LAKE COUNTY — On the heels of the arrest of former Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) correctional officer Russell “Rusty” Wright, Sheriff Rodney K. Mitchell said a new investigation began Wednesday.
A records and incident management system (RIMS) report was copied on to media Web sites in Lake County.
“This is an unauthorized dissemination of protected information,” Mitchell said. “This is egregious misconduct that is actively being investigated. It compromises the integrity of a criminal investigation and has an impact on the overall process.”
RIMS reports are authorized only for law enforcement agencies to access, according to Mitchell.
A policy change became effective following Wright”s arrest as well.
Mitchell said that an audit was conducted on Jan. 11 that led LCSO to determine that a weapon was altered in the Sheriff”s department armory.
“The investigation that followed led us to seek a search warrant of Rusty Wright”s property,” Mitchell said.
While Wright was employed with LCSO, five LCSO firearms instructors had access to the armory.
“Now nobody has solo-access. A command-level officer is required to accompany anyone who enters the armory,” Mitchell said.
He said whoever altered the weapon in the armory, did so with deception and that it was a deliberate act.
A trigger mechanism for a semi-automatic weapon replaced the mechanism in the automatic weapon. He also said that it requires an elevated level of expertise to accomplish altering the weapon.
Mitchell said LCSO does not issue fully-automatic weapons to correctional officers at any time.
As a result of an ongoing criminal investigation involving Wright, a criminal complaint against Wright was submitted to the Lake County District Attorney on Monday morning.
On Tuesday morning, a warrant of arrest was signed by Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann and at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wright was arrested in Lakeport by LCSO without incident.
Wright was booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of grand theft, embezzlement by a public officer, receiving stolen property and possession of dangerous fireworks with a $15,000 bail.
Wright posted bail and was released the same afternoon.
Mandy Feder can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com, or call directly 263-5636 ext. 32.
