The following is a press release issued by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. This has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:
On November 19, 2023, Deputies responded to Lower Lake High School regarding a possible burglary of items from school vehicles. Deputy Reynolds spoke with a school maintenance worker who said he arrived at the school at around 7:30 AM and saw the chain locking the gate surrounding the maintenance yard had been cut, five maintenance vehicles were tampered with, and several power tools and fuel were stolen. The estimated total loss of tools was valued at over $8,000.00.
The maintenance worker reviewed surveillance camera footage from the weekend and saw two males enter the maintenance yard at midnight on November 19, 2023, siphon gasoline out of the school maintenance vehicles, and remove tools from the vehicles. The suspects returned two hours later and stole additional tools from the vehicles. The surveillance footage caught the suspects leaving the school in a green Honda Civic with distinct features.
Deputies searched the Clearlake area and, with the assistance of Clearlake Police Department Officers, located the vehicle in Clearlake. Deputies contacted the driver and determined they were on searchable probation out of Lake County. The driver was suspected of being one of the suspects by Deputy Reynolds, as they were wearing similar clothing as seen in the surveillance video. Per the driver’s probation status, Deputy Reynolds searched the vehicle. Deputy Reynolds located and recovered several of the stolen tools and items used to siphon fuel. Deputy Reynolds arrested the driver and drove them to their residence in Clearlake to conduct a further probation search, which resulted in the recovery of approximately $8,700.00 worth of power tools, hand tools, power tool accessories, and school laptops. The items recovered were positively identified as belonging to the school as they were all engraved with unique identifying information. Lower Lake High School officials confirmed the recovered items were those stolen from the school.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information should contact Deputy Reynolds via email at Chase.Reynolds@lakecountyca.gov.
??? … to excellent Sheriff … law enforcement and detective work.