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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Sonoma County man accused of murdering a Lucerne resident in the summer was in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday, entering a not guilty plea in the case.
Nova Maye Deperno, 26, of Occidental, pleaded not guilty to the murder of 63-year-old Ronald Meluso, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Meluso was last heard from and reported missing in August. In December, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said it believed Meluso was the victim of foul play and identified Deperno as a person of interest in the case.
Authorities arrested Deperno in Occidental on Jan. 13 for several felony charges.
The day after his arrest in Sonoma County, the sheriff’s office said Deperno assisted detectives in locating human remains in a rural area off Bartlett Springs Road in northern Lake County.
Deperno was arrested for Meluso’s murder on Jan. 20, as Lake County News has reported.
Hinchcliff said investigators believe Meluso died from a gunshot.
Last week, Deperno first appeared in Lake County Superior Court, Hinchcliff said.
“We charged him with five different felony cases last week,” which involved crimes that took place from July 2020 to February 2021, Hinchcliff said.
Those felonies, which Hinchcliff said involved several victims, are for vandalism in July 2020; assault with a firearm and threats, and felony evading, all of which occurred in December 2020; threats and negligent discharge of a firearm in January 2021; and assault with a firearm in February 2021.
At his court appearance last week, Deperno was ordered to be held without bail, Hinchcliff said.
On Tuesday, Deperno was arraigned for first degree murder with special circumstances that could get him life without the possibility of parole if convicted, Hinchcliff said.
Dana Liberatore has been appointed as Deperno’s defense attorney.
Hinchcliff said that first degree murder charge has special circumstances of being committed for financial gain and lying in wait.
If convicted of murder, Deperno could face 25 years to life in prison. Another 25 years to life could be added to any term due to the additional allegation of the use of a firearm, Hinchcliff said.
Judge Andrew Blum ordered Deperno to be held without bail for the murder charge and set his preliminary hearing for March 9, although Hinchcliff said he suspects that hearing will be continued.
While Deperno has pleaded not guilty to the homicide, Hinchcliff said he has yet to enter pleas in the other five charges, which are now trailing the murder case.
Hinchcliff said he could not talk about a possible motive for the killing, and added he didn’t know what Deperno was doing in Lake County.
Outside of the charges he’s facing in Lake County, Deperno has no previous criminal record, Hinchcliff said.
Regarding the relationship between Deperno and Meluso, Hinchcliff said Deperno had supposedly been living with Meluso briefly, either renting or staying in Lucerne with an agreement to work for Meluso.
The sheriff’s office said at the time of Deperno’s arrest for the murder that the remains found off of Bartlett Springs Road were “strongly believed” to be those of Meluso and that arrangements were being made to confirm positive identification.
Asked about that process on Tuesday, sheriff’s office spokesperson Lauren Berlinn told Lake County News that they didn’t have a timeline for when that confirmation would be completed.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a sale of tax defaulted properties for this spring, with more than 900 parcels set to go up for auction.
Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen presented the board with a resolution approving the sale accompanied by a list of 942 tax defaulted properties.
Until last year, Ringen and her staff had arranged sales that usually topped out at about 300 parcels.
However, in recent years there has been an increased push to do the sales regularly and in larger numbers, with the city of Clearlake demanding Ringen’s office take action to sell thousands of tax defaulted properties within its boundaries.
The city of Clearlake went so far as to sue the county, alleging that Ringen violated state law by not pursuing tax default land sales in a more timely manner.
The city also appealed to state agencies on the matter, and in December 2020 State Controller Betty T. Yee wrote to Ringen to offer recommendations including that she sell 1,000 tax-defaulted properties per year in order to be in compliance with state law.
Ringen said the sale is scheduled for May 27 to June 1. It will be conducted online.
Of the 942 parcels approved for tax sale, Ringen said 87 have been offered in previous sales.
The minimum bids on all of the properties totals $7,870,400.
In March the board approved a June sale of 490 properties, with minimum bids totaling $2,944,800.
For this new sale, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier pointed out that the reduction of minimum bids for the properties previously offered that didn’t sell reduced the potential return of unpaid taxes by $1.3 million.
He shared a list of the properties, showing that some of them had minimums reduced by tens of thousands of dollars. In the case of one property in Clearlake Oaks, it was reduced by $146,000 to $15,000.
“There has to be reductions in order to make these properties viable properties,” Sabatier said.
He asked Ringen if special districts that have liens on the properties were consulted before the minimum bids were reduced.
