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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lakeport woman wanted in connection to an Aug. 30 home invasion robbery has been arrested.
Raiven Monica Shepherd, 30, was arrested in Nice on Saturday morning, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said sheriff's deputies located her and took her into custody. She was wanted for first-degree robbery, terrorist threats and assault with a deadly weapon.
On the night of Aug. 30 Shepherd and 47-year-old Tod Dean Syper of Nice allegedly went to a Lakeport home and demanded money, keys and a cell phone, according to the police report.
She is alleged to have brandished a gun and threatened to kill the victim if he didn't comply. A neighbor intervened and during a confrontation with Shepherd and Syper the man discharged two rounds from a shotgun, causing the two robbery suspects to flee the area, police said.
Police said they arrested Syper later that night for first-degree robbery, false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon.
Rasmussen said Saturday that the District Attorney's Office has already filed the case against Shepherd and Syper. He added that his officers have been conducting a followup investigation into the incident.
Lakeport Police had a separate outstanding misdemeanor warrant for Shepherd – unconnected to the robbery – for possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, for which she also is being charged, Rasmussen said.
Shepherd is being held on $250,000 bail for the robbery charge, according to her booking sheet. Syper also remains in custody, with his bail remaining at $285,000, jail records showed.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lake County Sheriff’s deputy who shot at a suspect in Clearlake Oaks in May was justified in doing so, according to a report released Friday by the District Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Don Anderson said Deputy Lyle Thomas, a sheriff’s office veteran, “was justified in discharging his firearm at a suspect pointing what was believed to be a firearm at him,” during an incident that occurred on May 15.
Thomas responded to Fourth Street in Clearlake Oaks on the report of a woman having been shot with a pellet gun by 52-year-old Robert Scott Hisel, as Lake County News has reported.
Hisel came out of his residence armed with a pellet gun that had the appearance of an assault rifle. Thomas, who Anderson said knew of Hisel and the fact that he recently had been in possession of a firearm, had no way of knowing it was actually a pellet gun.
“From Deputy Thomas’ position he had every reason to believe he was about to be shot by a subject with a high-powered assault rifle,” Anderson said.
Hisel leveled the pellet gun at Thomas and the victim. Thomas grabbed the woman and pulled her to safety, using his own body as a shield, according to Anderson’s report.
Anderson said Hisel shot five rounds at Thomas with the pellet gun before going back into his home. Thomas didn’t return fire at that point but gave Hisel at least 35 commands to drop the pellet gun and come out of the residence.
Hisel “responded with profanity, threats and nonsensical comments,” Anderson reported.
Coming out to the front of his residence, Hisel refused to obey commands, became verbally aggressive and then reached into a fanny pack, pulling out a black handgun that appeared to be a Glock. Anderson said Thomas commanded Hisel to drop the gun several more times before Hisel pointed it at the deputy.
“In justifiable fear for his life and the life of others, Deputy Thomas fired five shots at the suspect. The suspect fired back at Deputy Thomas at which time the deputy heard the sounds of pellet rounds,” Anderson wrote.
Thomas saved Hisel’s life when he told an officer from an allied agency who had responded to the scene – and who had a clear shot at Hisel with a high-powered rifle – to hold his fire, Anderson said.
Hisel went back into his home, where he remained during a standoff with law enforcement that lasted several hours. The sheriff’s SWAT team took Hisel into custody shortly after 10:30 p.m.
The sheriff’s office reported at the time that Hisel suffered a small leg wound during the incident.
The day following the standoff, sheriff’s detectives found two grenades. the Napa County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad responded and detonated the grenades.
“Deputy Lyle Thomas committed no criminal acts in his conduct of May 15, 2013,” Anderson concluded. “In fact, he has shown extreme bravery and exhibited restraint, calm deliberation and professionalism in his actions that day.
Anderson’s final report is published in its entirety below.
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LAKE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S FINAL REPORT
OFFICER INVOLVED CRITICAL INCIDENT-DEPUTY LYLE THOMAS
MAY 15, 2013
SUMMARY
On May 15, 2013, at 4:25 p.m., Deputy Lyle Thomas, a veteran officer of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, was involved in an officer-involved shooting on Fourth Street in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
It is the finding of the Lake County District Attorney’s Office that Deputy Lyle Thomas was justified in discharging his firearm at a suspect pointing what was believed to be a firearm at him. Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed in this matter. In fact, Deputy Lyle Thomas’ bravery and exhibition of professionalism under fire should be commended by the citizens of Lake County.
