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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An early morning vehicle stop conducted by a Lake County Sheriff’s Patrol Deputy has resulted in two arrests and the seizure of heroin and marijuana.
Arrested were Cory Francis Merk, 27, of Dixon, and 19-year-old Gabriel David Vasquez of Broderick, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
At 2:30 a.m. Tuesday a deputy was on patrol in the area of Highway 53 and Olympic Drive in Clearlake when he observed a vehicle that was traveling ahead of him cross over the solid double yellow lines, Brooks said. The deputy also ran a records check on the vehicle and learned the registration was expired.
The deputy conducted an enforcement stop on the vehicle near the intersection of Highway 53 and Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake. As the vehicle was pulling over, the deputy observed both the driver and passenger make furtive movements towards the rear passenger area, Brooks said.
The deputy contacted Merk, the driver of the vehicle, and explained the reason for the stop, Brooks said. Merk explained he was tired and that was the reason for his poor driving.
The deputy contacted the passenger of the vehicle, Vasquez, who explained he is the owner of the vehicle and is currently in the process of getting it registered. Both Merk and Vasquez denied having anything illegal in the vehicle, according to Brooks' report.
The deputy had both subjects step out of the vehicle and when they did, he could smell the strong odor of marijuana emitting from the rear passenger area, Brooks said.
Brooks said the deputy conducted a search of the vehicle and located approximately 7 ounces of marijuana under some clothing. The area where the marijuana was located also was the same area he could see Vasquez reaching at the time of the enforcement stop.
The deputy asked what was inside the trunk of the vehicle and Vasquez replied that it was only clothing, Brooks said. While searching the trunk area the deputy located several items of clothing, and hidden in the clothing he located a digital scale and a plastic bag containing a brown chunky substance.
Brooks said the deputy removed the bag and scale from the trunk and asked Vasquez what was inside the bag. Vasquez said he did not know what the substance was and denied that it belonged to him. Merk also denied knowing what the substance was and told the deputy that it did not belong to him.
The deputy tested a small amount of the suspected heroin with a NIK kit. The kit flashed a light green color indicating a presumptive positive for the presence of heroin, Brooks said.
Both Merk and Vasquez were arrested for possession of heroin for sales and transportation of a controlled substance. Brooks said they were both transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Two children died and two drivers were injured – one seriously – in a head-on, two-vehicle crash east of Clearlake Oaks Tuesday afternoon.
In a Tuesday evening report, the California Highway Patrol did not release the names and ages of the two children or the name of a seriously injured 38-year-old woman – all of them from Shasta – who were traveling in a 2001 Toyota Sienna van, pending notification of family.
Steven Chapin, 42, of Finley, a Lake County Special Districts employee, was in the second vehicle, a county-owned 2009 Ford F-450 pickup, according to the CHP and county officials.
The crash occurred at 3:40 p.m. on Highway 20 east of Old Long Valley Road, the CHP said in its initial report.
The woman and the two children were traveling in the van at an unknown speed eastbound on Highway 20, descending a slight downhill grade, with Chapin headed westbound going up the grade, also at an unknown speed, the CHP said.
The CHP said the woman in the van made an unsafe turning movement, causing her vehicle to rotate to the left and enter the eastbound lane.
The right side of the van and Chapin's pickup collided, causing major damage to the vehicles, the CHP said.
The two children, a boy and a girl who were in the van's rear seat and wearing seat belts, were pronounced dead at the scene, the CHP said.
The woman suffered major injuries, the CHP said. Radio reports indicated that she had to be extricated from the van.
She was transported by ambulance to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake; from there, she was taken by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to radio reports and the CHP.
Chapin suffered minor injuries and was transported by private vehicle to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, the CHP said.
Both vehicles were impounded for inspection, the CHP said.
The female driver and Chapin were wearing seat belts, according to the CHP.
Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, based on the CHP investigation.
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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A fatal two-vehicle wreck occurred Tuesday afternoon east of Clearlake Oaks.
The crash was reported just before 3:45 p.m. on Highway 20 at Old Long Valley Road east of Clearlake Oaks.
Firefighters arrived on scene to find a head-on collision involving two vehicles – what witnesses described as a maroon van and a white Lake County Special Districts utility truck – according to radio and California Highway Patrol reports.
Radio reports indicated that the driver and two children in the maroon van were not responsive, with incident command asking for three air ambulances.
