LUCERNE ? A Lucerne family experienced a Christmas surprise of the unpleasant kind this past weekend. Tennille Anderson and Don Cervelli returned to their home with their five children on Christmas Eve to find the place ransacked and all their Christmas presents, among other items, gone.
The family managed to salvage a bit of holiday cheer despite the situation thanks to the generosity and kindness of her family members and Supervisor Rob Brown and a handful of Kelseyville High School wrestlers.
Anderson said that she and her family just returned from a camping trip when they discovered the burglary. “After we came home from Yogi Bear we found our home ransacked, the television gone, all the Christmas presents, our game system, my daughter”s clothes, gone” she said. “They even took all of our stockings.”
Apparently, Brown heard about the incident and sent a message to one of Anderson”s daughters. She said Brown asked where they would be. Brown and six wrestlers showed up with gifts for the children. “If it weren”t for my dad (District Attorney Don Anderson) and Rob Brown and his wrestling team, our kids would not have had any Christmas at all,” Anderson said.
Anderson said she is certain who was responsible for the crime and questions why the man has not been arrested yet. She said she and Cervelli were helping a friend, who is on parole to get his life back on track. She said they assisted in getting the man a job but when he was fired, the man began threatening her and her family.
Anderson said that the man had been incarcerated, but was released from the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility on Dec. 8. While speaking with her neighbors, Anderson said she learned they had seen the vehicle and told her the driver appeared to be “casing” her residence since Dec. 8.
Anderson said soon after the incident and after providing authorities with suspect information, she visually-witnessed the same vehicle pulled over by a LCSO deputy. She said she could see that her property was inside the vehicle; however, the suspect was released without arrest. “All the evidence is there but nothing has been done yet,” she said.
