Wednesday, March 10, 2010 |
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Local News |
- Family says victim not a gang member
- Slaying suspects may be in gang
- Six regional schools in trouble
- Vacaville slaying suspects arraigned
- Suisun City man found shot to death
- CMF inmate dies in fall from upper cell block
Linda Mata does not deny that the neighborhood she lives in has problems with gang activity, but she wants to make it clear that her grandson was not a gang member.
Vacaville police did not jump to any conclusions in believing a fatal shooting Friday night was gang-related.
The state on Monday named "persistently lowest-achieving schools," including one in Fairfield, four in Vallejo and one in Woodland, that could be severely affected, even to the extent of conversion to charter schools or major staff replacements.
Three suspected gang members facing murder charges in connection with a deadly shooting in Vacaville last week appeared briefly Tuesday in Solano County Superior Court.
A 21-year-old Suisun City man was fatally shot Sunday as he traversed a Suisun City sidewalk.Gary T. Summers Jr.
A 44-year-old inmate died Monday after falling from the upper level of a cell block at California Medical Facility in Vacaville.
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Regional News |
- Sacramento drunken killer, road-rage slayer due parole hearings
- Sac sheriff: Woman arrested in imprisonment, torture of man
- Sacramento postal worker indicted for worker's comp fraud
- Sac sheriff asking public's help in finding robbery suspect
- Sacto 9-1-1: Sacramento child killer among inmates up for parole hearings
- 'On-call' Sacramento sheriff's deputy arrested on sex charges
A man who killed an 18-year-old while he was drunk and a man who shot to death another motorist in an act of road rage are among Sacramento area convicts who have paroles hearings scheduled next week.
They are:
-March 18, Kenneth Roy Stark, 55, Mule Creek State Prison.
A Yolo County Superior Court judge sentenced Stark to life in prison for the June 13, 1985 beating death of a homeless man, The Bee reported.
The body of Ronald Eugene Meyers, 42, was dumped in a Yolo Bypass field.
-March 18, Ralph Kendall Blasingame IV, 34, California State Prison, Solano.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Blasingame to 19-year-to-life in prison for fatally shooting an 18-year-old stranger in a drunken act of bravado, The Bee reported.
Blasingame killed Sean Michael Renfro with a single bullet fired from 100 feet at a car leaving a river party late at night on Oct. 16, 1993.
According to testimony, someone had shouted an obscenity and Blasingame, who was standing on the road, mistakenly thought the passing Honda was filled with people he and his friends had tangled with earlier that night. He claimed to have fired wildly into the night, never knowing he hit anything.
-March 18, Thongsanh Phongsavat, 34, California State Prison, Solano.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Phongsavat to 18-year-to-life in prison on April 26, 1996 for shooting and killing a motorist in a driving dispute on Interstate 80, The Bee reported.
Killed during the rush hour as he exited Interstate 80 at Northgate Boulevard on Oct. 10, 1995, was Brit C. Bahn, 24. Bahn and his brother, Chad, 25, were driving from Woodland to a store to return a television.
Bahn was hit in the temple with a single rifle shot fired from a Honda in which Phongsavat was riding as a passenger.
The incident began on I-5 when the Honda was tailgating the truck, and the occupants became embroiled in an exchange of gestures and racial slurs.
-March 18, John Lee Hart, 52, California State Prison, Solano.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Hart to life in prison for shooting to death Charles Mojeske, 22, of Sacramento at his home in 4200 block of May Street, The Bee reported.
The July 27, 1991 attack also resulted in injuries to two of the victim's brothers, neither of whom was hurt seriously.
Hart shot Mojeske when he opened the door to his house. Testimony showed that Mojeske earlier had been involved in a fight with Hart's 15-year-old brother.
-March 19, James Elmer Harmon, 69, California State Prison, Solano.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Harmon to life plus 17 years in April 1987 for a kidnap-robbery with a couple of accomplices that netted them $3,000, The Bee reported.
Harmon hit the victim with a pipe in the September 1986 crime.
Harmon had an extensive criminal history going back to 1959. The deputy district attorney who prosecuted him for the kidnap-robbery was the son of the deputy district attorney who won a conviction of Harmon in 1960.
