety Board, which is set to arrive at the location at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Cal-Ore also notified the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to REACH's statement.
The sheriff's office reported that it was in communication with REACH Air Medical Services and confirmed that there were four people on the plane.
REACH said it had critical incident stress management teams in the area and were doing all it could to help those involved.
Late Friday night, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that its coroner’s division completed recovery of the victims from the crash at 8:30 p.m.
The agency confirmed four fatalities, and said the bodies of three females and one male were recovered from inside the wreckage of the aircraft.
The ages and identities of the victims were being withheld at that time pending identification and notification of next of kin, the sheriff's office said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Five years after departing Earth, and a month after slipping into orbit around Jupiter, NASA's Juno spacecraft is nearing a turning point.
On Sunday, July 31, at 12:41 p.m. PDT, Juno will reach the farthest point in its orbit of Jupiter for the first time, known as “apojove,” five million miles from the giant planet.
After that point, Jupiter's gravitational grip on Juno will cause the spacecraft to begin falling back toward the planet for another pass, this time with its scientific eyes wide open.
The spacecraft is currently executing the first of two long orbits prior to beginning its science mission. Each capture orbit is nearly two months long – quite the wait for the mission's eager team of scientists – but it's nothing compared to the long wait the team endured on the trek to Jupiter.
Juno launched on Aug. 5, 2011. The spacecraft took a long, looping path around the inner solar system to set up an Earth flyby, in which our planet's gravity flung the spinning probe onward toward Jupiter.
"For five years we've been focused on getting to Jupiter. Now we're there, and we're concentrating on beginning dozens of flybys of Jupiter to get the science we're after," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, firing its main rocket engine as planned for 35 minutes. The flawless maneuver allowed Jupiter's gravity to capture the solar powered spacecraft into the first of two 53.4-day-long orbits, referred to as capture orbits.
Following the capture orbits, Juno will fire its engine once more to shorten its orbital period to 14 days and begin its science mission.
But before that happens, on Aug. 27, Juno must finish its first lap around Jupiter, with a finish line that represents the mission's closest pass over the gas giant. During the encounter, Juno will skim past Jupiter at a mere 2,600 miles above the cloud tops.
Juno's science instruments were turned off during orbit insertion, to simplify spacecraft operations during that critical maneuver.
In contrast, all the instruments will be collecting data during the Aug. 27 pass, which serves as a trial run before the mission gets to work collecting the precious data it came for.
"We're in an excellent state of health, with the spacecraft and all the instruments fully checked out and ready for our first up-close look at Jupiter," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
With its powerful suite of science instruments, Juno will probe Jupiter's deep structure, atmospheric circulation and the high-energy physics of its magnetic environment.
What Juno finds there will reveal important clues to Jupiter's formation and evolution, along with insights about how our planetary system and others are built.
More information on the Juno mission is available at http://www.nasa.gov/juno . The public can follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno and on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno .
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The South Lake County Fire Sirens will meet on Monday, Aug. 1, at the South Lake County Fire Station starting with a coffee social at 9:30 a.m.
The meeting begins at 10 a.m. and is chaired by President Pat Hallman.
“The mission of the SLCFS is to raise funds to purchase equipment and supplies and to assist the South Lake County Fire Department wherever we are able,” Hallman said.
The Aug. 1 meeting will feature an update on the Valley fire recovery efforts by South Lake County Battalion Chief Mike Wink.
The South Lake County Fire Sirens also runs the Fire Siren Thrift Shop located at 21095 Highway 175, Middletown.
The Fire Siren Thrift Shop, “Second Hand But Grand,” is open every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Fire Sirens meetings are held every other month for the remainder of 2016.
The next meeting will be on Monday, Oct. 3. The October meeting will be followed by lunch at the Middletown Senior Center. A sign up sheet will be available at the August meeting.
All are invited to come and listen to Chief Wink on Monday, Aug. 1, at the Middletown South Lake County Fire Station and new members are always welcome to join the organization.
For more information contact Pat Hallman at 707-987-3991.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Fair administration is reminding community members that the deadline to submit entries for this year's event is just around the corner.
The entry deadline is 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5. The fair takes place Sept. 1 through 4.
Just about anything you can make or grow at home is eligible for entry into competition at the annual Lake County Fair.
The fair has contests for the digital age artist, writers and singers, too.
Want to see your art in the fair? How about entering in the new fair theme poster contest?
With more than 3,000 competitions, there is something for everyone.
All entries into the Lake County Fair are made online at www.lakecountyfair.com . If computers are a challenge, the fair's office staff is happy to help you with your online entry at the Lake County Fair’s office at 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.
The fair has designated computers that are open to the public for online entries during regular business hours until Friday, Aug. 5.
Internet access also can be found in a number of other public places, including libraries and at Umpqua Bank branches.
The 2016 Contest Handbook also is on the fair's Web site, www.lakecountyfair.com , and available in a variety of locations around Lake County, including the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, the 4-H Office, Kelseyville Pharmacy, Lakeshore Feed, Barreda’s Lower Lake Feed Store, all Hardester's Markets, Pet Acres and the Redwood Empire Fair. A complete list can be found on the fair’s Web site.
The Lake County Fair Board has chosen “Party with the Animals at the Lake County Fair” for the theme of the 2016 Fair.
The fair is one of Lake County’s favorite summertime events, enjoyed by more than 37,000 people each year.
For more information, call the fair office at 707-263-6181, or visit the fair’s Facebook page.