East County News Service

July 5, 2023 (Spring Valley) – Shortly after 10 p.m. last night, Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call reporting gunshots in the 2700 block of Central Ave. in Spring Valley. Deputies found a man in the middle of the street suffering from several gunshot wounds to his upper torso.

“Deputies and medical personnel provided medical aid, but he succumbed to his injuries. The victim was pronounced deceased on scene,” says Lieutenant Joseph Janjura.

A second male victim arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound to his arm.  He is expected to survive.

East County News  Service

July 3, 2023 (Santee) – A man armed with knives, a hatchet and dumbbell weights threatened to harm people including deputies inside the Walmart Store in Santee yesterday, prompting a seven-hour stand-ff with law enforcement.

The 22-year-old man entered the store on Town Center Parkway shortly after noon and climbed atop shelving in the sporting goods department.  “Store employees called the Sheriff's Department after the man armed himself with workout dumbbells and threatened to use them as weapons. The man also told employees he wanted deputies to shoot him,” says Lieutenant Christopher Galve with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

The Walmart store was evacuated and closed down for several hours.The Sheriff's Special Enforcement Detail (SED/SWAT team) and Crisis Negotiations Team were called to assist.

“During negotiations, deputies determined the man was experiencing a mental health crisis,” Lt. Galve says. “The man refused to drop his weapons and refused to come down off the shelving. He told deputies several times to shoot him and walked toward them with the hatchet raised.”

By Miriam Raftery

June 29, 2023 (San Diego) – Over three-fourths of all adults arrested in San Diego  County tested positive for at least one drug, and more than half of those arrested were on meth. Those are the disturbing findings of a new report by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). The study also found high levels of mental health problems and homelessness among those arrested locally last year.

According to the report, CJ Bulletin: 2022 Adult Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region. the positive rate of meth use in 2022 was 55% for female arrestees and 52% for males. The also found that 77% of males and 75% of females surveyed tested positive for at least one illicit substance, a drop from the 22-year high in 2021 for males but a sharp increase from the second-lowest rate in 2021 for females.

Source: Senator Brian Jones'  office

June 28, 2023 (Sacramento) – Today, California State Senate Majority Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) announced that his measure to protect human trafficking victims and make it easier to prosecute human trafficking perpetrators unanimously passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

“Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery,” said Jones. “The evil people who buy and sell humans for their own benefit must be convicted to prevent further trauma for all victims. This bill will help bring justice to human trafficking victims and prevent further exploitation of innocent people by putting perpetrators behind bars. Thank you to the members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee for understanding the importance of this issue and moving the bill forward.”

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Parole officers visit a residence, by Scorpion, Creative Commons 4.0 license

Updated June 28, 2023 with statement from Mary Xjimenez from the Calif. Dept. of  Corrections and Rehabilitation.

June 27, 2023 (La Mesa) – Should a parole office be allowed in  La Mesa,  just a few hundred feet from elementary schools and a preschool, around the corner from breweries and cannabis dispensaries, also near a senior daycare center and other sensitive uses?

That’s exactly what the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is considering, according to a letter sent to the city dated April 25.

Kristina Khokhobashvili  with the CDCR told ECM that the site, if approved, would serve not only parolees from East County and Chula Vista, but also the parolees who have tracking devices –which includes sexual predators and potentially violent offenders.

Thus far, she said, the state has not signed a lease for the site at 8374-8376 Hercules Street, across the street from  Carl Burger Dodge and Journey Church, which plans to open an elementary school on its property next year. According to Khokhobashvili, the state is still researching locations.

East County News Service

June 23, 2022 (El Cajon)—The couple found dead yesterday morning by their daughter in the family’s home have been identified as Eric and Denise Helen Orpinela. According to the Sheriff’s Department, Eric Orpinela shot and killed his wife, then committed suicide.

The couple had three young children. The oldest, who found the couple in their residence on East Bradley Ave. in ElCajon, is 14.

East County News Service

Photo courtesy of 10  News, an ECM news partner

June 23, 2022 (El Cajon) – The San Diego Sheriff’s homicide unit is investigating the deaths of a man and woman found dead in their home in the 200 block of East Bradley Ave. in El Cajon yesterday morning.

According to Lieutenant Joseph Jarjura, “Both victims appeared to have head trauma.”

ECM news partner 10 News reports that the couple was found by their daughter, a minor, around 9:47 a.m.

By Miriam Raftery

Donald Michael Santini,  aka Wellman "Wells" Simmonds

June 13, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – A fugitive wanted for the murder of a Florida woman nearly 40 years ago, as well as a robbery in Texas, has been leading a double life in Campo. There, he brazenly held public positions under an assumed name.

On Wednesday, Donald Michael Santini, known locally under the alias Wellman “Wells” Simmonds, was arrested in Campo's Lake Morena community by U.S. Marshals, ECM news partner 10 News reports.

Simmonds served on the Campo-Lake Morena Community Planning Group as well as president of the board of directors for the Lake Morena Views Mutual Water Company, a troubled water district where nitrate contamination has left district residents forced to drink bottled water for the past three years, as ECM reported.

“Everyone was surprised. There was nothing unusual about him,” Billie Jo Jannen, Chair of the planning group, told ECM.

Photo: U.S. Attorney Andy Grossman, San Diego

Source: U.S. Attorney’s office

May 23, 2023 (San Diego) -- Law enforcement leaders today announced that an unprecedented two-month fentanyl-enforcement surge along the southwest border has resulted in the seizure of about 4,721 pounds of fentanyl, 1,700 pounds of fentanyl precursors and more than 200 arrests of alleged smugglers, traffickers and dealers within the Southern and Central Districts of California.

Male body found at same campground remains unidentified, may be related

East County News Service

May 23, 2023 (Warner Springs) — A body found near campsites on the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation in Warner Springs on Feb. 16, 1986 has been identified through genetic genealogy as Claudette Jean Zebolsky Powers.