In close review of the facts of this matter, two important lessons should be learned that can greatly improve the quality of law enforcement’s efforts. First, the extreme calm and intelligent mannerism exhibited by Deputy Thomas is a model of professionalism that should be taught and reviewed by officers throughout this state.
The second is a reinforcement of the need for an officer involved critical incident protocol that is strictly adhered to by every law enforcement agency in this county, in order to ensure the integrity of the investigation.
INVESTIGATION
In 1989 the Lake County Police Chief’s Association recognized the increasing needs of their departments and the public to have an effective and standardized system to investigate law enforcement involved critical/fatal incidents, and created the first Lake County Fatal Incident Protocol.
As technology and investigative techniques improved, and police agencies became more aware of the intricacies of these incidents, the Protocol was revised in 1998 and 2009. In January of 2013 the current version of the Lake County Critical Incident Protocol was signed and implemented by eight of the nine law enforcement agencies in Lake County.
Of the many facets of the Protocol, the District Attorney’s Office is the lead agency in the investigation. It is essential the DA’s Office be on the scene immediately to secure evidence; protect the rights of the officers; and ensure the public of an unbiased investigation into the facts of the critical incident.
In this matter, the District Attorney’s Office was not notified until after a full day had passed; therefore, some questions will go unanswered. With the cooperation of the investigators and patrolmen of the Sheriff’s Department; compelling physical evidence; and follow up investigation, there was enough data collected to make a determination in this case.
FACTS
On May 15, 2013, at 4:25 p.m. Deputy Lyle Thomas responded to Fourth Street in Clearlake Oaks to a report of a female being shot with a pellet gun by her neighbor. Deputy Thomas had prior knowledge of the suspect and knew he had recently been in possession of a firearm.
While Deputy Thomas was talking to the victim on Fourth Street the suspect came out of his residence with a pellet rifle. The rifle has the appearance of an assault rifle and the deputy had no way of actually knowing it was a pellet rifle. From Deputy Thomas’ position he had every reason to believe he was about to be shot by a subject with a high-powered assault rifle.
The suspect leveled the rifle and pointed it at Deputy Thomas and the victim. Despite his fear of immediately being shot, Deputy Thomas grabbed the victim and, using his own body as a shield, pulled the victim to safety.
A few seconds later the suspect fired a round at Deputy Thomas. At this time he was able to determine the suspect was in possession of a pellet rifle. The suspect fired four more rounds at Deputy Thomas before retreating inside his residence.
Despite the fact the suspect’s high powered pellet rifle can cause great bodily injury or death, Deputy Thomas did not return fire. Deputy Thomas gave the suspect at least 35 commands to drop the gun and come out of the residence. The suspect responded with profanity, threats and nonsensical comments.
The suspect again appeared in front of his residence and again refused to obey the comments of the deputy. The suspect again became verbally aggressive. The suspect reached into his fanny pack and pulled put a black handgun appearing to be a Glock. Deputy Thomas again ordered the suspect to drop the gun several more times.
The suspect raised the handgun to a firing position, aiming it at Deputy Thomas. In justifiable fear for his life and the life of others, Deputy Thomas fired five shots at the suspect. The suspect fired back at Deputy Thomas at which time the deputy heard the sounds of pellet rounds.
Deputy Thomas in a very calm, logical and competent manner communicated with Sheriff’s dispatch and assisting officers from the Sheriff’s Department and allied agencies. At this point an officer from an allied agency advised Deputy Thomas he had a clear shot at the suspect with that officer’s high power rifle. Although the officer would have been justified under the circumstances in shooting the suspect, Deputy Thomas told the officer to hold his fire. This decision by Deputy Thomas saved the life of the suspect.
The suspect retreated back into his residence. At approximately 10:42 p.m. the suspect was taken into custody without further incident.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
In a recent case, People v. Flores, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 372, the court noted “It is well settled that the determination of the extent of such an injury is essentially a question of fact for the trier of fact, not a question of law.” Whether the harm resulting to the victim . . . constitutes great bodily injury is a question of fact . . . . [Citation.] If there is sufficient evidence to sustain the . . . finding of great bodily injury, we are bound to accept it, even though the circumstances might reasonably be reconciled with a contrary finding.” citing People v. Escobar (1992) 3 Cal.4th 740, 750 and People v. Kent (1979) 96 Cal.App.3d 130, 136-137
In Munoz v. City of Union City (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th 1077, 1102, the court held that an officer “may use reasonable force to make an arrest, prevent escape or overcome resistance, and need not desist in the face of resistance.” “Unlike private citizens, police officers act under color of law to protect the public interest. They are charged with acting affirmatively and using force as part of their duties, because “the right to make an arrest or investigatory stop necessarily carries with it the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it.” Munoz, supra, 120 Cal.App.4th at p. 1109.