Ringen said no, that her office’s responsibility is to lower the bid enough to stimulate the bidding so the properties will eventually be productive.
The board unanimously approved the resolution authorizing the tax sale.
Based on the county’s list, it appears to include 433 parcels in Clearlake’s jurisdiction.
Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora told Lake County News after the meeting on Tuesday that the city is pleased to see the increasing number of properties noticed for auction, although the number in this upcoming sale is not at the 1,000-parcel threshold noted by the State Controller’s Office as being needed to clear the enormous backlog in a reasonable period of time.
“The city’s frustration on this auction is we were again told we could offer our requests for properties to be added to the auction list, but those requests were ignored,” Flora said. “I was given personal assurance in a direct conversation with Ms. Ringen about being able to send a list of city preferred parcels. Long story short, after a personal meeting and supplying the list within the tax collector’s timeline, the list was ignored.”
Flora said the city has a strategy in which parcels should be prioritized, that it believes would benefit both the city and the county, “but we can’t get them interested in working with us on it. We have also expressed a desire for direct sale of some properties, and sent a list of priority parcels, but have not received any communication from the tax collector about this opportunity.”
He added, “At the end of the day the more properties offered the better, but this problem isn’t going to be solved without a little strategy.”
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen presented the board with a resolution approving the sale accompanied by a list of 942 tax defaulted properties.
Until last year, Ringen and her staff had arranged sales that usually topped out at about 300 parcels.
However, in recent years there has been an increased push to do the sales regularly and in larger numbers, with the city of Clearlake demanding Ringen’s office take action to sell thousands of tax defaulted properties within its boundaries.
The city of Clearlake went so far as to sue the county, alleging that Ringen violated state law by not pursuing tax default land sales in a more timely manner.
The city also appealed to state agencies on the matter, and in December 2020 State Controller Betty T. Yee wrote to Ringen to offer recommendations including that she sell 1,000 tax-defaulted properties per year in order to be in compliance with state law.
Ringen said the sale is scheduled for May 27 to June 1. It will be conducted online.
Of the 942 parcels approved for tax sale, Ringen said 87 have been offered in previous sales.
The minimum bids on all of the properties totals $7,870,400.
In March the board approved a June sale of 490 properties, with minimum bids totaling $2,944,800.
For this new sale, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier pointed out that the reduction of minimum bids for the properties previously offered that didn’t sell reduced the potential return of unpaid taxes by $1.3 million.
He shared a list of the properties, showing that some of them had minimums reduced by tens of thousands of dollars. In the case of one property in Clearlake Oaks, it was reduced by $146,000 to $15,000.
“There has to be reductions in order to make these properties viable properties,” Sabatier said.
He asked Ringen if special districts that have liens on the properties were consulted before the minimum bids were reduced.
Ringen said no, that her office’s responsibility is to lower the bid enough to stimulate the bidding so the properties will eventually be productive.
The board unanimously approved the resolution authorizing the tax sale.
Based on the county’s list, it appears to include 433 parcels in Clearlake’s jurisdiction.
Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora told Lake County News after the meeting on Tuesday that the city is pleased to see the increasing number of properties noticed for auction, although the number in this upcoming sale is not at the 1,000-parcel threshold noted by the State Controller’s Office as being needed to clear the enormous backlog in a reasonable period of time.
“The city’s frustration on this auction is we were again told we could offer our requests for properties to be added to the auction list, but those requests were ignored,” Flora said. “I was given personal assurance in a direct conversation with Ms. Ringen about being able to send a list of city preferred parcels. Long story short, after a personal meeting and supplying the list within the tax collector’s timeline, the list was ignored.”
Flora said the city has a strategy in which parcels should be prioritized, that it believes would benefit both the city and the county, “but we can’t get them interested in working with us on it. We have also expressed a desire for direct sale of some properties, and sent a list of priority parcels, but have not received any communication from the tax collector about this opportunity.”
He added, “At the end of the day the more properties offered the better, but this problem isn’t going to be solved without a little strategy.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A woman who was the driver in a crash that killed her passenger has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.
Patricia Martha Murphy, 31, with addresses in both Willits and Lucerne, was the driver in a crash late on the night of Jan. 16 that resulted in the death of 30-year-old Justin Dale of Lucerne.
Shortly before midnight Murphy, driving a 2012 Volkswagen, hit the rear of a parked Ram 550 work truck on westbound Highway 20 east of Lake Street in Lucerne.
Dale died of his injuries at the scene and Murphy was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, authorities said.