A short time later, two of the air ambulances were canceled after it was determined that two of the crash victims had died, according to radio reports. The CHP also was confirming that the crash resulted in fatalities.
The remaining crash victim who had major trauma was extricated from the vehicle and transported to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, where an air ambulance was called to transport the patient to an out-of-county trauma center.
Caltrans reported that one-way traffic was in effect in the crash area.
Special Districts confirmed to Lake County News on Tuesday afternoon that the white full-sized pickup involved in the crash belonged to them, and that the driver was uninjured.
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Marin County jury hearing the case of a former Lake County Sheriff’s deputy accused of having sex with a minor has hung on all of the charges.
The jury ended its deliberations on Monday after deadlocking on the charges against Derik Dion Navarro, 41, whose trial began last month.
“They hung on all 16 counts,” said Navarro’s attorney, Mitchell Hauptman of Lakeport.
Navarro was on trial for allegedly having sex with a minor over the course of a year, beginning when she was 14 years old in 2005, as Lake County News has reported.
At the time of the alleged acts, Navarro was a sheriff’s deputy.
The allegations came to the attention of sheriff’s officials early in 2007, and following an internal affairs investigation Navarro was fired in April 2007 and arrested on the charges a week later.
The case encountered a number of delays, and after District Attorney Don Anderson took office at the start of 2011 prosecution of the case was taken over by the California Attorney General’s Office.
That was due to a conflict of interest that arose because Anderson – before he was elected – had represented Navarro in an administrative hearing regarding his sheriff’s office employment.
In December 2011, the Attorney General’s Office – with the support of the victim and her family – reached a plea agreement with Navarro in which he pleaded guilty to one count of felony unlawful intercourse with a child under age 16.
Had the plea been accepted by a judge, it would have resulted in a three-month jail sentence for Navarro, but he would not have been required to register as a sex offender.
However, the following month Judge Andrew Blum rejected the agreement, calling it “ridiculously lenient.”
In April 2012, Navarro won a change of venue in the case. Hauptman successfully argued that growing media coverage spurred by public comments made by Sheriff Frank Rivero – who also had approached the Attorney General’s Office and sent a letter to Blum to stop the deal – had created an atmosphere in Lake County where Navarro could not get a fair trial.
The matter subsequently was assigned to the Marin County Superior Court, where it originally had been set to go to trial late in the fall of 2012. However, there were several more delays, resulting in the trial not starting until this past June.
Hauptman said the presentation of evidence in the trial lasted from around June 10 to June 19, at which point the jury started deliberations.
Not long after deliberations started, the jury indicated it was having challenges, he said.
“They had come back within a couple hours indicating they were hung,” said Hauptman.
The jurors continued to try to come to a unified conclusion over the next few weeks, but by the time they emerged on Monday they had come to no agreement on any of the counts, he said.
The vast majority of the counts were hung 6-6 or 5-7, said Hauptman. “Nothing even close.”
Hauptman said Navarro is due back in Marin County Superior Court on Aug. 2, at which time the prosecution is expected to announce what steps it will take next.
“Their choices are, try to settle it, dismiss it or do it again,” said Hauptman.
The case, he added, has been hard on everybody involved.
Lake County News contacted the California Attorney General’s Office to find out what steps the agency would take next in the case. A response was not immediately available early Tuesday afternoon.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County Tribal Health will hold a health fair in August.
The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St., Lakeport.
The fair’s theme is, “To bring health to body, mind and spirit.”
There will be vendors as well as information booths from organizations including Mother-Wise, Easter Seals, Lake Family Resource Center, North Coast Opportunities and more.
For more information call Lake County Tribal Health at 707-263-8382, Extension 201.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LUCERNE, Calif. – Fire officials are investigating the cause of a Monday house fire in Lucerne, which Northshore Fire’s chief said appears suspicious in nature.
The two-story structure, located in the 5800 block of Highway 20, was reported on fire at around 1:30 a.m. Monday, as Lake County News has reported.
By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the structure was fully involved and already badly damaged, according to Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos, whose agency – along with Lakeport Fire – responded to the incident.
The home was believed to be unoccupied when the fire started, Beristianos said at the scene. Two other nearby structures also sustained damage because of the fire.
Later on Monday, Beristianos told Lake County News, “We have reason to believe the fire is suspicious.”
At the scene that morning, Beristianos had reported that there were subjects seen walking away from the fire area, but deputies who responded had been unable to locate them in the area.
He said Monday evening that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was working closely with the Lake County Arson Task Force to investigate the fire.
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