Suicidal Man Shot Dead by Deputy was Registered Sex Offender Bruce Dawley

6-5-2017 California:

Authorities released the name Monday of a 66-year-old Campo man fatally shot by a deputy during an exchange of gunfire in a rural neighborhood near Lake Morena County Park.

Bruce Dawley of Campo — a registered sex offender — made a 911 call shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday from his home in the 2500 block of Gladiola Drive and reported that he was suicidal and armed with a gun, according to sheriff’s officials.

“Deputies arrived a short time later and established a perimeter in front of the home,” said Lt. Kenneth Nelson. “Shortly after doing so, deputies heard at least one gunshot … from inside the home.”

Moments later, Dawley appeared at the front door of his house, holding a pistol.

During a brief confrontation, Dawley allegedly fired at least one round from the handgun at deputies, prompting one of them to shoot back with a shotgun. Dawley then retreated back into his residence.

Getting no further response from Dawley, sheriff’s officials sent members of a SWAT team into the home, where they found him dead from a gunshot wound to his torso.

Though authorities were initially unsure whether Dawley’s fatal wound had been self-inflicted or resulted from the deputy’s return fire, the county Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the latter was the case, Nelson said. ..Source..

Man killed by Stockton officer had ties to Sauk Valley

3-31-17 California:

STOCKTON — The Pearl City man shot and killed by a Stockton Police officer Wednesday was a longtime drug dealer with convictions in Jo Daviess, Carroll and Whiteside counties, and a registered sex offender in Florida and Illinois.

Troy J. Boyle, 41, was shot shortly after noon at the intersection of West Front Avenue and Blackhawk Drive in Jo Daviess County, ISP said in a news release.

State police would not confirm media reports that Boyle fired at the officer.

He was pronounced dead at FHN Memorial Hospital in Freeport, the Stephenson County coroner said in a news release. An autopsy was done Thursday; toxicology results will take a a few weeks.

The Stockton officer's body camera was out of service; video from various squad cars is being reviewed, and witnesses are being questioned, the ISP release said.

Man Who Went to Register as Sex Offender Dies After Shootout With Deputies at Temple City Sheriff's Station: LASD

3-20-17 California:

California -- A man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after engaging in a gunbattle with deputies in the parking lot of the Temple City sheriff's station, where he had gone to register as a sex offender Monday morning, authorities said.

The man, identified only as a 47-year-old white male, entered the station located in the 8800 block of East Las Tunas Drive about 7:25 a.m. to register as a sex offender, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lt. Joe Mendoza said.

The deputy at the counter inside the station realized that the man had a $40,000 warrant for his arrest in connection with a felony sex crime that occurred in the city of Los Angeles, Mendoza said. When the deputy went further inside the station and returned with other deputies in order to arrest him, the man ran toward his vehicle, the lieutenant said.

Contra Costa Sheriff Deputies Shoot, Kill Suspected Child Molester During Standoff In Byron

3-18-16 California:

BYRON (CBS SF) — A man facing child molestation charges who was fatally shot by Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies Friday morning after a standoff in Byron has been identified as 49-year-old Michael Mallet, sheriff’s officials said.

The situation began when Mallet was served with an arrest warrant at 10:06 p.m. Thursday. He responded by arming himself with a handgun and barricading himself in a home in the 2700 block of Hoffman Lane, Capt. Dan Hoffman said.

Hoffman said the $1.15 million arrest warrant was served in connection to 12 counts of child molestation charged against Mallet Thursday by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

The impetus for these charges was a February investigation by the sheriff’s office, Hoffman said. A 13-year-old foster child reported that Mallet molested her for a period of time when she was 11 years old, Hoffman said.

SF Fatal Shooting Victim Had Long Criminal History, Court Records Show

10-26-2016 California:

Parolee had been out of jail less than a week before he was shot to death, allegedly by filmmaker Kevin Epps

The man shot and killed Monday in San Francisco, allegedly by filmmaker Kevin Epps, was a registered sex offender with a two-decade history of domestic violence and drug abuse and who had just been released from custody after serving jail time on a parole violation, according to documents reviewed by NBC Bay Area.

Epps was arrested in the fatal shooting of Marcus D. Polk on Monday, but he was released Tuesday after the District Attorney's Office cited insufficient evidence to charge him with homicide.

Polk, 45, was freed on Oct. 19, after serving 12 days for a drug-related violation of his parole, court records show.

Polk has a criminal history that dates back to 1995, including lewd acts with a child, attempted robbery, domestic violence and auto theft, court records show.

