LAKE COUNTY ? According to a press release provided by Capt. James Bauman, Public Information Officer for the Lake County Sheriff”s Office, on Sunday just before 2 p.m., California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Kelseyville Rescue personnel responded to a two-vehicle collision on Soda Bay Road near Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville.
The driver who allegedly caused the collision, Cheryl Ann Resh, 46, of Kelseyville, told Kelseyville medics and CHP officers at the accident scene that her speed prior to the collision was due to her rush to get home after being told her 14-year-old son had been bitten by a rattlesnake.
No one involved in the collision required medical attention so medics left the accident scene and responded to Resh”s residence on Glebe Road to locate and treat her son.
When medics arrived at Resh”s home, they were apparently unable to locate the boy. The medics started inquiring with neighboring residents as to the boy”s whereabouts and it became apparent that the boy may be wandering somewhere in the hills. Acting on Resh”s report that her son could be in imminent danger, the Kelseyville medics requested Sheriff”s Search and Rescue personnel to assist with locating the boy.
A CALSTAR helicopter was dispatched from Ukiah to assist and while medics and neighborhood residents combed the area for the boy, volunteers with K-Corps and Search and Rescue were called out to respond.
After nearly an hour of searching for the 14- year-old, the boy”s father showed up after hearing his son was in danger and told one of the Search and Rescue Coordinators that he had not been bitten by a snake and was not even in the area.
The father told deputies that the boy had actually gone to the movies in Lakeport with a friend of his mother”s. The father”s information was verified when a deputy was dispatched to the Lakeport Cinema 5 where the boy was located unharmed.
Despite the account Resh provided at the accident scene, she never showed up to the area of the search for her son.
When deputies located her son at the movie theater, they learned she may be at a friend”s home in Soda Bay. After checking several different homes in Soda Bay, Resh was located and confronted about the apparent hoax she created. She then admitted to lying to medics and CHP about her son being bitten by a snake to avoid getting in trouble for speeding.
During her detention, deputies found Resh to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana, some methamphetamine, a canister of pepper spray, and a “crank” pipe.
She was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail. During the booking process,
Resh further told deputies she had actually fabricated the story about her son being bitten by a snake to avoid being found in possession of the drugs.
Resh was booked on a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor possession of tear gas, and misdemeanor false report of an emergency to a peace officer. She has since been released on a $10,000 bond.