“‘[Police officers] are, in short, not similarly situated to the ordinary battery defendant and need not be treated the same. In these cases, then, “… the defendant police officer is in the exercise of the privilege of protecting the public peace and order [and] he is entitled to the even greater use of force than might be in the same circumstances required for self-defense.
In Martinez v. County of Los Angeles (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 334, 349, the court held “The test for determining whether a homicide was justifiable under Penal Code section 196 is whether the circumstances ‘reasonably create[d] a fear of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or to another.” citing Martinez v. County of Los Angeles (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 334, and Brown v. Ransweiler, 171 Cal. App. 4th 516, 533
FINDINGS
Deputy Lyle Thomas committed no criminal acts in his conduct of May 15, 2013. In fact, he has shown extreme bravery and exhibited restraint, calm deliberation and professionalism in his actions that day.
Don A. Anderson
Lake County District Attorney
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday a jury convicted a Kelseyville man of several felony counts for having had sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Brian Barrett Stasko, 22, was convicted of two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child and two counts of statutory rape, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg.
The jury, which deliberated for about a day before handing in its verdict just before noon on Friday, also acquitted Stasko of three counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child, finding there was no force or duress, Borg said.
“They didn’t find enough evidence to convict him of those,” Borg added.
Stasko’s defense attorney, Barry Melton, declined to offer comment on the case.
In January the victim reported to authorities that Stasko had sex with her late last fall, according to Borg.
The girl was staying at a friend’s home when a 19-year-old male took them to another residence. There, the girl drank alcohol and began to feel the effects. She said Stasko told her she could go and sleep in his bedroom.
The girl said Stasko later woke her up and had sex with her, and afterward she fell back asleep, still feeling the effects of the alcohol, Borg said. When the girl woke again in the morning, Stasko was there and had sex with her again.
Following the investigation, Stasko – who was in Marine Corps basic training in San Diego – was arrested. “He hadn’t completed his basic yet,” said Borg, adding that Stasko has since separated from the service.
After Stasko’s arrest, the Marine Corps contacted Borg to make sure that the case had nothing to do with his service, an inquiry that he said was the result of increased concerns over sexual abuse in the military.
The trial began before Judge Andrew Blum on Aug. 28 with jury selection, Borg said. Evidence began on Sept. 5, with the victim testifying that same day, he said.
Evidence wrapped up this Wednesday and closing arguments took place on Thursday. The jury began deliberations just after noon on Thursday and came in early on Friday to continue working their way through the charges.
“This group, I think, was particularly hard-working,” he said of the jury, adding, “They were pretty intent on doing a good job and working hard.”
Borg said he was notified of the verdict just before noon Friday.
Because Stasko was acquitted of the most serious charges, Melton requested that his bail – currently at $1 million – be lowered to reflect the charges for which he was convicted. Borg said that wasn’t an unreasonable request, but under Marsy’s Law the victim has to be informed before the judge can lower bail.
The bail hearing has been put on for 8:15 a.m. Monday in order to give the District Attorney’s Office time to contact the victim, Borg said.
He said the bail schedule would be $150,000 for two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.
At that same Monday hearing, the sentencing date will be set, Borg said.
Stasko could receive probation, but Borg believes that option is extremely unlikely.
As for possible prison time, Borg said Stasko could be looking at five, eight or 10 years.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space.
The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun.
New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars.
Voyager is in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble, where some effects from our sun are still evident.
A report on the analysis of this new data, an effort led by Don Gurnett and the plasma wave science team at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, was published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.
"Now that we have new, key data, we believe this is mankind's historic leap into interstellar space," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them. But we can now answer the question we've all been asking – 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."
Voyager 1 first detected the increased pressure of interstellar space on the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles surrounding the sun that reaches far beyond the outer planets, in 2004.
Scientists then ramped up their search for evidence of the spacecraft's interstellar arrival, knowing the data analysis and interpretation could take months or years.
Voyager 1 does not have a working plasma sensor, so scientists needed a different way to measure the spacecraft's plasma environment to make a definitive determination of its location.
A coronal mass ejection, or a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields, that erupted from the sun in March 2012 provided scientists the data they needed.
When this unexpected gift from the sun eventually arrived at Voyager 1's location 13 months later, in April 2013, the plasma around the spacecraft began to vibrate like a violin string.
On April 9, Voyager 1's plasma wave instrument detected the movement. The pitch of the oscillations helped scientists determine the density of the plasma.