Deputies: Man was shot 'because he's a sex offender'

9-22-2015 California:

CITY OF SHASTA LAKE, Calif. - The Shasta County Jail has released the mugshot of a suspect who deputies said shot another man after learning he was a registered sex offender.

Timothy Gould, 28, was arrested Monday around 5:30 p.m. after officers had identified him as a suspect in an earlier shooting in the City of Shasta Lake.

According to a news release from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, the motive behind the shooting was due to the victim Roy Matagora, 62, being disliked because he is a registered sex offender.

The Megan's Law website for registered sex offenders showed Matagora was previously convicted of several charges including rape, and several charges relating to the sexual abuse of a person under the age of 18.

The shooting investigation revealed Matagora had been spending time with a woman in Shasta County, Tanna Curran, 25, during the week prior to the shooting. Investigators said Curran had been an acquaintance of Matagora's and she would borrow his vehicle and associate with him at his home.

Deputies said sometime Friday, Curran discovered that Matagora was a registered sex offender from other people who knew of Matagora's past. Curran and Gould looked at the Megan's Law website and saw Matagora was in fact listed as a registered sex offender.

Man fatally hit with skateboard at Starbucks ID'd as registered sex offender

11-30-15 California:

A man who was fatally hit over the head by a skateboard after police and witnesses said he harassed a customer inside a Santa Ana, Calif., Starbucks was a registered sex offender.

Ozro Robert Lee, 50, was killed in the Nov. 24 incident, according to KTLA . The Orange County coroner’s office released Lee’s name over the weekend.

Lee was a registered sex offender, whose offenses included annoying or molesting a child after illegal entry into inhabited dwelling, as well as indecent exposure with prior conviction for the offense.

Lee was sentenced to four years in prison in 2012 after he was convicted of breaking into a Stanton, Calif., home and masturbating in front of a partially paralyzed grandmother and her two young granddaughters, according to the Orange County Register.

Michael Anthony Aparicio Charged with Special Circumstances Murder for Halloween Slaying

11-10-15 California:

UPDATE NO. 3, NOV. 9, 12:20 P.M.: Michael Anthony Aparicio is scheduled to be arraigned on a special circumstances murder charge today for allegedly strangling 61-year-old Floyd Taylor Jr. to death inside a Stanton motel room Halloween morning, the Orange County District Attorney's office announced.

Aparicio, 27, of Anaheim, could get life in state prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of felony special circumstances murder with a sentencing enhancement allegation for murder during the commission of a robbery.

Around 6:15 a.m. on Oct. 31, Aparicio met Taylor inside his motel room at the Chester Inn in Stanton, where surveillance footage viewed later showed Taylor left his room alone but returned twice within the next hour, the OCDA says. After the last time Taylor returned, Aparicio allegedly wrapped a bungee cord around the older man's neck, strangled him, placed a pillow over the victim's face and pulled the bed covers up over the body before taking Taylor's wallet and fleeing the scene, prosecutors claim.

Officer-involved-shooting resulted in death of man accused of sexual assualt against half-sister

11-18-15 California:

The Sunnyvale Police Department reported an officer-involved-shooting that resulted in the death of a male suspect at the Palm Villa Apartments on the 1200 block of Ayala Drive in Sunnyvale.

On Thursday, November 12 at approximately 12:15 in the afternoon, officers attempted to make contact with a suspect at his residence in the apartment building.

According to SVPD Captain Jeffrey Hunter, “The officers had responded on a report of a sexual assault that occurred at the residence.” It was reported that the suspect and victim were half-brother and half-sister.

In the initial call, a female adult family member had reported that an physical assault on person had just occurred at the residence. Officers arrived on scene and were confronted by the suspect armed with a knife, and who then charged toward them. Three officers fired their weapons at close range striking the suspect.

Death of child molester at Central Coast state prison under investigation as a homicide

10-1-15 California:

SOLEDAD, California — Officials say the death of a child molester at a prison on California's Central Coast is a homicide.

Corrections officials said Thursday that 45-year-old Pedro Aguilar was found dead in his Salinas Valley State Prison cell on Monday. He was serving a life term from Ventura County for lewd acts with a child under 14 years old.

The Associated Press reported in February that sex offenders account for a disproportionate number of homicide victims in California prisons.

Officials say Aguilar's cellmate, who is serving a life sentence for murder, is suspected in the slaying. Monterey County officials are continuing to investigate.

Court documents shed new light on Lake Isabella murder

5-22-15 California:

BAKERSFIELD, CA- A Lake Isabella man allegedly beat his roommate to death last month after he learned the roommate may have molested two children.

That's according to new court documents, obtained by 17 News.

