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News

Cobb man sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on sex charge

SALT LAKE CITY – Last week a Cobb man received a 10-year federal prison sentence for attempting to lure a 13-year-old Utah girl to his home to have sex with him late last year.


Robert Lavern Davison, 41, pleaded guilty in August to one count of coercion and enticement for illegal sexual activity, as Lake County News has reported.


Judge Dale Kimball gave Davison the 120-month sentence on Nov. 23 in the US District Court of Utah's Central Division.


When Davison leaves prison, he will be subject to 20 years of supervised release, must register as a sex offender and won't be allowed to have contact with children under age 18 without adult supervision approved by the US Probation Office, according to Kimball's ruling. The ruling also specifically ordered Davison not to contact the young victim.


Kimball ordered Davison to pay $5,502.20 in restitution.


Davison's sentencing had been set for Dec. 17, but officials moved to have it earlier following the completion of a psychosexual examination that had been ordered in August, according to court records.


Portions of the sentencing document, including the statement of reasons, were sealed by the court.


Late last year, Davison had allegedly persuaded the young teenager, who he had met on the Internet while playing “World of Warcraft,” to meet him in California, as Lake County News has reported.


The girl, from Centerville, Utah, was reported missing by her family, according to case records. Police later found her at a Salt Lake City bus station with a ticket Davison purchased for her through a third party.


The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Davison on Feb. 12 at his home. The Lake County Sheriff's Office assisted in the arrest and service of search warrants.


Kimball's order last week included a recommendation to the federal Bureau of Prisons that Davison be placed in a facility where a sex offender management program is available, “preferably in California to facilitate family visitation.


The order also included the recommendation that Davison be placed in protective custody for his safety.


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 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Collision closes highway, results in minor injuries

KELSEYVILLE – A three-vehicle collision near Kit's Corner Monday evening caused a temporary closure of Highway 29 and resulted in minor injuries.


The California Highway Patrol reported that crash took place just after 5 p.m. south of Kit's Corner, which is the intersection of Highway 29 and 281.


One of the three vehicles involved was a big rig with a flatbed, the CHP reported.


The crash blocked both lanes of Highway 29, with traffic on the northbound lane diverted to Soda Bay Road, according to the report.


The CHP reported that Caltrans was called to the scene to bring sand for helping remove spilled diesel on the roadway. Towing companies also were requested, with a call put out for a tow truck large enough to move the big rig.


Shortly after 6 p.m. officials opened Highway 29 at Highway 175 to Cobb, with one way traffic control taking place past the scene.


The CHP reported that there were minor injuries to individuals involved in the crash, but specifics – including the number of injuries – weren't immediately available Monday evening.


The highway was scheduled to be reopened shortly before 7 p.m.


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 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Firefighters contain small wildland fire Monday evening

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Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Jay Beristianos on the scene of the fire on Monday, November 30, 2009. Photo courtesy of Andrew Bergem.

 



THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.


NORTH LAKEPORT – Firefighters quickly put out a small wildland fire that broke out in the north Lakeport area Monday evening.


Cal Fire said the blaze was reported at about 5:20 p.m. It was located in the area of Bridge Arbor and Robinson roads.


Local residents traveling through the area reported seeing a large fire, with one person telling Lake County News that at one point it looked like four separate fires.


Lakeport firefighters Andrew Bergem and Brian Hajik were passing by and were the first on scene to report the conditions, Bergem said.


They saw four spots, light flashy tule vegetation, moderate rate of spread, with no structures immediately threatened, said Bergem. The men also assessed the resources needed and access, which Bergem said was difficult due to terrain.


Hajik requested a response from Lakeport Fire Protection District, which sent one engine, and Cal Fire Boggs Mountain, Bergem said.


Northshore Fire, which also responded, had a water tender and at least one engine on scene, based on reports from the incident. Cal Fire sent one engine and started to send a bull dozer, but it was canceled.


When the fire was contained at about 6:15 p.m., it had burned between four and five acres, according to Cal Fire.


Bergem said the fire was contained by firefighters with the help of a natural fire break – a creek that surrounded the southern and eastern perimeters of the fire, where it burned itself out.

 

See video of the fire, shot by Michael Augustine, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLQR4Ngmpco .


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 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

UPDATE: CHP confirms death of Lakeport teen

SONOMA COUNTY – A 19-year-old Lakeport resident who was involved in a four-vehicle collision that killed a family of four Saturday night has died.


Steven Culbertson died late Sunday morning at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to Officer Jon Sloat of the California Highway Patrol's Santa Rosa office.


Katy Hillenmeyer, a Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital spokesperson, told Lake County News late Monday that Culbertson died “surrounded by loved ones.” Under privacy laws Hillenmeyer was not authorized to give further details.


The young man's death followed by several hours the deaths of John Maloney, 45, his wife Susan, 42, and their young children Grace, 5, and Aiden, 8, whose Nissan Quest was hit broadside by Culbertson at around 9:20 p.m. Saturday.


