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Monica Rose Smith, 52, and Jennifer Louise Burton, 34, were ordered by Superior Court Judge Richard Henderson to serve 20 days in county jail for orchestrating the 2009 incident involving seven patients at Valley View Skilled Nursing facility on Dora Street.
Henderson also placed the two Ukiah residents on two years probation after finding them guilty of misdemeanor charges of elder abuse, the District Attorney's Office reported.
Deputy District Attorney Douglas Parker said Tuesday the elder abuse convictions “will ensure that the ringleaders of this shameful prank will not be able to work in a position of trust at a skilled nursing facility in the future.”
The nursing assistants were accused of coating seven elderly patients from head to foot in ointment so they would be “slippery” for the next shift of workers, authorities said.
The patients were not injured but they were unable to object to their treatment because of their medical and mental conditions, according to authorities.
Smith, Burton and three others defendants have had their nursing assistant licenses revoked by the state, said Parker.
Parker said defendant Jared Buckley also was found guilty by Henderson of misdemeanor elder abuse, and ordered to serve 150 hours of community service and placed on two years probation.
Two other defendants – Jennie Bido and Christine Boyd-Guerrero – were found guilty of failure to report elder abuse and received two years probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service each.
The Valley View case, which stems from an incident in November 2009, was called “cruel and shocking” by then-Attorney General Jerry Brown, who launched an investigation after being alerted by nursing home operator Horizon West Healthcare.
The company immediately fired the six employees originally cited.
Prosecutors later dismissed charges against one of them, nursing assistant Kathleen Phillips.
Parker said Tuesday that prosecutors are satisfied the plea agreement underscores a message that “Elder abuse in any form, including the lack of dignity and respect for elders, will not be tolerated.”
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The graduation ceremony in Butte County will mark the start of their careers as game wardens, tasked with preserving and protecting the natural resources and wildlife of California.
The class of 39 features 28 DFG warden cadets – those sponsored by DFG and already hired as wardens pending their passing the academy – and 11 cadets who are “self-sponsored,” individuals who paid their way through the academy with the hope of becoming game wardens once their training is complete.
The graduation ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. at the Paradise Performing Arts Center in Paradise.
“I am personally very proud of every one of these cadets, they represent the department to the hunting and fishing community while protecting valuable natural resources,” said DFG Chief of Enforcement Nancy Foley. “They will work alongside some of the most dedicated and highly trained law enforcement officers in the state.”
Annually, wardens make contact with more than 295,000 people and issue more than 15,000 citations. They often work alone and in remote areas that do not allow for immediate backup protection.
In California, with 159,000 square miles of area that offers habitat and wildlife diversity unequaled by any other state, the average warden has a patrol district of more than 600 square miles.
The state has more than 1,100 miles of coastline, 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, 4,800 lakes and reservoirs, three desert habitat areas and scores of high mountain peaks.
The warden often acts as arbitrator for issues involving conflicts between wildlife and people. They recommend recreational activities and serve as educators to the public by speaking to schools, service groups and media.
The following are the graduating cadets and their hometowns. Those who are self-sponsored have asterisks after their names.
Thomas Anderson, Arroyo Grande
Timothy Bolla, Winters
Jennifer Bretney*, Corning
Christopher Cahill, Elk Grove
Eric Craig, Bakersfield
Steven Crowl, Cottonwood
Kevin DeRose, Visalia
Zachary Gibson*, Cottonwood
Chris Giertych*, San Jose
Michael Harris, Del Rey Oaks
Michael Higgins*, Atascadero
Rodger Holscher*, McArthur
Travis Jarrett*, Palo Cedro
Jacob Juarez, Monterey
Ryan Keylock, Sacramento
Kevin Kintz, Port Hueneme
Benjamin Matias, Huntington Beach
Mike McCain, Escondido
Atilano Morales, Los Angeles
Scott Moss, Merced
Bert Olson, San Clemente
Alan Oratovsky, Los Angeles
Jerry Prater, Sacramento
John Pritting, San Diego
Mark Ratley, Roseville
Matthew Renner, Ferndale
Andrew Ross, Rocklin
Russo Anthony, Sacramento
Kenneth Snyder, Escondido
Nicholas Spiess*, Chico
Cory Stewart, Sacramento
Jared Strouss, Atascadero
Kevin Sullivan*, Morgan Hill
Todd VanEpps, San Diego
Robert Wardlow, Torrance
Donald White*, Willits
Martin Willis, San Luis Obispo
William Witzel, Elk Grove
Paul Zurawski, Hawthorne
DFG teamed with Butte College in 2007 to provide peace officer training for prospective wardens.
