LAKEPORT — Lake County Sheriff Frank Rivero candidly addressed several controversies associated with his department during a recent hour-long radio appearance.
Sitting as a guest on the KPFZ 88.1 FM program “Hellbound Handbasket” hosted by Glen Goodman, Rivero discussed issues related to the April bomb threat at the county courthouse, the mid-May meeting of the Vagos Motorcycle Club in Lakeport and a late-May undercover operation conducted by his department in the city of Clearlake.
Rivero began his appearance by focusing on criticisms recently lodged my members of the Lake County Deputy Sheriffs” Association (DSA) about the sheriff”s handling of those three situations.
Members of the DSA board raised concerns about officer safety issues associated with those incidents in a pair of statements released in late May.
“Although I disagree with their method of dealing with it, because they could have come to me if they had legitimate concerns, they could have come to me and they never did, they just let this out in the newspaper,” Rivero said during his radio appearance.
The sheriff attempted to discount the DSA board”s contention that the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) failed to notify city police and emergency services during the April 28 response to the reported bomb threat.
Rivero said LCSO representatives contacted the Lakeport Police Department (LPD) and the Lakeport Fire Protection District (LFPD) within minutes of the bomb-threat report.
LPD Chief Brad Rasmussen declined to comment Thursday about when or how his department was notified about the bomb threat. LFPD Chief Ken Wells said Thursday that his department was not officially notified of the alleged threat on April 28, but had been unofficially made aware of the situation.
Rivero also defended his actions during a unified show of force by county law enforcement agencies on May 14 amid the gathering of many Vagos members in Lakeport and reports that members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club were planning to enter the county to potentially confront the Vagos.
“I guess what I”m trying to get across here is these characters are no choir boys, OK. They mean business. When they show up, they cause problems,” Rivero said about the motorcycle gang members.
As part of the May 14 response, law enforcement officers were posted at county borders to preempt Hells Angels” members” entry into Lake County, a decision District Attorney Don Anderson recently said his office is investigating because of potential federal civil rights violations.
Rivero discussed Anderson”s investigation during the radio interview, saying, “It seems to me that he has taken a position that is somewhere left of the (American Civil Liberties Union) and situated somewhere between the ACLU and the American Communist movement.”
The Record-Bee was unable to contact Anderson by press time Thursday.
The DA described the investigation to the Record-Bee on May 28, saying, “we have an obligation to protect all citizens, even the Hells Angels.”
Rivero later added, “As far as Mr. Anderson getting involved, I think he should concentrate on maybe prosecuting crime. That”s what he was elected to do.”
The sheriff went on to criticize the rate at which the DA”s Office files charges and prosecutes cases, specifically referencing cases related to narcotics arrests made by the LCSO.
“The DA is the lawyer that”s supposed to be prosecuting these things. We”re the cops that are supposed to be bringing in these prosecutions. We”re doing our job; where is he?” Rivero stated.
Rivero announced that he has been contacting the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney”s Office about pursuing federal prosecutions for some of the Lake County narcotics arrests, which he said the local DA”s Office is not properly addressing.
One series of narcotics arrests Rivero mentioned were associated with the LCSO undercover operation in Clearlake.
At one point during the operation, Clearlake Police Department (CPD) officers, who were unaware of the LCSO mission within the city limits, approached the undercover LCSO narcotics investigators with weapons drawn.
Anderson recently stated his investigators were also collecting information regarding the undercover operation.
Rivero attempted to downplay reports of an intense situation when CPD unknowingly approached undercover LCSO personnel, saying the incident “has been blown way out of proportion.”
He did acknowledge there have been “conflicting statements” by LCSO and CPD personnel about the events in Clearlake, so he had recently opened an investigation into the situation.
CPD Chief Craig Clausen declined to comment about specifics surrounding the incident, saying, “The incident is being investigated by the DAs. They (CPD officers) documented it in a report that evening and I stand behind my staff 100 percent.”
The undercover operation resulted in the arrests of several individuals on methamphetamine-related charges.
Rivero questioned the bail process while describing one of the men arrested during the May 19 operation.
“Ironically the salesman, a fellow by the name of Michael (T.) Mitchell, had been recently arrested for, guess what, methamphetamine sales. And he was out on $50,000 bail, which he told me in the back of my patrol car he had been bailed out by Rob Brown,” Rivero said, later adding, “We rearrested the fellow who was let out on bail by Rob Brown, for $1,200 or $1,500.”
Brown, a Lake County Supervisor and operator of Rob Brown Bail Bonds in Kelseyville, confirmed that Mitchell had been a client of his this year but denounced Rivero”s assertions regarding the bail agreement.
“Mr. Rivero is inaccurate in his portrayal of the terms of the bail agreement between myself and Mr. Mitchell,” Brown said.
Brown added that Rivero appeared to misunderstand the bail process, saying, “I would be happy to educate Frank on the bail process if he would just pick up the phone and ask.”
“The first lesson would be to point out to Mr. Rivero that bail is covered in the Eighth Amendment of the same constitution that he is sworn to uphold and defend,” Brown said.
While Rivero presented his version of the facts and addressed criticisms about his actions during the interview, the sheriff said a main purpose of the radio appearance was to “clear the air” about the three incidents.
“That”s the truth to these three stories,” Rivero said. “There”s nothing more; there”s nothing less to it. Everything else, the whole kind of blow up, the dust up, whatever you want to call it, it”s all politics.”
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
