By Miriam Raftery

June 26, 2017 (La Mesa) – Jessica McElfresh is an attorney who co-authored Measure U, the ballot measure approved by La Mesa voters to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate legally in the city.  Now she’s facing felony charges of conspiring to use flammable, volatile and toxic chemicals to extract hash oil from marijuana and sell it out of state. She is also accused of misleading investigators, helping her client hide illegal operations, and destroying evidence.

By Miriam Raftery

June 24, 2017 (San Diego) – Robert Branch, a security officer charged with criminal offenses after he filed a civil rights lawsuit against the San Diego Sheriff’s Department alleging excessive use of force has been acquitted of all charges.  Branch’s evidence included a cell phone video he took as off-duty Sheriff’s detective Paul Ward choked him into unconsciousness in Del Cerro.

Branch, who is African-American, has said Ward swerved to block him from passing on an onramp, forcing him onto the shoulder, then pursued him for 10 miles before Branch pulled off I-8 in Del Cerro, where the confrontation occurred. Ward claimed Branch passed him on I-8 and nearly struck his vehicle.

East County News Service

File photo: U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

June 20, 2017 (Lemon Grove) – One of the nation’s largest seizures of fentanyl ever, over 44 kilograms, has been announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego.  Fentanyl is more than 50 times stronger than heroin, but has been used to boost potency of heroin or counterfeit opioid painkillers resembling oxycodone.  This has led to an “epidemic” of deaths from fentanyl-laced street drugs, according to prosecutors.

East County News Service

June 15, 2017 (Spring Valley) – The Sheriff’s SWAT team and Rancho San Diego Crime Suppression Team, along with Sheriff’s deputies, served a search warrant at the Cookie Club Collective marijuana dispensary at 8783 Troy Street in Spring Valley. The warrant was the result of numerous complaints from concerned citizens about the illegal dispensary, says Sergeant Matt Cook.

East County News Service

June 13, 2017 (Santee) – The San Diego’s Sheriff’s office advises that Michael Bauer, a registered sex offender, has recently moved to Santee.  Bauer was convicted of molesting a 7-year-old boy, a stranger to him, inside a fast food restaurant restroom in 2009.

By Miriam Raftery

June 12, 2017 (Lemon Grove) – Stacy Littleton, 52, of San Diego has been arrested and charged with murder.  Littleton is accused of stabbing to death Cyrus Jefferson 31 years ago in Lemon Grove, when the victim was 20 years old and the suspect, 21.

By Miriam Raftery

June 8, 2017 (El Cajon) – For two decades, the Crown Victoria police intercept model was the iconic car used by law police departments across the nation.  So, when a reader of ours, Christina Carson, asked why El Cajon Police officer are now driving predominantly sport utility vehicles (SUVs) instead of Crown Victoria sedans, and what the differences are in gas costs, we reached out to the El Cajon Police Department to find out.

By Miriam Raftery

June 4, 2017 (San Diego) – A measure to create an independent review process for officer-involved shootings in California passed by state Assembly this week.  Assembly Bill 284 by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) would empower the California Attorney General’s office civil rights division to appoint a special investigator for controversial cases of concern.

CHP seeks a lifted F-250 or F-350 diesel pickup similar to one in photo that struck woman and sped off. A motor home that may have witnesses is also sought.

By Jordan Damond and Miriam Raftery

June 1, 2017 (Lakeside) – It’s a mystery how a San Diego woman wound up standing on westbound Interstate 8 just west of the Lake Jennings exit in Lakeside at 4:45 a.m. on Monday, where she was struck by two vehicles that both fled the scene.

By Miriam Raftery

May 31, 2017 (Lakeside) – California Highway Patrol’s El Cajon office is seeking witnesses to help find two drivers who fled the scene after striking and seriously injuring a 29-year-old woman who was standing in traffic lanes.

By Miriam Raftery

May 26, 2017 (El Cajon) – Deputies are seeking a black pickup truck and its occupants involved in an altercation that ended with another motorist stabbed in the neck in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant at 13574 Camino Canada in unincorporated El Cajon around 6 a.m. this morning.

By: Jordan Damond and Miriam Raftery

May 25, 2017 (El Cajon) –  Andre Zeehandelaar told El Cajon’s City Council at Wednesday’s meeting that he has evidence of dangerous conditions at an illegal marijuana dispensary obtained through drone footage. 

Zeehandelaar stated he was a licensed pilot. The FAA website confirms his license here:  https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/Main.aspx

After hearing noise from a generator Friday night at 1308 Bradway,  Zeehandelaar says he flew a drone overhead that revealed an estimated 25 gallons of gasoline on the roof. “That makes me afraid,” he said, citing risk of an explosion and fire.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Cynthia Wharton, taken yesterday from Otay Lakes Road just before it was shut down.

May 21, 2017 – A criminal arson investigation has been launched into the cause of the Gate Fire, which has charred 2,056 acres and is now 70% contained.

Captain Isaac Sanchez with Cal Fire told ECM news partner 10 News that a video shot by a target shooter and posted on social media shows a group of people starting the fire. The video may be this one posted by a user named Vandalsworld on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/p/BUVtlvSBN0r/?hl=en.   The poster claims the people started the fire, but it is unclear whether the fire was started by shooting or some other way. After the fire started, the people could be seen walking away from the scene.

Earlier, some neighbors had blamed the fire on shooters at a target range near where the fire began, in an area where shooting is believed to have started several prior brush fires. But now a shooter may have captured evidence to catch possible arsonists or careless individuals whose actions ignited the Gate Fire.

Firefighters continue to make progress towards full containment, Cal Fire reports.  State Route 94 has been reopened, as well as Otay Lakes Road.  Please drive with caution, however, in this area.

East County News Service

May 20, 2017 (Lemon Grove and Rancho San Diego) -- Community outreach is a priority of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.  “Members of the community should feel comfortable bringing problems related to safety and security to our staff,” a press release states.

East County News Service

May 19, 2017 (El Cajon) – Joseph Bollacker, 25, of El Cajon has been arrested and charged with attempted homicide after shooting his girlfriend’s brother last night in El Cajon.

El Cajon Police received numerous calls of a shooting at an apartment at 633 South Johnson Avenue around 7:22 p.m. last night.  The victim was at the apartment shared by his girlfriend and her brother, Bollacker, when he was attacked by Bollacker, said Lieutenant Jason Taub.