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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Officer Academy graduated and pinned badges on 54 new officers in Paradise in Butte County on Thursday.
This group represents the largest academy graduating class in CDFW history.
The academy is certified by California Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, and offers training consistent with every law enforcement agency in California.
In 2008, CDFW partnered with Butte College to provide peace officer academy training for prospective wildlife officers.
The college provides CDFW with a state-of-the-art POST-certified academy facility with nearly 50 years of police training history.
“One of the best days of the year for us is adding a graduating class of wildlife officers to CDFW’s Law Enforcement Division,” said Nathaniel Arnold, CDFW deputy director and chief of law enforcement. “It is a pleasure to see 54 eager new officers ready to support our mission to protect California’s natural resources and provide public safety through effective and responsive law enforcement.”
The newly sworn peace officers will soon begin a field training program where they will apply their academy training under the immediate supervision of seasoned field training officers.
Field training with experienced field training officers, or FTOs, is also mandated by POST to ensure new wildlife officers can apply the skills they learned during the academy to real life circumstances.
FTO is the final stage of formal training. Upon successful completion, these officers will begin patrolling California to protect the natural resources of the state.
The wildlife officers will be deployed across the Law Enforcement Division’s programs: regular patrol, marine enforcement, investigation of petroleum spills and response, and cannabis enforcement, to name a few.
The Law Enforcement Division is hiring. For more information about becoming a wildlife officer, visit https://wildlife.ca.gov/Enforcement.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
REDDING, Calif. — Completed in April, the Redding Air Attack Base was revamped to simultaneously load up to five tankers, doubling aerial firefighting capabilities across the Western United States.
Fast forward three months to a very busy fire season, and the expanded base is already paying dividends.
“Saturday [July 27, 2024] was the air base’s biggest push yet. Crews loaded 240,638 gallons of fire retardant in about an 8-hour period. That’s 76,000 gallons more than previous records,” said Kelly Mathis, Redding Tanker Base manager for the USDA Forest Service.
Redding Air Attack Base, also known as RAAB, can now simultaneously service five large air tankers — which carry 2,000 to 4,000 gallons of fire retardant or water each.
Crews can fill these in roughly 12 minutes, and smaller 1,000-gallon air tankers in just three minutes.
In addition, a backup generator capable of powering the entire base provides zero power interruption in the event of a power outage, providing nonstop aerial resources for wildfire attack.
And Saturday was a testament to the increased capabilities these upgrades have provided.
“We loaded over 200,000 gallons of retardant onto 12 tankers in roughly eight hours. Had the pressing need not moved south, we would have continued to break records that day,” said RAAB Forest Technician Jaff Engelkes. “Being able to provide support to the troops on the ground has exponentially increased. The capacity to produce, load and send more aircraft and the increased safety for aircraft in and out of the base gives us the ability to provide support as wildfire activity continues to grow.”
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Authorities said Thursday that a Lake County Code Enforcement officer has been arrested in a case involving bribery, extortion and grand theft.
Antonio Chavez Anguiano, 36, of Clearlake, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon.
He was booked into the Hill Road Correctional Facility on felony charges of extortion, soliciting/accepting a bribe and grand theft, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana for sale, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Chavez Anguiano, whose jail booking sheet listed him as a Code Enforcement employee, remained in custody on Thursday pending a bail source hearing, the sheriff’s office said.
He is due to appear in court for arraignment on Friday, based on jail records.
In a statement released Thursday morning, Community Development Director Mireya Turner, whose department includes Code Enforcement, said the Community Development Department recently received notification of illegal activity allegedly engaged in by a staff member.
“We immediately notified the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and provided all relevant information,” Turner said, adding that Chavez Anguiano was arrested on Wednesday for felony bribery charges following “an urgent and thorough investigation.”
Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lauren Berlinn confirmed in a Thursday afternoon statement that the Community Development Department notified the sheriff's office “of illegal activity allegedly engaged in by a member of their staff.”