If you want to give your opinion of an inmate's suitability for parole, you may mail a letter to:
Martin Hoshino, executive director
Board of Parole Hearings
1515 K Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
For more information on the Board of Parole Hearings, go to:
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Divisions_Boards/BOPH/
A Sacramento woman accused of beating a man and holding him against his will was being held in lieu of $1 million bail tonight at the Sacramento County Jail.
Kathlyne Alycia Smart, 46, of Sacramento, was arrested late Friday by Sacramento Sheriff's deputies on suspicion of torture with intent to cause cruel or extreme pain, false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon with the likelihood of causing great bodily harm after deputies were called to an apartment in the 5100 block of Andrea Boulevard, said Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran.
Neighbors told deputies they heard sounds of screaming coming from the apartment about 10:50 p.m. Friday, Curran said.
Deputies arrived to find a 41-year-old man who said he was being held against his will. It was unknown how long the man had been held.
Curran said the man had been beaten and burned and was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for his injuries and released.
Curran did not know the extent of the pair's relationship, but said the two were acquainted.
Smart is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
A federal grand jury has indicted a 46-year-old Sacramento postal worker for allegedly illegally claiming $278,000 in workers' compensation benefits, according to the U.S. attorney Benjamin Wagner.
The 15-count indictment issued earlier this week alleges that Nicki Lee Buxmann falsely claimed to have been injured on the job and then denied she had outside employment and income, Wagner said in a news release.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurel Loomis Rimon, who is prosecuting the case, the indictment alleges that Buxmann defrauded the Postal Service by claiming that she had injured her back, neck, and shoulder while on the job and then denying that she had outside employment and income while receiving benefits.
The indictment alleges that Buxmann owned and operated TNT Takeover/MMA Boxing and Fitness 180 businesses in Elk Grove and Roseville, Rimon said.
Buxmann is also charged with separate counts of theft of U.S. property and false statements or fraud to obtain employee's compensation, Rimon said.
The case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General, Wagner said.
Sacramento County sheriff's detectives are seeking help in identifying a man suspected of attempting to rob a fast-food restaurant.
Robbery detectives said that about 4 p.m. Feb. 21 a man ordered food at the Del Taco restaurant in the 9100 block of Keifer Boulevard and asked to speak to the manager.
When the manager approached, the man pointed a handgun at him and demanded money. The manager ran behind the counter and the suspect fled without cash.
The suspect is described as a black male in his 20s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds. He has a tattoo on the right side of his neck.
Anyone with information is asked to call robbery detectives at (916) 874-5115 or Crime Alert at (916) 443-4357.
A man who murdered his 1-year-old son in 1996 and a woman who killed a man in 1988 who she suspected of being a child molester are among the Sacramento area convicts who are up for parole hearings early in March.
According to the Board of Parole Hearings, a division of the State Corrections and Rehabilitation Department, the following hearings are scheduled for these convicts who are serving life sentences:
-March 8, Robert Ramirez Vela Jr., 34, Avenal State Prison.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Vela on July 18, 1997, to 15-years-to-life in prison for the murder of his 1-year-old son, Daniel Vergos, who died of a massive skull fracture, The Bee reported.
An autopsy revealed that the victim had toxic levels of prescription drugs in his blood system, according to court documents. The drugs, which included codeine, were of such high doses that they alone would have killed him, said Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely.
During the trial, Vela said he accidentally bumped his son's head against a wall when he was rocking the boy. Prosecution evidence showed the child's head injuries were so severe they were equivalent to a fall from a building several stories high.
-March 10, Frederick Brinkley, 47, Avenal State Prison.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Brinkley to life in prison in November 1983 for a nine-day kidnapping and robbery spree in 1982.
Brinkley and a second person kidnapped three persons and robbed four others in separate crimes that took place in parking lots.
One victim was bound, gagged and left in the trunk of an abandoned car. She was able to free herself and pick the lock with her fingernails.
-March 10, Joy Celeste Pense, 43, California Institution for Women.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Pense of Martinez in December 1989 to 27-years-to life in prison for killing a man because she believed he had molested the 3-year-old daughter of a friend, The Bee reported.