California Highway Patrol officers arrested her shortly after the wreck as they suspected she was under the influence of alcohol.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchliff said he has charged Murphy with felony vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and felony driving under the influence causing bodily injury.
She appeared in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday for arraignment, with attorney Sterling Thayer appointed to represent her, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchcliff said she is being held without bail and her preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 16.
Deputy District Attorney Danny Flesch has been assigned to handle the case, Hinchcliff said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Amid the national surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon on Tuesday announced that they have reached an agreement on a framework to ensure employees continue to have access to COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave through Sept. 30, 2022.
In a joint statement, the group said: “California’s ability to take early budget action will protect workers and provide real relief to businesses reeling from this latest surge.
“Throughout this pandemic, we have come together to address the immediate impacts COVID-19 continues to have on millions of California families, both at home and at work.
“By extending sick leave to frontline workers with COVID and providing support for California businesses, we can help protect the health of our workforce, while also ensuring that businesses and our economy are able to thrive.
“We will continue to work to address additional needs of small businesses through the budget — they are the backbone of our communities and continue to be impacted by COVID-19.”
Early budget actions will also include restoring business tax credits, including research and development credits and net operating losses, that were limited during the COVID-19 Recession; tax relief for recipients of federal relief grants for restaurants and shuttered venues; and additional funding for the Small Business Covid-19 Relief Grant Program.
The framework includes significant funding to bolster testing capacity, accelerate vaccination and booster efforts, support frontline workers, strengthen the health care system and battle misinformation.
In a joint statement, the group said: “California’s ability to take early budget action will protect workers and provide real relief to businesses reeling from this latest surge.
“Throughout this pandemic, we have come together to address the immediate impacts COVID-19 continues to have on millions of California families, both at home and at work.
“By extending sick leave to frontline workers with COVID and providing support for California businesses, we can help protect the health of our workforce, while also ensuring that businesses and our economy are able to thrive.
“We will continue to work to address additional needs of small businesses through the budget — they are the backbone of our communities and continue to be impacted by COVID-19.”
Early budget actions will also include restoring business tax credits, including research and development credits and net operating losses, that were limited during the COVID-19 Recession; tax relief for recipients of federal relief grants for restaurants and shuttered venues; and additional funding for the Small Business Covid-19 Relief Grant Program.
The framework includes significant funding to bolster testing capacity, accelerate vaccination and booster efforts, support frontline workers, strengthen the health care system and battle misinformation.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in December, enough to reach its lowest level since the start of the pandemic.
The Employment Development Department’s latest report said Lake County’s December unemployment rate was 5.7%, down from a final adjusted rate of 5.9% in November and 8.8% in December 2020.
EDD records show that it’s the lowest jobless rate for Lake County since December 2019, when the county reported 5.5% unemployment.
The EDD said California’s overall rate for December was 6.5%, down from 7% in November and 9.3% in December 2020.
On the national level, unemployment in December reached 3.9%, down from 4.2% in December and 6.7% the previous December.
Lake County’s 5.7% rate ranked it No. 40 out of the state’s 58 counties.
Marin had the lowest unemployment rate in December at 2.7%, and the highest, 14.7%, was in Imperial County.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 11.9%, No. 57; Glenn, 5.2%, No. 33; Mendocino, 4.6%, No. 24; Napa, 4.1%, No. 15; Sonoma, 3.5%, No. 6; and Yolo, 4.2%, No. 19.
The state’s dashboard of unemployment claims showed Lake County residents filed 496 unemployment claims in December, up from 474 in November. In December 2020, 1,392 unemployment claims were filed in Lake County.
The state’s situation
California’s employers added 50,700 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, accounting for nearly 25.5% of the nation’s 199,000 overall jobs gain for the month. Payroll jobs totaling 16,892,300 in December 2021, up from 15,937,900 in December 2020.
The number of Californians employed in December was 17,836,800, an increase of 116,900 persons from November’s total of 17,719,900, and up 879,800 from the employment total in December 2020, the report said.
The EDD said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,238,000 in December, a decrease of 86,800 over the month and down 510,500 in comparison to December 2020.
Since February 2021, California has added 1,034,400 total nonfarm jobs, which averages out to be a gain of 94,036 jobs per month for that time period, the EDD said.
The report said California has seen a year-over record 6% in nonfarm jobs for 2021, which is the largest calendar year increase in the official series data going back to 1990.
The state has now regained 1,946,200, or nearly 72%, of the 2,714,800 jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in December with leisure and hospitality (+15,000) leading the way due to significant gains in food services and drinking places.