Based on its initial investigation, the CHP determined that Culberton allegedly was driving his Mini Cooper more than 90 miles per hour southbound on Lakeville Highway when he clipped the rear end of a Honda CR-V driven by Petaluma resident John Graham, 61.


Culbertson's vehicle continued on, running a red light and hitting the Maloneys' Quest, which was traveling eastbound on Highway 37. The Quest was then pushed into an eastbound traveling Mitsubishi Galant driven by 52-year-old Carrie Rodriguez of Novato.


Rodriguez and her passengers, Liberty Rosario, 42, of Fairfield and Adelaida Nicholas, 53, of Novato, were transported to a Novato hospital with minor injuries, said Sloat. Graham and his passenger, Stockton resident James Parker, weren't hurt.


There had been differing reports over the weekend regarding Culbertson's death.


Sloat said the CHP received a call from the Sonoma County Coroner's Office reporting that Culbertson died at 11:15 a.m. Sunday.


However, several hours later Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital officials continued to report to Lake County News and other media that Culbertson was in care and in critical condition.


The CHP – which spent hours investigating the scene with the help of the agency's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) – said speed was a factor in the crash.


Sloat said that Culbertson was not being pursued by any law enforcement at the time of the collision.


There was no evidence of alcohol or drugs at the scene, said Sloat.


However, he added, “We're not ruling it out yet.”


A blood sample was taken from Culbertson and submitted to the Department of Justice laboratory. Sloat said it should take about two weeks for those tests to be completed.


Two years ago, a family of five was killed in a fiery crash on Highway 101, said Sloat. That and Saturday's crash are the two worst in his 10 years working in the Sonoma County area, he said.


Culbertson graduated from high school in 2008 and aspired to be a professional race car driver and mechanic, according to his Facebook page.


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 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Victims of mid-air collision identified; onscene investigation wraps up

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Cotati resident Harold Chouinard's Schleicher ASW 27 glider, foreground, and a Piper PA 25 tow plane flown by Robert Boylan of Hidden Valley Lake, landed to the east of the runway at Crazy Creek Air Adventures in Middletown after they collided mid-air on the morning of Saturday, November 28, 2009. The aircraft are pictured on Monday, November 30, 2009, a short time before they were removed from the scene. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
 

 

 

 


THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.


MIDDLETOWN – On the morning that a preliminary investigation into a Saturday mid-air collision near Middletown was wrapping up, local officials released the names of the two men who died in the crash.


Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Monday that 44-year-old Robert Sean Boylan of Hidden Valley Lake and 63-year-old Harold Harvey Chouinard of Cotati were the crash victims.


Boylan was piloting a Piper PA 25 tow plane and Chouinard was in a Schleicher ASW 27 glider when they collided, according to Eliott Simpson, an aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, who remained on the scene Monday morning.


Simpson said that, based on witness reports, both men were approaching the landing strip at Crazy Creek Air Adventures from different directions when the crash occurred.


He said the glider was coming on the right downward leg and the tow plane was the left downward leg, with both circling to land. They hit at the approach end of the runway.


The equipment on both the glider and plane had appeared to be in working order based on Simpson's preliminary onscene investigation.


Bauman reported that sheriff's deputy coroners responded to the scene at about 11:40 a.m. Saturday. Rescue personnel from Cal Fire were already on scene when deputies arrived and both the Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB had been notified of the collision.


When deputies arrived at the scene, Bauman said they were led to the wreckage, where they found the pilots of both aircraft near their respective crafts. Boylan and Chouinard both were pronounced dead at the scene.


Bauman said that, due to extended response times by the FAA and the NTSB, deputies secured and guarded the crash scene throughout the day and night until both federal agencies could arrive to investigate the cause of the collision the following day.


Autopsies will be scheduled to determine the exact cause of death for both of the pilots, Bauman said.


The two aircraft came to rest in a pasture several hundred yards to the east of the approach end of the landing strip. The plane was sitting about 100 yards to the north of the glider, facing in a northerly direction, while the glider was pointed toward the runway.

 

 

 

Image
The wreckage of the tow plane, sitting where it landed in a pasture near the landing strip at Crazy Creek Air Adventures in Middletown. The plane was moved a few hours after the picture was taken on Monday, November 30, 2009. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
 

 

 


On Monday the wreckage remained where it had landed, said Simpson, except that he had the glider turned over so that it was sitting right side up for the purposes of the investigation.


Following the collision the glider had landed on its top and fire personnel cut off the right side wing as they worked to rescue Chouinard, Simpson said.


Both aircraft were surrounded by small debris fields. The wheel of the plane lay about 30 feet from it.


The glider's tail section bore the name “Hal,” for Chouinard, under whose name it was licensed, according to FAA records. The registration certificate was issued in April of 2003.


