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UKIAH, Calif. – A serial bank robber was convicted on Friday of having committed the August robbery of the Redwood Credit Union in Point Arena.
Admitting responsibility in Ukiah before Superior Court Judge Clayton Brennan Friday afternoon, Frederick Orlando, 55, of Magalia, pleaded guilty to the August robbery and admitted nine separate sentencing enhancements.
As summarized during that court hearing by District Attorney David Eyster, Orlando traveled from Magalia to Point Arena, entered the credit union with another man, brandished a handgun at bank tellers and customers, demanded money from the cash drawers, and then herded all the people to a back room.
He and a co-defendant then attempted to make their escape east on Fish Rock Road with the stolen money. However, the getaway car was boxed in on that rural, dirt road by Sheriff’s Deputy Luis Espinoza coming in from the east and California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Solomon pursuing from the west.
Orlando has been held since August in the Mendocino County jail with bail set at over $1 million, officials reported.
His jury trial had been scheduled to begin on Nov. 26 but, instead, a sentencing hearing is now scheduled for Nov. 21, according to Eyster's office.
Eyster noted the sentencing of Orlando will only be a formality because Orlando, through his counsel, agreed on the record with Eyster that Orlando shall receive a stipulated state prison sentence of 45 years to life.
According to Eyster, he prosecuted Orlando under California’s Three Strikes laws because the defendant previously served time in a federal penitentiary for four separate bank robberies in Southern California. Orlando also served state prison time for a residential burglary conviction in the 1980s.
“While Orlando targeted Point Arena because he believed it to be a sleepy, coastal town with few people around and even fewer law enforcement officers to interfere,” said Eyster, “he didn’t appreciate the great cooperation and communication that exists on our South Coast between the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, Fish and Game wardens and Sonoma County’s Sheriff’s Office.”
According to investigators, Orlando remains a suspect in other bank robberies, including at least one that involves a Forestville bank.
It has also been reported that Orlando has confessed while in the Mendocino County Jail to being responsible for a 30-year-old unsolved murder in Southern California.
Orlando’s defense attorney is Public Defender Linda Thompson. The prosecution of Orlando has been handled by Eyster and Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira.
The heat-seeking capabilities of the international Cassini spacecraft and two ground-based telescopes have provided the first look at the aftermath of Saturn’s “Great Springtime Storm.”
Concealed from the naked eye, a giant oval vortex is persisting long after the visible effects of the storm subsided.
The ground-based observations were made by the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
The vivid cloud structures that wreaked havoc across wide swathes of the mid-northern latitudes of Saturn’s atmosphere captured the imaginations of amateur and professional astronomers alike, from its first appearance in December 2010 through much of 2011.
But in new reports that focus on the temperatures, winds and composition of Saturn’s atmosphere, scientists find that the spectacular cloud displays were only part of the story.
Much of the associated activity took place beyond the reach of visible-light cameras, and the after-effects are still continuing today.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen anything like it on any planet in the Solar System,” said Leigh Fletcher from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, lead author of the Icarus paper.
“It’s extremely unusual, as we can only see the vortex at infrared wavelengths – we can’t tell that it is there simply by looking at the cloud cover,” Fletcher said.
As the visible storm erupted in the roiling cloud deck of Saturn’s troposphere, waves of energy rippled hundreds of kilometers upwards, depositing their energy as two vast ‘beacons’ of hot air in the stratosphere.
The beacons were expected to cool down and dissipate, but by late April 2011 – by which time bright cloud material had encircled the entire planet – the hot spots had merged to create an enormous vortex that for a brief period exceeded even the size of Jupiter’s famous Great Red Spot.
Furthermore, the temperature of the vortex was far higher than expected, some 80ºC warmer than the surrounding atmosphere. At the same time, huge spikes in the amount of gases like ethylene and acetylene were detected.
Much like the Great Red Spot, Saturn’s vortex also cuts off the atmosphere in its core from the surrounding environment, constraining its unique chemistry and high temperatures within the walls of the powerful winds whipping around the edge.
“But Jupiter’s vortex is embedded deep down in the turbulent ‘weather zone’, whereas the vast vortex on Saturn is higher up in the atmosphere where, normally, you wouldn’t expect anything like it to have formed,” said Fletcher.
