Redding (Calif.) fire officials say scammers are telling people to send money for a carbon monoxide detector to avoid a fine imposed by a recent senate bill.
eff Granberry of the Redding Fire Department said area residents have been receiving a letter that reads, “California Senate Bill 183 was signed into law in May 2010, requiring the mandatory installation of Carbon Monoxide detectors in all homes by July 1, 2011.”
The letter then asks people to send money to their company to avoid a possible fine.
The new law only applies to constructions, alterations, repairs or additions costing more than $1,000 that were added after July 1, 2011, Granberry said.
The Redding Fire Department does recommend everyone have a working carbon monoxide detector in their home, but warns that this letter is ” fraudulent.”
For more information on carbon monoxide or the mailing scam, call the Redding Fire Department at 225-4150, or call the city of Redding Building Department at 225-4013.
Schreder named woman of the year
Kristen Schreder, a member of the Shasta Union High School District board of trustees, has been named Elected Woman of the Year by California Women Lead.
Schreder, who has served on the board for the past five years, received the award at an Aug. 17 reception in Sacramento.
Schreder is also vice chairwoman of the Shasta Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund, the Turtle Bay Exploration Park’s board of regents and a member of the Shasta College Community Engagement Advisory Board.
California Women Lead is a nonprofit group that provides leadership training, policy workshops and networking opportunities for women holding elected and appointed public office.
Lightning strikes spark small fires
Lightning strikes Tuesday night and Wednesday morning sparked at least four small fires in north state.
Stanton Florea, fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said Wednesday at least 100 lightning strikes were recorded in the Shasta-Trinity and Klamath national forests. Three of those caused fires in the Klamath forest, he said.
“They’re all very small at this point and in fairly remote areas,” Florea said. Lightning also sparked a tree fire near Gunsight Peak in Siskiyou County, said Suzi Brady, spokeswoman for the Siskiyou Unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Firefighters expected more lightning Wednesday night as a storm system moved north, Brady said.
Forest Service planes are continuing to monitor the area to spot any additional wildfires, Florea said.
Skate park closed after vandalism
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday the skateboard park at Clair Engle Park in Shasta Lake will be closed until Monday because of recent vandalism.
Employees with the city’s Public Works Department found vandalism and graffiti in the skate park Wednesday morning as they were unlocking it for day use, Sheriff’s Capt. Forrest Bartell said.
Shasta Lake’s Municipal Code allows the city to close the skate park in response to vandalism, Bartell said. Deputies are hoping bike and skater groups will take responsibility for the park and help keep it clean.
The skate park will remain closed until Monday and anyone caught using it will face a citation or arrest.
Before Wednesday, Bartell said, the skate park had been closed for only two other days. City workers have spent hours cleaning the park and deputies at the Shasta Lake substation has spent hundreds of hours responding to vandalism, assault and substance abuse calls in the area, he said.
Man jailed for bilking customers
A former employee of a now-defunct recreational vehicle dealership in Anderson who was charged with three others of bilking customers out of an estimated $300,000 was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail and placed on formal probation for five years after earlier pleading no contest to criminal conspiracy.
Dwight Malcolm Gaylor, 36, also must pay restitution, but the amount he will have to pay back to the victims has not yet been determined.
Gaylor had been scheduled for trial in November with his former co-defendants, Robin Gail Moberg, Glenn Richard Hartley and Staci Gaylor Rutledge, who are accused of taking more than 80 trailers, fifth wheels and RVs on consignment from customers, selling them and failing to pay the owners for the vehicles sold. The trio is still due to stand trial, but Gaylor is not required to testify at their trial as a condition of his plea bargain Gaylor, who faces nearly four years in prison if he violates the terms of his probation, may be allowed to serve his jail sentence on electronic confinement.
Former bookkeeper admits theft
A former bookkeeper pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling $14,000 from a small, private water company in Anderson.
Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Erin Dervin said Dawn Marie Frisbie agreed to the single felony count of embezzlement in exchange for a 90-day jail sentence and probation.
Frisbie, 46, of Anderson worked as a contract bookkeeper for Verde Vale Water Co. in Anderson, allegedly embezzled the money from January 2010 through February of this year.
Frisbie, who is free from jail after she was charged in June, will be sentenced on Oct. 25, Dervin said.
The small water company is a private nonprofit utility that serves about 110 properties near Verde Vale Elementary School.
Shingletown man sentenced for porn
A 29-year-old Shingletown man was sentenced to more than three years in state prison Wednesday for possessing child pornography and drugs.
Abram Alexander Walsh was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison and 90 days in Shasta County jail, California Highway Patrol officer Mel Hutsell said.
Walsh originally was arrested by CHP officers Oct. 3 on suspicion of driving under the influence and possession of methamphetamine. CHP officers served a search warrant for his home based on evidence gathered during that arrest.
According to a CHP report, a GPS device that was found in his vehicle was found to contain more than 200 photographic images, the majority of naked children.
When serving the warrant Oct. 6, officers found multiple photograph clippings of small children, pornography magazines, sexual gratification items, processed marijuana, a loaded .45-caliber handgun, metal knuckles, an assault rifle and other items.
Gaylor may be allowed to serve his sentence on electronic confinement. Frisbie will get a 90-day jail sentence and probation.
August 25, 2011