Berlinn said sheriff’s deputies began an investigation and executed a search warrant at Chavez Anguiano’s residence, recovering approximately $19,000 in cash and 35 pounds of processed marijuana, which led to his Wednesday arrest.
Berlinn told Lake County News that the sheriff’s office had at least two prior contacts with Chavez Anguiano going back to the early 2000s.
Lake County Superior Court records four traffic infraction cases between August 2010 and June 2023 that appear to have involved Chavez Anguiano.
“Public trust is a privilege that must be protected, and there are no higher priorities to Community Development leadership than the integrity of our staff and ethical conduct of our work. All appropriate protocols have and will continue to be followed in response to this occurrence. We do not tolerate illegal activity of any kind, and will fully support law enforcement’s efforts to bring justice in this unfortunate situation. The diligence of Lake County Sheriff’s Office personnel, and their support in reviewing and investigating this matter, are greatly appreciated,” Turner said in her Thursday morning statement.
Among other responsibilities, Code Enforcement has been tasked with enforcing the county’s cannabis rules and regulations and ensuring compliance by permitted growers.
So far, county officials have not answered questions about whether this case specifically involved cannabis growers in the county’s program, with the seizure of the processed marijuana suggesting a connection.
Turner said no further public comment would be provided at this time, and Berlinn also would not discuss further details of the case due to the ongoing investigation.
Transparent California, a pay and pension database of public employees in California, shows Chavez Anguiano as having worked as a Lake County Code Enforcement officer in both 2022 and 2023, with total pay and benefits ranging from $60,667.59 in the first year — which may have been a partial year — and $78,645.11 in the second year.
Chavez Anguiano is not the first Code Enforcement or Community Development employee to be arrested in a high profile criminal case.
Between 2008 and 2015, three employees were arrested on charges ranging from marijuana possession and sales, carrying loaded firearms in public, child cruelty and leading Lakeport Police on a high speed motorcycle chase.
Those arrests took place before Turner’s tenure, which began Aug. 31, 2022.
Berlinn said the sheriff’s office is continuing to work closely with Community Development “to ensure all appropriate protocols are met.”
This investigation is still ongoing, Berlinn said, and anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact Sgt. Dennis Keithly via email,
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Lucerne man has been ordered to stand trial for homicide in the death of a teenage girl authorities said overdosed on fentanyl he supplied to her.
Following a preliminary hearing last week, Judge J. David Markham ordered Joe Nathan Boggs Jr., 27, to stand trial for the Nov. 10 death of 17-year-old Illeanna Makena Frease.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Rich Watson said Boggs is charged with second degree murder, under a theory of implied malice.
Boggs also is charged with possession for sale of a controlled substance, transportation of a controlled substance for sale and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor. An allegation of great bodily injury was dismissed.
Boggs has remained in custody since his June arrest, with bail remaining at $1 million.
More information continues to be developed in the case.
“It’s still considered an ongoing investigation,” said Det. Jeff Mora of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Mora said they are still encouraging people to come forward if they have information about the case.
Watson said there was a family relationship between Frease and Boggs, but the precise nature of it did not come out at the preliminary hearing.
Frease referred to Boggs as “uncle” and he called her “cousin,” and it’s believed they and other family members were living in the same home in Lucerne, Watson said.
Based on testimony at the preliminary hearing, Watson said Boggs supplied Frease with pills on Nov. 9 after she contacted him through Instagram to ask for them two days earlier. She is believed to have met up with other people to supply them with those pills the same day she received them from Boggs.
Then, early on Nov. 10, she contacted Boggs again seeking drugs, Watson said.
He met her and provided the drugs, and she returned home and was seen taking them. Watson said she died later that morning.
Boggs will return to court for arraignment on Aug. 6, at which time it’s expected that a future trial date may be set.
This is the first case involving charges for homicide for a fentanyl overdose.
However, it isn’t expected to be the last.
“Our Major Crimes Unit does intend on working backwards and locating other cases,” Mora said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at