“Although there are parallels to be drawn between the two, the mechanisms by which they were formed and the length of time they are going to exist seem to be very different,” Fletcher added.
Jupiter’s famous vortex has raged for at least 300 years, but after traversing the planet once every 120 days since May 2011, Saturn’s large beacon is cooling and shrinking. Scientists expect it to fade away completely by the end of 2013.
The question now remains as to whether Saturn’s storm-generating energy has been sapped or if there will be a repeat performance.
The outburst already caught observers by surprise by arriving during the planet’s northern hemisphere spring, years ahead of the predictably stormy summer season.
“The beauty is that Cassini will be operating until the Saturn system reaches its summer solstice in 2017, so if there is another global event like this, we’ll be there to see it,” said ESA’s Cassini project scientist Nicolas Altobelli.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A visiting football team’s cheerleader was injured while practicing before a Saturday afternoon football game and was flown to a regional trauma center as a precaution.
The cheerleader, with St. Vincent High’s squad, was at Upper Lake High School Saturday afternoon for a football game when she was injured, according to Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Adam Thoman.
Thoman said the cheerleader and her teammates were doing some practice maneuvers, and she was thrown into the air.
She landed on another cheerleader and hit her head and neck, he said.
Because of her age and concerns for head and neck trauma, Thoman said the decision was made to fly her out of the county as a precautionary measure.
“She was moving her upper and lower extremities, which is a good sign,” Thoman said.
The REACH 6 air ambulance was directed to land at the high school’s athletic field to pick the girl up, according to radio traffic.
Thoman said the teenager was flown to UC Davis Medical Center.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Montana woman was arrested earlier this week for driving under the influence and charges related to marijuana possession and sales, with a search of her car also yielding the discovery of a large amount of cash.
Dixie Rae Post, 52, a bookkeeper from Glendive, Mont., was pulled over by California Highway Patrol Josh Dye on Highway 20 east of New Long Valley Road early Tuesday afternoon.
CHP Officer Kory Reynolds said Post initially was reported as a possible drunk driver.
Dye came up behind Post’s SUV, observed poor driving consistent with drunk driving and pulled her over, Reynolds said.
As a result of the stop, Reynolds said Dye determined Post was impaired and arrested her for driving under the influence.
A search of Post’s car following her arrest led to the discovery of marijuana and $17,000 in cash, stored in different locations throughout the vehicle, Reynolds said. Dye was backed up by several other CHP officers during the search.
Such discoveries during traffic stops are “becoming more common,” Reynolds said.
Dye arrested Post on misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and possession of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana, and felony charges of selling or furnishing marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, according to jail records.
Post’s bail was set at $20,000. Jail records indicated she later paid the required percentage of bail and was released.
Post is scheduled to appear in Lake County Superior Court for arraignment on Dec. 11, according to her booking sheet.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Authorities have arrested a Clearlake man and another suspect for a gang-related stabbing and hate crime that occurred in Sonoma County over the summer.
Aaron Welch, 26, of Clearlake and Salvatore Bordessa, 32, of Windsor were arrested in the case, according to a Santa Rosa Police Statement.
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office detectives and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Welch without incident at 6 a.m. Thursday after he was seen leaving a Clearlake residence, Santa Rosa Police reported.
Welch and Bordessa were both booked into the Sonoma County Jail, with bail for each set at $1 million. Charges against them include assault with a deadly weapon, two gang enhancements, terrorist threats, dissuading a witness, and a hate crime.
On Thursday detectives from the Santa Rosa Police Department Gang Crimes Team concluded an investigation into a gang-related stabbing which occurred in August, the agency reported.
On Aug. 26 at approximately 1:30 a.m. Santa Rosa Police officers responded to an assault in the area of Santa Rosa Avenue and Yolanda Avenue, police reported.
Upon their arrival, officers located two victims of an assault, both of whom were black, police said. One of the victims had sustained multiple stab wounds in the shoulder and leg.
The suspects were described as two white male adults with several tattoos who left in a pickup truck. Santa Rosa Police said gang investigators were called out to assist in the investigation and have been looking into the assault over the last several weeks.
Detectives learned that the two victims, who are 24 and 29 years old, were in the McDonald’s parking lot at the corner of Santa Rosa Avenue and Yolanda Avenue. Police said the two male suspects and a female were across the street in a pick up truck.