Professional and business services (+12,000) has regained all of the jobs it lost during the pandemic-induced recession and had good month-over gains in professional, scientific and technical services with computer systems design and related services contributing strongly.
Month-over, no industry sectors lost jobs for the first time since March 2021, according to the report.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the EDD said there were 355,749 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2021 sample week. That compares to 434,676 people in November and 1,007,331 people in December 2020.
Concurrently, 49,071 initial claims were processed in the December 2021 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 3,645 claims from November and a year-over decrease of 110,021 claims from December 2020.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The Employment Development Department’s latest report said Lake County’s December unemployment rate was 5.7%, down from a final adjusted rate of 5.9% in November and 8.8% in December 2020.
EDD records show that it’s the lowest jobless rate for Lake County since December 2019, when the county reported 5.5% unemployment.
The EDD said California’s overall rate for December was 6.5%, down from 7% in November and 9.3% in December 2020.
On the national level, unemployment in December reached 3.9%, down from 4.2% in December and 6.7% the previous December.
Lake County’s 5.7% rate ranked it No. 40 out of the state’s 58 counties.
Marin had the lowest unemployment rate in December at 2.7%, and the highest, 14.7%, was in Imperial County.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 11.9%, No. 57; Glenn, 5.2%, No. 33; Mendocino, 4.6%, No. 24; Napa, 4.1%, No. 15; Sonoma, 3.5%, No. 6; and Yolo, 4.2%, No. 19.
The state’s dashboard of unemployment claims showed Lake County residents filed 496 unemployment claims in December, up from 474 in November. In December 2020, 1,392 unemployment claims were filed in Lake County.
The state’s situation
California’s employers added 50,700 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, accounting for nearly 25.5% of the nation’s 199,000 overall jobs gain for the month. Payroll jobs totaling 16,892,300 in December 2021, up from 15,937,900 in December 2020.
The number of Californians employed in December was 17,836,800, an increase of 116,900 persons from November’s total of 17,719,900, and up 879,800 from the employment total in December 2020, the report said.
The EDD said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,238,000 in December, a decrease of 86,800 over the month and down 510,500 in comparison to December 2020.
Since February 2021, California has added 1,034,400 total nonfarm jobs, which averages out to be a gain of 94,036 jobs per month for that time period, the EDD said.
The report said California has seen a year-over record 6% in nonfarm jobs for 2021, which is the largest calendar year increase in the official series data going back to 1990.
The state has now regained 1,946,200, or nearly 72%, of the 2,714,800 jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in December with leisure and hospitality (+15,000) leading the way due to significant gains in food services and drinking places.
Professional and business services (+12,000) has regained all of the jobs it lost during the pandemic-induced recession and had good month-over gains in professional, scientific and technical services with computer systems design and related services contributing strongly.
Month-over, no industry sectors lost jobs for the first time since March 2021, according to the report.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the EDD said there were 355,749 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2021 sample week. That compares to 434,676 people in November and 1,007,331 people in December 2020.
Concurrently, 49,071 initial claims were processed in the December 2021 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 3,645 claims from November and a year-over decrease of 110,021 claims from December 2020.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Students at two county high schools are preparing to square off once again in the Lake County Mock Trial.
The event will take place on Friday, Feb. 11, at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
This is the 10th annual event, which will see Upper Lake and Middletown once again competing for the honor of going to the 41st annual state competition in Los Angeles.
Dana Adams of the Lake County Office of Education said last year’s event was virtual and was hosted at the Napa courthouse.
This year it will return to the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
The students will argue the fictional case of People v. Cobey, which is the trial of Jamie Cobey, a horticulturist living in the community of Burnsley, California, a semirural town in the high desert.
The case brief said Cobey is charged with the homicide of Cobey’s landlord and next-door neighbor, Erik Smith, with prosecutors alleging that Cobey placed a rattlesnake in Smith’s mailbox.
The event will take place on Friday, Feb. 11, at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
This is the 10th annual event, which will see Upper Lake and Middletown once again competing for the honor of going to the 41st annual state competition in Los Angeles.
Dana Adams of the Lake County Office of Education said last year’s event was virtual and was hosted at the Napa courthouse.
This year it will return to the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
The students will argue the fictional case of People v. Cobey, which is the trial of Jamie Cobey, a horticulturist living in the community of Burnsley, California, a semirural town in the high desert.
The case brief said Cobey is charged with the homicide of Cobey’s landlord and next-door neighbor, Erik Smith, with prosecutors alleging that Cobey placed a rattlesnake in Smith’s mailbox.