The tow plane was licensed to Cal Soar Inc., at the same address as Crazy Creek Air Adventures on Grange Road. That certificate was issued in July of 1992, FAA records showed.


Six people, who Simpson said were family members of Boylan, visited the crumpled wreckage of the tow plane early Monday morning. They walked slowly around it and then stood quietly together. As they left the field they declined the request for a comment.


Simpson, who has been doing the investigations for about three years, is an engineer who also is a pilot. Most of the NTSB investigators have a piloting background, he said.


“We have to investigate every single civil aircraft crash,” said Simpson, who is based in Los Angeles. About 15 NTSB investigators are based on the West Coast, he added.


The cause of the crash itself is yet to be determined. Simpson said a preliminary reported will be available within the next five to 10 days, with a final factual report likely to be completed in about six months, although it could take as long as nine months to finish.


That report will then go to Washington, DC, to the full safety board, which will determine the collision's probable cause, Simpson said.


Simpson expected to be at the Middletown crash site until noon on Monday, noting that the onscene portion of the investigation was complete.


“So now it's just recovery,” he said.


The aircraft were recovered later Monday morning and transported to a privately owned storage facility in Sacramento, Simpson said.


The facility, which was hired by the insurance companies covering the aircraft, will store the plane and glider during the investigation, Simpson said.


“They're there in case anything else comes to light,” he 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 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

NTSB official offers update on investigation into glider crash

MIDDLETOWN – The investigation into a mid-air collision that claimed the lives of two pilots continued on Sunday.


The crash – between a Schleicher ASW 27 glider and a Piper PA 25 tow plane – occurred on Saturday at around 11 a.m. at Crazy Creek Air Adventures in Middletown, as Lake County News has reported.


On Sunday, Eliott Simpson, an aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, was on the scene in Middletown, examining the wreckage of the two aircraft.


He said the Federal Aviation Administration also had been on scene earlier in the day.


Based on an evaluation of the wreckage, Simpson said no equipment appeared to be missing from the aircraft.


“Both aircraft appear to be in working order,” said Simpson, noting that such a determination is merely preliminary.


He explained that, based on the investigation so far, it appears that the glider and the tow plane both were approaching the same runway from different directions – the glider coming from the north, with the tow plane on the southern side.


“Witnesses stated that they both appeared to turn toward the runway at the same time,” he said.


Simpson said he will have a preliminary report on the crash prepared within 10 days, but a final report will require about six months of investigation.


He said the report will then go to the full safety board for a final determination.


Simpson said they see glider crashes but “not an excessive amount.”


On Sunday Simpson worked the investigation from the NTSB side alone on Sunday, a situation which he said isn't uncommon, since the agency only has 44 investigators to cover the entire United States.


He said the release of the crash victims' names will be up to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's officials could not be reached Sunday for official confirmation of the pilots' names.


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 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

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Community

  • Lake County Wine Alliance offers sponsor update; beneficiary applications open 

  • Mendocino National Forest announces seasonal hiring for upcoming field season

Public Safety

  • Lakeport Police logs: Thursday, Jan. 15

  • Lakeport Police logs: Wednesday, Jan. 14

Education

  • Woodland Community College receives maximum eight-year reaffirmation of accreditation from ACCJC

  • SNHU announces Fall 2025 President's List

Health

  • California ranks 24th in America’s Health Rankings Annual Report from United Health Foundation

  • Healthy blood donors especially vital during active flu season

Business

  • Two Lake County Mediacom employees earn company’s top service awards

  • Redwood Credit Union launches holiday gift and porch-to-pantry food drives

Obituaries

  • Rufino ‘Ray’ Pato

  • Patty Lee Smith

Opinion & Letters

  • The benefits of music for students

  • How to ease the burden of high electric bills

Veterans

  • CalVet and CSU Long Beach team up to improve data collection related to veteran suicides

  • A ‘Big Step Forward’ for Gulf War Veterans

Recreation

  • Wet weather trail closure in effect on Upper Lake Ranger District

  • Mendocino National Forest seeking public input on OHV grant applications

  • State Parks announces 2026 Anderson Marsh nature walk schedule 

  • BLM lifts seasonal fire restrictions in central California

Religion

  • Kelseyville Presbyterian to host Ash Wednesday service and Lenten dinner Feb. 18

  • Kelseyville Presbyterian Church to hold ‘Longest Night’ service Dec. 21

Arts & Life

  • Auditions announced for original musical ‘Even In Shadow’ set for March 21 and 28

  • ‘The Rip’ action heist; ‘Steal’ grounded in a crime thriller

Government & Politics

  • Lake County Democrats issue endorsements in local races for the June California Primary

  • County negotiates money-saving power purchase agreement

Legals

  • March 3 hearing on ordinance amending code for commercial cannabis uses

  • Feb. 12 public hearing on resolution to establish standards for agricultural roads

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