Sheriff's deputies say 48-year-old Kirk Haag was physically assaulted by 31-year-old Raymond Tenorio on April 25 on Curran Avenue in Lake Isabella.

According to court documents two days before the incident Tenorio's wife told him that Haag may have molested two of her children.

She says Tenorio was drinking that night and that is what caused him to lose control and assault Haag.

Many sex offenders killed by inmates in California prisons

3-19-15 California:

California state prisoners are killed at a rate double the national average, and a disproportionate number of the dead are sex offenders.

ACRAMENTO, Calif. — Shortly after 2 a.m. on April 6, 2010, a guard at Salinas Valley State Prison noticed Alan Ager’s cellmate trying to stuff something under a mattress. It was Ager, blood trickling from his mouth and a cloth noose tied around his neck.

The convicted child molester died 10 days later without regaining consciousness, his death earning his cellmate a second life sentence.

California state prisoners are killed at a rate that is double the national average – and sex offenders like Ager account for a disproportionate number of victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of corrections records.

Male sex offenders made up about 15 percent of the prison population but accounted for nearly 30 percent of homicide victims, the AP found in cataloging all 78 killings that corrections officials reported since 2007, when they started releasing slain inmates’ identities and crimes.

The deaths – 23 out of 78 – come despite the state’s creation more than a decade ago of special housing units designed to protect the most vulnerable inmates, including sex offenders, often marked men behind bars because of the nature of their crimes.

Police kill man in vehicle associated with rape, arson suspect

3-28-15 California:

The Bakersfield man accused of raping a woman Friday morning and then setting her home on fire was shot and killed by police after a pursuit that night.

The county coroner's office confirmed Saturday that the man who police killed in a hail of gunfire in the 4000 block of Union Avenue was Adrian Hernandez, the 22-year-old suspected of attempted murder, kidnapping and sexual assault.

Police had been searching for Hernandez after naming him a suspect in the rape of a woman believed to have been his roommate at a house in the 10000 block of Tungsten Street, west of Old River and north of Harris roads. A warrant for Hernandez's arrest was issued, and he was believed to be armed and dangerous.

A Bakersfield Police Department news release said officers spotted Hernandez's vehicle at about 9:45 p.m. Friday near Hart Park. It said they tried to pull over the vehicle on Panorama Drive but the driver refused to stop.

Investigators still searching for motive in 'brutal' killing of Carmichael man

Note highlighted portions in the second story below.

March 2013 California:

Sacramento County sheriff's investigators have found no evidence of any altercation or argument leading up to the fatal stabbing of a Carmichael man Wednesday night.

The attack, described by authorities as "brutal," appears to have been "a very spontaneous event" and the motive remains unclear, said sheriff's Sgt. Jason Ramos.

Killed in the attack was 65-year-old Roy Shier, according to the Sacramento County Coroner's Office.

Just before 11 p.m., deputies were called to a home on the 6200 block of Coyle Avenue after receiving a report of a stabbing. Deputies found Shier, who had suffered "significant trauma consistent with sharp force and blunt force trauma," Ramos said. Shier was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses quickly told deputies the identity of the alleged attacker and gave a description. Deputies found the alleged assailant, identified as 26-year-old Kenneth Azlin, on the campus of a nearby elementary school and arrested him. They also found the weapon believed to have been used in the attack, Ramos said.

Inmate who was assaulted in Kern County jail has died

10-8-2014 California:

An inmate who was assaulted over the weekend in the Lerdo Pretrial Facility has died.

Christopher Earl Pettenger, 34, was assaulted by other inmates. He was found Saturday suffering from severe head injuries inside his cell, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Office.

The coroner's office released his name Wednesday, a day after he died at Kern Medical Center. An autopsy is scheduled.

Sheriff's office spokesman Ray Pruitt said he couldn't comment on suspects or a motive, citing the open investigation.

Petaluma slaying suspect arrested

9-11-2014 California:

A suspect was jailed in connection with the shooting death of a man at his home in Petaluma, police said Thursday.

Mikol Wayne Stewart, 37, of Santa Rosa is being held on suspicion of murder and burglary in connection with the slaying of Arturo Hinojosa Jr., 49.

The incident began about 4 p.m. Wednesday with a report of gunshots on Suncrest Hill Drive, said Lt. Dan Fish. Responding officers found Hinojosa dead from at least one gunshot wound.

Police identified Stewart as the suspect with the help of witnesses who said they saw a pickup truck with an ATV in the bed near the crime scene, Fish said. He said Stewart was found in Santa Rosa in a vehicle matching that description.

Hinojosa grew medical marijuana at his home and was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of oral copulation with a minor. But police don't believe either was a factor in the killing, Fish said.