The particular oscillations meant the spacecraft was bathed in plasma more than 40 times denser than what they had encountered in the outer layer of the heliosphere. Density of this sort is to be expected in interstellar space.
The plasma wave science team reviewed its data and found an earlier, fainter set of oscillations in October and November 2012.
Through extrapolation of measured plasma densities from both events, the team determined Voyager 1 first entered interstellar space in August 2012.
"We literally jumped out of our seats when we saw these oscillations in our data -- they showed us the spacecraft was in an entirely new region, comparable to what was expected in interstellar space, and totally different than in the solar bubble," Gurnett said. "Clearly we had passed through the heliopause, which is the long-hypothesized boundary between the solar plasma and the interstellar plasma."
The new plasma data suggested a timeframe consistent with abrupt, durable changes in the density of energetic particles that were first detected on Aug. 25, 2012.
The Voyager team generally accepts this date as the date of interstellar arrival. The charged particle and plasma changes were what would have been expected during a crossing of the heliopause.
"The team’s hard work to build durable spacecraft and carefully manage the Voyager spacecraft's limited resources paid off in another first for NASA and humanity," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We expect the fields and particles science instruments on Voyager will continue to send back data through at least 2020. We can't wait to see what the Voyager instruments show us next about deep space."
Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched 16 days apart in 1977. Both spacecraft flew by Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, launched before Voyager 1, is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. It is about 9.5 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away from our sun.
Voyager mission controllers still talk to or receive data from Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 every day, though the emitted signals are currently very dim, at about 23 watts – the power of a refrigerator light bulb. By the time the signals get to Earth, they are a fraction of a billion-billionth of a watt.
Data from Voyager 1's instruments are transmitted to Earth typically at 160 bits per second, and captured by 34- and 70-meter NASA Deep Space Network stations.
Traveling at the speed of light, a signal from Voyager 1 takes about 17 hours to travel to Earth. After the data are transmitted to JPL and processed by the science teams, Voyager data are made publicly available.
“Voyager has boldly gone where no probe has gone before, marking one of the most significant technological achievements in the annals of the history of science, and adding a new chapter in human scientific dreams and endeavors,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington. “Perhaps some future deep space explorers will catch up with Voyager, our first interstellar envoy, and reflect on how this intrepid spacecraft helped enable their journey.”
Scientists do not know when Voyager 1 will reach the undisturbed part of interstellar space where there is no influence from our sun.
They also are not certain when Voyager 2 is expected to cross into interstellar space, but they believe it is not very far behind.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A noninjury crash on Highway 29 has resulted in a temporary road closure, with a detour set up to keep traffic moving.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Friday a large diameter limb from an oak tree fell onto Highway 29 near Kit’s Corner, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Greg Bertelli.
A semi truck hit the limb and jack-knifed, blocking the road, Bertelli said. The driver was not injured.
The California Highway Patrol said the semi was pulling two trailers. A tow company has been called to help remove the trailers and the semi.
A detour will take drivers around the scene, from Red Hills Road to Highway 175/Cobb, Bertelli said.
Shortly before 9:30 p.m., Bertelli estimated the closure could remain in effect for another hour.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Habitat for Humanity's home repair program has helped a Clearlake woman make much-needed repairs to her home and, in turn, gained a new volunteer.
As a little girl, Shirley DeLucca came to Lake County for vacations with her family.
Her father chose the site of her Madrone Street home in Clearlake for his retirement dream home and began to build.
A bricklayer himself, he was able to build his home with the help of friends and family, but never had the joy of living in it.
The house, which DeLucca helped build, housed her mother for the next 13 years, after which time the house came into DeLucca's possession.
Having lived in the house much of her life, she has no desire to live anywhere else. When it became obvious that her home needed roof repair that she was unable to afford, DeLucca feared she the worst – that she would be forced to sell it and move from the home.
“I was afraid I’d lose my home,” she said. “There’s great sentimental value here; I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
That's when Habitat for Humanity was able to help.
DeLucca's beloved brick home marks the 100th household that Habitat for Humanity Lake County has been able to service since the group's inception in Lake County in 2001.
The organization branched into home repair in 2010 to meet the needs of the elderly, disabled and low-income households in the county that are unable to repair and maintain their homes.
Grateful for the assistance she received, DeLucca has offered to volunteer at the office whenever she is needed, in whatever capacity she can help.
“I like to help people. If others help me, I want to give back. Kindness goes around full circle,” she said.
For more information on Habitat’s Home Repair Program or the homeownership program, visit www.lakehabitat.org , call them at 707-994-1100 or visit the organization's Lower Lake office, 16285 A Main St.