The male suspects were verbally harassing subjects in the area. The suspects turned their attention to the victims and began yelling at them. The suspects called the victims racial slurs and yelled “White Pride,” and also shouted out the name of a local gang known to have ties to white supremacy beliefs, according to the police report.
The suspects attacked the victims by trying to stab them, but were unsuccessful. Police said the suspects left but returned a few minutes later, when they came through the bushes and attacked the victims with knives again.
One of the victims was stabbed in the shoulder and fell to the ground, police reported. The suspect stabbed the victim again while he was still on the ground several times in the leg area. The victim was transported to a local hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening wounds.
One of the victims attempted to call 911 and the suspects took the phone away, preventing them from calling for help. After the stabbing, the suspects fled to the pickup truck which was parked across the street and left the area, police reported.
The investigation led to the identification of two subjects, Welch and Bordessa, who are known to associate with a local gang. Santa Rosa Police reported that a search warrant and arrest warrants were issued for the men.
On Thursday morning authorities stopped Welch in a vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle. He was arrested and transported to the Sonoma County Jail.
At approximately 7 a.m. the same day, officers from the Santa Rosa Police Department SWAT Team and Gang Crimes Team executed a search warrant in the 9000 Block of Orion Drive in Windsor. Police said Bordessa was stopped in a vehicle leaving the residence just prior to the execution of the search warrant. He was taken into custody without incident.
In addition to the vehicle, detectives located evidence of gang association in the residence and a marijuana grow in the garage, police said.
The arrest of the suspects and evidence at the Windsor residence led to an additional search warrant 15000 block of 33rd Avenue in Clearlake. The report said additional marijuana was found at that second location.
Detectives are still trying to identify the female who was with the suspects. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Santa Rosa Police Department Gang Crimes Team at 707-543-3670.
An international team of astronomers has caught a star in the act of devouring one of its planets.
BD+48 740, a red giant they observed using the 9.2-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, appears to have the fumes of a scorched planet in its atmosphere. This is consistent with a rocky world, recently destroyed.
Could the same thing happen to Earth?
Yes indeed, said Alex Wolszczan, a member of the research team from Penn State University: “A similar fate may await the inner planets in our solar system when the sun becomes a red giant some five billion years from now.”
Researchers who specialize in stellar evolution have long known that the inner planets are in danger.
The trouble starts in the distant future when the sun’s core runs out of hydrogen fuel for nuclear fusion.
To keep the fires burning, the sun will begin to fuse hydrogen outside the core, in a layer closer to the stellar surface. This will turn the sun into a red giant, at least 200 times wider than it is today. Mercury, Venus, Earth and possibly even Mars could be engulfed.
The fate of Earth is not a certainty, however.
Some researchers believe that Earth’s orbit might spiral outward, keeping the planet at a safe distance from the approaching inferno.
This could happen if solar winds carry away a significant fraction of the sun’s mass in the years leading up to the red giant phase.
On the other hand, the sun might expand so quickly that our planet has no chance to escape. Earth would get caught in the sun’s rapidly advancing atmosphere and spiral inward to oblivion.
Observations of red giant BD+48 740 lend credence to the second possibility.
“Our detailed spectroscopic analysis of BD+48 740 reveals that the red giant contains an abnormally high amount of lithium,” said Monika Adamow who led the study at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland.
Because lithium is easily destroyed in stars, finding lots of it in an old red giant is unexpected. The most likely source is a planet.
Wolszczan explained: “It is probable that the lithium production in BD+48 740 was triggered by a mass the size of a planet that spiraled into the star and heated up while the star was digesting it.”
The team found another piece of evidence, too. BD+48 740 has a gas giant planet 1.6 times bigger than Jupiter which has not yet been devoured.
The big planet has a highly elliptical orbit. In fact, it is the most elliptical orbit ever found for a planet around an older star. Its orbit, which almost surely started out circular, was probably altered by some catastrophic event--like its star having an inner planet for lunch.
One day, he said, our own solar system may end up the same way. In five billion years, the fried planet could be Earth.
The original research of Adamov et al may be found in their article “BD+48 740 – Li overabundant giant star with a planet. A case of recent engulfment?”
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.