Santa Maria
Man sentenced for terrorizing family
A Santa Maria man who allegedly smashed his way through a local house with a pickax in May, terrorizing a family, has been sentenced to a year in county jail and five years on probation.
Eligio Raymond Franco pleaded no contest last week to first degree burglary, said Deputy District Attorney Stephen Foley, the prosecutor in the case against Franco.
The plea was entered and the sentence was handed down in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria.
Franco also admitted that he used a deadly or dangerous weapon during the burglary and that people were present during the act, Foley said.
In addition to his jail and probation sentence, Franco agreed to pay the victims more than $8,000 in restitution.
Franco, 28 at the time, allegedly used a pickax he found in the yard of a residence in the 900 block of North School Street to smash his way through two glass doors and gain access to the house.
Once inside, he allegedly made his way to the master bedroom and struck and kicked the closed door behind which the residents were hiding. Police arrived and helped the occupants of the room to safety.
The family was not injured during the ordeal.
Lompoc
Card fraud operation busted; two arrested
Two northern California residents were arrested in a Lompoc hotel room and charged with stealing credit card information, and forging new cards, police said Wednesday.
Lompoc police arrested Alberto Luis Padilla, 27, and Jennifer Lynn Davey, 23, at 2 p.m. Monday, in a hotel room in the 1100 block of North H Street, after the pair checked into the room using a stolen credit card.
Police said the two fled officers on foot for a short distance, before they were placed in custody.
According to police, the room the pair had been staying in contained a laptop computer, printing device and other credit cards. Police also found drug paraphernalia and “a very large amount” of potentially stolen credit card numbers, with which the suspects were believed to be relabeling credit cards.
San Luis Obispo
Shelter battles influx of stray, feral cats
Cats have been pouring into the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter at six times the average rate, county officials said, forcing management to euthanize otherwise healthy, adoptable cats to make enough room.
In the past two days, 36 stray, feral or unwanted cats have come into the shelter at Highway 1 and Kansas Avenue, compared to the daily average of 5.6 cats, according to county sheriff’s officials.
Of the 36 cats, approximately 17 were euthanized to make room for the continuing flow of animals, said Animal Services Manager Dr. Eric Anderson.
Officials ask county residents to use the shelter as a last resort and instead take simple measures to keep animal shelter populations down, such as spaying or neutering pets or asking neighbors, family and friends to take in a pet before surrendering the animal.
The animal services shelter is open for adoptions beginning at 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
Santa Barbara
Law enforcement gears up for Fiesta
Law enforcement officers from around the county are gearing up for added patrols during Santa Barbara’s Fiesta celebration, which begins today and extends through Sunday.
A sobriety checkpoint is planned near downtown Santa Barbara on Friday night in an effort to rid the streets of impaired drivers, organizers of the “Avoid the 12” campaign said.
The campaign is named for the 12 county law enforcement agencies that cooperate during many of the large events throughout the year to curb drunk drivers.
Officers from police agencies throughout the county will be assisting with foot patrols, and the California Highway Patrol is planning to staff a second checkpoint Saturday.
Atascadero
Confiscated pot plants worth $14M
Nearly $14 million worth of young marijuana plants were confiscated near Atascadero Tuesday after the growing area was spotted by a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s helicopter crew over the weekend.
The area, in the hills above Highway 41 between Morro Bay and Atascadero, contained 3,965 plants with a street value of $3,500 each, according to San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s officials.
During two days of surveillance, narcotics detectives said, four men were seen tending and harvesting the plants, but they escaped when deputies moved in.
The sheriff’s Narcotics Unit detectives continue to investigate the case, officials said.
Santa Barbara
NLRB plans charges against News-Press
The National Labor Relations Board intends to file charges against the ownership of the Santa Barbara News-Press for allegedly failing to bargain in good faith with the newly established employee union, union officials said.
Barry Cappello, an attorney representing the newspaper, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
In a statement released Tuesday, an attorney representing the Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said the newspaper has been at the negotiating table “as if the union had not won the right to bargain.”
In 2006 employees at the paper voted to unionize, and the union and the newspaper’s management have been battling ever since.
In May the union filed a complaint against the paper alleging that management was bargaining in bad faith.
A hearing date has not been set.
Santa Barbara County
County officials urge quake preparedness
With Tuesday’s earthquake centered about 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Santa Barbara County officials warned residents Wednesday to be prepared with emergency supplies.
People should have enough food and water to sustain each member of the household for a minimum of three days, according to the county office of emergency services.
Residents are also advised to do safety checks of their homes to ensure that utilities are properly connected and the structure is secure, county officials said.
Santa Barbara County
County seeks workers for carpool contest
Employers in Santa Barbara County are being asked to encourage their employees to use alternative transportation or carpool during the county’s two-month-long Commute Challenge.
During August and September, teams of five can win points and prizes based on the times they use alternative transportation, whether that’s on the way to work or to the movies, according to county staff members.
New this year is an employer competition with a prize of up to $1,500 based on each time an employee logs a Commute Challenge trip, such as any non-solo auto trip.
The more team members involved in the Commute Challenge from a participating employer, the better chance the employer has of winning, Traffic Solutions Director Kent Epperson said.
The competition is part of a program called Curb Your Commute, which aims to alleviate some of the impact for commuters and employers from a construction project on Highway 101 between Milpas Street and Hot Springs Road on the South Coast.
For more information about the countywide contest, go to
www.trafficsolutions.info.
— From staff reports
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