By Miriam Raftery

March 22, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – “Cold case” homicide investigators from the San Diego Sheriff’s homicide detail and the District Attorney’s office today arrested Russell Upton, 36, for the August 1995 murder of his wife, Marilane Abueg.

Upton was arrested in Reno, Nevada. At the time of the crime, the couple lived in Mission Valley. Abueg’s body was discovered August 24, 1995 about eight miles north of Interstate 8 on Kitchen Creek Road in the Pine Valley area. She had been reported as a missing person by her parents on August 20th. A post mortem examination determined the manner of death to be homicide. She was survived by a three-month old son, Christopher Michael.

March 1, 2010 – Jose Luis Covarruibias, 46, of Chula Vista has been arrested and will be charged with raping a Spring Valley woman on February 27.

February 16, 2010 (Bonsall) – The San Diego Sheriff seeks public help to locate Joseph and Summer McStay and their two children. Last night, the Sheriff was asked by a relative member to conduct a check on the welfare of the family, who resided at 3473 Avocado Vista Lane in Bonsall. The family has not been seen or heard from by family or business associates since February 4th.

Is the LRAD disabled, or not?

By Miriam Raftery

January 28, 2010 (San Diego) San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore drew sharp criticism from the public and his three political opponents following an article we published last fall, revealing that his office purchased a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) and rolled it out at Congressional healthcare forums and other events.  The Sheriff’s office held a press conference in September to announce that the sonic weapons feature had been “disabled.”

Now the Sheriff has removed a press release discussing the disabling of the sonic weapons feature from the homepage and from the archives at his website. We contacted the Sheriff’s spokeperson, Jan Caldwell, to ask why the release was removed and whether the sonic weapons feature has been reenabled.

Mennonite Disaster Services trailer has Pennsylvania plates

January 12, 2009 (San Diego)--San Diego County Crime Stoppers is joining forces with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Ramona detectives to help identify and apprehend the suspect(s) responsible for a theft of a gray tow trailer and about $10,000 worth of tools belonging to a volunteer group that was helping those affected by the 2007 wildfires.

December 27, 2009 (Spring Valley) – The San Diego County Sheriff’s office has opened up a new storefront at 9736 Campo Road in the Casa de Oro neighborhood in Spring Valley. The purpose of the storefront is to “enhance the partnership between the community and the Sheriff’s Department,” according to a release issued by  Sheriff Bill Gore (photo, left).

December 10, 2009 (Santa Ysabel) -- Yesterday U.S. Marshal’s agents in coordination with the San Diego County Fugitive Task Force arrested Mark Kinney, 47, his residence in Santa Ysabel. Kinney’s arrest came after an extensive investigation by detectives from the Sheriff’s Child Abuse Unit with the assistanceof the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

October 28, 2009 (San Diego's East County)--Operation Tip the Scale was a six month multi-jurisdictional effort in East County that sought to increase public contact with law enforcement and to provide information about how to get help with drug problems. In San Diego County, methamphetamine continues to be the drug of choice for many adults, although this operation focused on all illicit substances. The folllowing report from  San Diego County Sheriff's Office offers some revealing insights into one way to reduce law enforcement costs, cut crime and get help for drug users:

The idea was simple. Could cities and the unincorporated areas in East County share law enforcement resources to create a large and visible presence against illicit drugs? Could treatment services be part of the team and talk to residents about how they could get help? And most importantly, could we do this without any overtime, especially as all participating agencies have experienced budget cuts?