Pense was convicted of the Nov. 12, 1988, gunshot slaying of Tracy James Helling, 19, of Concord.
According to trial testimony, Pense lured Helling to a remote area of the Delta in Sacramento County with a promise she could get him some good drugs, then produced a gun and shot Helling several times in the torso and head, including one fatal round to the heart.
After leaving Helling's lifeless body on the shoulder of a road in the Sandy Beach area, Pense returned to Martinez and told the mother of the molestation victim that she had killed Helling. "Boom, I shot him in the head and in the gut," the mother quoted Pense.
The mother explained to the jury that she had learned from her daughter in May 1989 that Helling had been playing a "secret game" with her 3-year-old daughter and had attempted unsuccessfully to get the Contra Costa County authorities to prosecute him on child-molestation charges.
Pense was the child's baby sitter and shared in the mother's frustration with the criminal justice system, she testified.
-March 11, George Edward Mixon, California State Prison, Los Angeles County.
No background information was available.
If you want to give your opinion of an inmate's suitability for parole, you may mail a letter to:
Martin Hoshino, executive director
Board of Parole Hearings
1515 K Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
For more information on the Board of Parole Hearings, go to:
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Divisions_Boards/BOPH/
Eric Cephus
A 39-year-old man employed by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department as an "on-call" deputy has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a Lincoln hotel, according to authorities.
Eric Cephus was taken into custody late Tuesday night in San Jose, said Lincoln police acting Chief Paul Shelgren.
He was booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and transporting to commit rape, Shelgren said. He is expected to arrive in Placer County this afternoon.
Police began investigating Cephus on Feb. 27, after a Lincoln patrol officer came across the girl walking in the area of Ferrari Ranch Road and Joiner Parkway in the early morning, Shelgren said.
The girl was "pretty forthcoming about what happened" hours earlier, Shelgren said.
He said detectives suspect that Cephus met the girl "through the course of his employment," but declined to elaborate.
Shelgren said the girl was not brought to Lincoln against her will. It's unclear to detectives at this point whether the sex was forced; however, Shelgren said he found it hard to imagine a scenario in which sex with a 13-year-old girl would be consensual.
In addition to the two sex-related charges, Shelgren told The Bee earlier today that Cephus had been arrested on suspicion of engaging in an act of prostitution. However, he said this afternoon that detectives did not have enough evidence to support such a charge.
He declined to say whether the girl characterized herself as a prostitute or whether Cephus paid her.
Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness confirmed that Cephus is employed as an "on-call" deputy sheriff, although he is on administrative leave because of the arrest. He said Cephus had been employed as a full-time deputy sheriff until he was laid off in August as a result of department-wide budget cuts.
At the time he was laid off, Cephus had been employed by the Sheriff's Department for a "couple years," McGinness said.
Cephus lives in San Jose with his girlfriend and the couple's son, according to their babysitter, who spoke briefly to The Bee but did not give her name. A message for Cephus' girlfriend, left with the babysitter, has not been returned.
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National News |
- Man pleads guilty after security scare
- Graduates rally for embattled school
- Archdiocese defends decision to deny children over lesbian parents
- Sheen set to return to '2 and a Half Men'
- Massa seeks to divert attention from harassment allegations
- Missing exec's body found in river
A New Jersey man who breached security to give his girlfriend a kiss, causing scores of flight delays, pleaded guilty Tuesday to defiant trespass, his lawyer said.
Graduates of the nation's most vilified high school descended upon campus Tuesday evening to support the school's fired teachers. They also had a message for President Obama: Don't bash our school.
The archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, is defending its decision not to re-enroll two children in a Catholic school in Boulder next year because their parents are lesbians.
Charlie Sheen is set to return to the set of his sitcom "Two and a Half Men," his publicist said.
Embattled former Rep. Eric Massa sought Tuesday night to turn attention away from sexual harassment allegations swirling around him in the wake of his resignation.
The body of a missing energy executive was pulled from the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Tuesday, four days after he disappeared, a police spokesman said.