Professor accused in death of her alleged rapist pleads guilty

9-12-2014 California:

A professor of psychology who was arrested nearly two years ago in the cold case slaying of a man she said had raped her pleaded guilty Friday to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter.

The Orange County case had drawn wide attention and gained support from advocates for rape victims who said she was being unfairly targeted.

Norma Patricia Esparza, who grew up in Santa Ana and went on to become a professor in Europe, was charged along with three others in the death of 24-year-old Gonzalo Ramirez while she was a college student in Claremont almost 20 years ago.

Esparza was accused of conspiring to commit the slaying, though she did not actually carry it out.

She is expected to be sentenced to six years in state prison and will testify against her co-defendants, the Orange County district attorney’s office said in a news release.

According to prosecutors, Esparza and a group that included her ex-boyfriend went to a Santa Ana bar in the spring of 1995 so she could point out Ramirez, who she said raped her in her dorm room.

Recently identified (via Home Address Checks) Fresno sex offender murdered

4-3-2014 California:

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Days after a Fresno man was identified as a sex offender, he turned up dead. Now, two people will stand trial for his murder.

Lawrence Ballesteros was stabbed to death in Sept. 2012, just days after a sex offender sweep. An autopsy showed Ballesteros was stabbed 58 times before his body was dumped near Chandler Airport.

Investigators believe the attack stems from the kind of anger you'd expect from a parent who just found out a pedophile had become a family friend.

When U.S. Marshals and local police went door-to-door tracking sex offenders, Lawrence Ballesteros was right where they expected him. The sting apparently blew his cover, though, and made him a target.

"There was a big uproar in this neighborhood," said defense attorney Gerald Schwab. "There were a lot of angry people confronting him about this report of him being a sex offender."

Less than a week later, a group of early morning walkers found him dead on a frontage road a mile from the detached garage where he was living.

Police arrested David Barrera and Patricia Perez for murder. Perez lived in the front house with her partner and their children. Investigators say she and Ballesteros were drinking buddies, and Barrera often joined them. They believe the shock of the revelation drove Barrera and Perez to kill their friend.

"That's exactly what they're saying is this is a case of vigilante justice -- my client killing somebody because he was a sex offender - however, there's no evidence to prove that," said Schwab, who represents Barrera. "There's no murder weapon. There are no eyewitnesses."

There is a Barrera fingerprint in Ballesteros' apartment, though. There's also video of his truck in the area where Ballesteros' body was dumped. Investigators found the victim's blood in that truck. But with no confession, prosecutors may have to dig deeper.

ABC30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi says a history of abuse could connect the suspects to this murder because of the brutality of the attack.

Florence inmate killed to stay in prison, officials say

12-5-2013 California:

A Mexican citizen illegally in the United States killed a prison cellmate in order to remain in custody, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

The Sheriff’s Office said it is recommending that prosecutors charge 43-year-old Roberto Venegas-Fernandez with first-degree murder in the Nov. 16 killing of 55-year-old Michael Patrick McNaughton

Both men were prisoners of the U.S. Marshals Service, which has said they were from the San Diego area and housed at a Corrections Corp. of America prison in Florence pending their transfer to the Bureau of Prisons.

The killing occurred during what was initially reported as a fight between the two men.

However, Sheriff Paul Babeu said Venegas-Fernandez told investigators that he choked and stomped McNaughton because “he likes it in prison and was afraid of being released, since he has nowhere to go.”

“Roberto wanted to find a way to stay in jail, so while the victim was sitting on his bed, he choked him until he fell onto the ground, then stomped on his head and continued to choke the victim until he was presumed dead,” Babeu said in a statement released by his office.

Plea deal nearly reached with man charged with murdering man, burying remains

11-9-2013 California:

Prosecutors are close to reaching a plea deal with a defendant accused of killing his friend and burying the body in order to collect the man's Indian tribal reservation checks.

Prosecutor Ken Green said in court Wednesday that he and defendant Frank Jude Valles have come to terms on how many years Valles will serve, but are still working out the exact charges he'll plead to. Green said he believes they'll have an agreement by the next court hearing on Nov. 15.

Valles was open to the deal, Green said afterward, because he wanted a determinate sentence, not the potential 25 years to life he faced if convicted of murder. The prosecutor said he could not reveal the number of years agreed to until the plea deal is complete.

Valles, 46, was arrested in August 2012 after investigators dug up human remains in two Bakersfield locations. The remains were determined to be those of Alphonso John Hyde, who had lived with Valles and his wife, Consuelo.

Family members of Hyde said they hadn't heard from him in four years. They filed a missing persons report in early August 2012.