This new partnership secured an academy facility and a California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST)-certified training program for warden cadets on the college’s Oroville campus.
Butte College has a 39-year history of police recruit training and has trained more than 5,000 students through its law enforcement academy.
The 928-acre campus, the largest in California, also is a designated wildlife refuge.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The cause of a late-night home fire that claimed the life of a Lakeport woman on Saturday has been ruled accidental.
The fire, reported at approximately 11:43 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, destroyed the home at 1128 Crystal Lake Way of 86-year-old George "Ed" Neher and his wife, Wilna, 83.
Wilna Neher died as she was trying to escape, with firefighters finding her body just inside the home's front door, as Lake County News has reported.
Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells said Monday that fire investigators were able to trace the cause of the fire to rags that had been used to apply a treatment to the home's deck.
Wells said the rags had been stored in the home's garage, where George Neher had first witnessed the fire late Saturday night.
In an interview given on the scene early Sunday morning Wells had said that the couple had already gone to bed for the night when they heard crackling coming from the garage. When George Neher got up to see what was happening, he saw the garage filled with smoke.
Both Wells and the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that George Neher told his wife to call 911 and leave the house before he went back to try to fight the fire in the garage.
However, Central Dispatch had told Wells early Sunday that the 911 call came from George Neher, not his wife.
In an e-mail to Lake County News Jessica Chernoh, the Nehers' granddaughter, said her grandfather did tell her grandmother to call 911. Wilna Neher dialed the phone and handed it to her husband so she could get dressed to leave the home.
According to Chernoh, at that point, George Neher ran outside before quickly trying to return to his wife. The fire spread so he ran to the front door, yelling for his wife to get out of the house.
Wilna Neher opened the front door and that's the last time her husband saw her, as he was turning to run from the burning home, according to Chernoh.
“At that point he said she was behind him and then the next thing he said she was gone,” Chernoh said in her e-mail.
Chernoh suggested that her grandmother may have gone back inside the house for something.
“He did everything he could to get her out,” Chernoh said of her grandfather.
Wells said early Sunday that Wilna Neher's body was found at 1:45 a.m. by firefighters after the fire was finally put out.
Lakeport Fire received assistance in fighting the blaze from Kelseyville Fire and Cal Fire, with a total of 18 firefighters responding.
The California Highway Patrol and a sheriff's deputy also were on scene. Wells said firefighters had been able to run large hoses to a fire hydrant about 400 feet away from the home.
The responding sheriff's deputy secured the home site after the fire was extinguished. By that point Wells said his district's two fire investigators were working the case, with additional investigators called to assist.
The sheriff's office said the body found in the home were removed by morning and a coroner's investigation began. The agency said the body was presumed to be Wilna Neher's, but was pending positive identification.
The home and garage were a total loss, according to Wells.
Chernoh said her grandparents would have celebrated their 64th anniversary later this month.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The compact funds programs in local communities that mitigate the impact of gaming activities and address gambling addiction, Brown's office said.
According to the governor's office, the compact includes provisions to protect employees and patrons, and measures that the tribe must take to protect the environment during the construction and operation of gaming facilities.
The compact allows the operation of a maximum of 900 slot machines.
Up to 15 percent of the casino's net win from them will go to local communities and gambling mitigation and regulation provisions.
