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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A 73-year-old man convicted of shooting three unarmed men – killing one of them – in a 1989 confrontation has been denied parole by state officials.

On Feb. 7 the California Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for convicted murderer Francisco Mendoza Castillo.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff attended the lifer hearing at California State Prison in Corcoran, to argue against Castillo’s release.

Castillo was convicted of the second-degree murder of Jorge Suarez and the shooting of Francisco Parra and Ramiro Suarez, and sentenced to 26 years to life on March 2, 1990, according to a report from the District Attorney's Office.

Lake County Superior Court Judge William J. Harpham sentenced Castillo, who originally was prosecuted by then-District Attorney Stephen O. Hedstrom.

Castillo's minimum eligible parole date was July 8, 2005, the District Attorney's Office reported.

According to investigation reports by the sheriff’s office, on Sept. 15, 1989, Francisco Castillo and his brother Jose Castillo attended a party at Mariani Dryers where they worked with the three victims.

After the party, Jose Castillo got into an argument with one of the victims at 2955 Bell Hill Road in Kelseyville, where two of the victims lived.

Jose Castillo then left and returned a half-hour later with Francisco Castillo and two firearms, a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver.

According to witnesses, Francisco Castillo, who had been drinking, shot Francisco Parra in the neck with the pistol, without provocation. When Ramiro Suarez tried to calm Castillo down, Francisco Castillo shot him in the stomach, and after Suarez fell to the ground Francisco Castillo shot him in the leg.

Francisco Castillo then shot Jorge Suarez in the hand and chest, according to the report. Jorge Suarez died at the scene.

When Francisco Castillo and his brother left the scene they drove their truck over the legs of Francisco Parra as he lay on the ground bleeding. Francisco Parra and Ramiro Suarez survived the gunshot wounds.

None of the three victims were armed at the time they were shot, based on the investigative report.

The Castillo brothers were caught when a game warden, Jim Branston, heard the gunshots and went to the scene to investigate.

Branston pursued the fleeing pickup truck and called the sheriff’s office for assistance.

Francisco Castillo was in the United States illegally at the time of the shootings, and had been previously deported by the INS in 1981, officials said.

Francisco Castillo claimed at trial to not remember the shootings due to his drinking. At sentencing Judge Harpham stated that he did not believe Castillo, and noted that the shooting was quite accurate for someone who claimed to be so intoxicated they could not remember shooting three people.

Castillo reportedly continued to claim for 15 years in prison that he could not remember the shooting, then at an evaluation in 2005 he claimed he did remember the shooting and that the victims were beating him up and he shot all of them in self defense.

At the two-and-a-half-hour-long hearing Monday, Hinchcliff asked the Board of Prison Hearings to deny Castillo's parole on the ground that he still presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if released, and failed to exhibit any remorse or accept responsibility for his conduct.

The Board of Parole Hearings denied parole and Castillo’s next parole hearing will be in three years, Hinchcliff reported.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A woman was injured Monday when her vehicle struck a tree outside of Lakeport.

The California Highway Patrol said the crash occurred at around 3:30 p.m. in the 400 block of Soda Bay Road at the Finley turnoff.

Lakeport Fire Protection District responded to the scene along with the CHP and the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Lakeport Fire Capt. Bob Holbrook said firefighters transported one female patient to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.

The CHP said the woman suffered major injuries.

Specifics about the cause of the crash were not available by the end of the day Monday.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A local businessman arrested last month for elder theft and related special allegations has entered not guilty pleas in the case.

Glenn Neasham, 50, of Hidden Valley Lake was in court in Lakeport for arraignment Monday, according to his attorney, Mitchell Hauptman of Lakeport.

Neasham is facing one count of theft from an elder and two special allegations, the first for taking or damaging more than $50,000 in property and the second for a theft that is alleged to have totaled more than $100,000.

Hauptman said Neasham entered not guilty pleas to the main charge and the special allegations.

Neasham was arrested Dec. 14 following the conclusion of a California Department of Insurance investigation that focused on his sale of an annuity in 2008 to an elderly female client.

Hauptman said Monday that while Neasham is alleged to have stolen funds from the woman, “There is no evidence indicating that Neasham took anything or that there was any loss.”

He added that the case “approaches a whole new level of mystification.”

Hauptman had said in an interview last month that Neasham received nothing for the transaction but his normal commission, and that the client was making money on the annuity.

Neasham is set for a preliminary hearing at 8:15 a.m. Feb. 22 in Department 3 in the Lake County Superior Court's Lakeport division, Hauptman said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE – The California Highway Patrol said Monday that a Friday night collision in Hidden Valley injured three women, one of whom was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

The report, from CHP Officer Dan Frederick, said the crash occurred shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Northshore Drive at Northshore Court.

Arrested at the scene for DUI was 48-year-old Deborah Selna of Hidden Valley Lake, Frederick reported.

Selna was driving a red 2000 Yamaha golf cart with two fellow Hidden Valley residents – Elizabeth Sayers, 51, and Carrie Weston, 50 – riding with her, according to the report.

The three women were allegedly very intoxicated. Frederick said Selna was driving southbound on Northshore Drive at an unsafe speed when she lost control of the golf cart, which went off the roadway.

He said Selna was unable to slow or stop the golf cart as it went onto the grassy area adjacent to the roadway.

The golf cart collided with a tree, then rolled over and came to rest upside down against another tree, Frederick said.

He said all three women were transported to the hospital. Reports from the scene indicated two of them were flown out by helicopter.

Both Selna and Weston suffered major injuries – Selna having broken ribs and Weston a spinal injury and internal bleeding in her head, Frederick said. Sayer suffered moderate injuries from the impact.

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