The compact requires regular audits of gaming operations, and supersedes the 2009 compact between the tribe and the state of California.
Pinoleville's compact is the second Brown has signed since taking office in January. The first was with the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake in March, as Lake County News has reported.
Late last month the Department of the Interior gave final approval to Habematolel's compact, which Tribal Chair Sherry Treppa said will gave the Habematolel the green light to get back to work on their project. Treppa said the goal is to open the new Running Creek Casino outside of Upper Lake next year.
To view the Pinoleville compact and related appendix please visit http://gov.ca.gov/docs/Pinoleville_Compact.pdf or see the documents below.
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NICE, Calif. – A two-vehicle crash on Sunday evening sent one person to the hospital with minor injuries.
The collision occurred on Highway 20 near the Marina Market in Nice, at around 9 p.m. Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Initial reports indicated that a pickup headed westbound had pulled out from the south shoulder and into the path of a car traveling eastbound.
The car's driver was not wearing a seat belt and suffered head and facial trauma. He was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by a Northshore Fire Protection District ambulance, according to reports from the scene.
The CHP indicated that the driver suffered minor injuries.
In addition to two Northshore Fire ambulances, a district engine also responded and helped deal with scene cleanup. Reports from the scene indicated both vehicles were hauled away from the crash site.
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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Wine tasting with the vintage’s winemaker is a treat for most wine lovers. But how can such a personal experience take place when the wine tasters are approximately 2,800 miles from the winemakers?
Technology – and a little ingenuity by organizers of a recent event – allowed American Wine Society (AWS) members in Scranton, Penn., to meet with Lake County winemakers while tasting their wines last month.
Clay Shannon, owner of Shannon Ridge and Vigilance wineries, and Gregory Graham of Gregory Graham Winery were special guests of a program entitled “Virtual Tasting: Lake County Whites” presented by the Electric City Chapter of the AWS on July 14.
In the chapter’s promotion of the event, organizers wrote, “Through the magic of Skype, a MacBook and a projector, winemakers from Gregory Graham and Shannon Ridge will conduct a tasting of their wines remotely from the comfort of their California wineries. Just north of Napa Valley, Lake County is one of the undiscovered quality wine regions in the state.”
“This was history in the making,” said Lake County Winegrape Commission President Shannon Gunier, referring to the first virtual wine tasting with Lake County vintners. “Clay and Greg did a terrific job of sharing the virtues of our region’s fine wines. I think everyone had a great time and learned a little about the quality of wine we are producing out here on the West Coast.”
The “virtual wine tasting” event came about as a result of conversations between Rick Gunier of North Coast Winegrape Brokers and David Falchek, an AWS board member, when they met at a Midwest trade show.
The Lake County Winegrape Commission sent wine, along with technical sheets and tasting notes, to the AWS chapter in Scranton ahead of the scheduled tasting date.
Rick Gunier and Falchek practiced the Skype connection several times to make sure the equipment was working correctly.
Falchek noted that several other AWS chapters were interested in participating; however, the technology requirements were not quite perfected to allow simultaneous multi-Skypecasts.
More than 40 people attended the tasting event in Scranton, Falchek reported to Rick and Shannon Gunier.
While the winemakers could see some of the room via computer from where they were in Lake County, the tasters were able to see Graham and Shannon on a big screen in the conference room where the AWS chapter was holding its meeting.
In addition, as attendees enjoyed the tasting, the Electric City Chapter members were sending questions via text messages to the winemakers who were then able to provide answers to the entire audience.
“I think it went great,” said Falchek following the Skype-assisted tasting. “I know it was tough to tell from your end, but one member said, ‘We were able to connect with them better than some speakers who talk with us in person,’” Falchek wrote in an email to Rick Gunier.
“Everyone will have a warm spot for Lake County, Clay and Greg,” Falchek said about the AWS Electric City Chapter. He added that AWS will work on making the multiple, simultaneous chapter experience happen with future virtual tasting events.
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