Emerging Details On Puskar In-Custody Beating Death Beget Further Questions

The plot has thickened with regard to the already steepening mystery related to the death of Steven Puskar, who died at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center on October 9 as a result of a severe beating administered to him by his cellmate, Michael Kevin Follet, on October 2 while both were incarcerated at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.
Follet was formerly a sergeant with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the agency that runs the West Valley Detention Center.
According to the department, on October 2, deputies found Puskar, 47, of San Bernardino, injured and unresponsive in the cell he shared with Follet. Lifesaving measures were taken, and Puskar was transported to the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, the main campus of the county hospital, in Colton. He expired from his injuries on October 9. Continue reading

Electronic Tag On Campaign Sign Thwarts Theft Attempt In Redlands

In what is believed to be the first use of an electronic tracking system to thwart the vandalism and/or disruption aimed at electioneering activity in San Bernardino County, the Redlands Police Department on October 17 recovered four stolen campaign signs and cited the woman who had removed them from where they had been posted.
The signs in question were ones for Redlands School Board candidate Erin Stepien, which had been placed at various locations around Redlands, including at the Plaza Las Palmas retail center, 1150 Brookside Avenue, at the corner of Brookside Avenue and San Mateo Street. The sign at the shopping center had been outfitted with a tracking device.
At 7:40 p.m. on the evening of October 17, a Monday, Candy Olson, Stepien’s campaign manager, noted that one of Stepien’s campaign signs was being moved. She traced it to a location on Sonora Circle Drive, proximate to or at the residence of Patty Holohan, the incumbent school board member against whom Stepien is running. Olson contacted the police to inform them of the theft. Continue reading

Pacheco, Tafoya & Taylor Used Burner Phones In WVWD Plotting

Three of the principals caught in the City of Baldwin Park/West Valley Water District political corruption scandal were utilizing burner phones in much of their communication with one another at least as early as 2018, the Sentinel has learned.
Beginning in 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, then-Baldwin Park City Councilman Ricardo Pacheco arrived at an understanding with two entities interested in establishing marijuana-related enterprises in Baldwin Park that he would champion their cause, including obtaining the necessary two other votes on the council to approve their operating permits within the 6.79-square mile city, in exchange for kickbacks.
Assisting Pacheco in that arrangement, according to the FBI, were two key Baldwin Park officials, City Attorney Robert Tafoya and Police Chief Michael Taylor.
Through an elaborate set of deals and exchanges involving all three utilizing their official authority and capacities, Tafoya drafted the Baldwin Park city ordinances that allowed Pacheco, participating as part of the city council majority, to award commercial marijuana operating permits to the companies that were bribing Pacheco, according to the FBI. Continue reading

Divide In Big Bear Lake Over Tourism & Short-Term Vacation Rentals To Be A Factor In November 8 Race

In Big Bear Lake, hidden away in the rustic northeast corner of the San Bernardino Mountains, a cultural civil war is playing out in this year’s municipal election, one in which there stands a chance that the reigning political establishment will virtually overnight be extirpated.
At the heart of the contest is the continuing identity of the county’s second-smallest city population-wise and third smallest city geographically as a tourist community first and foremost.
While no one anticipates that tourism will cease in a place that offers skiing in the winter and early spring, boating from spring until late fall, swimming in the summer, hiking, camping and fishing year round and upland game bird and California mule deer hunting in season, Big Bear maintaining its primary credential as a tourist community is at stake with what in effect is an election where the incumbency of four of the city council’s five members is on the line. Continue reading

Accidental Gun Discharge In Oro Grande Kills Off-Duty Colton Officer

A Colton Police officer shot and killed himself yesterday in what is being characterized as accident that occurred in the desert community of Oro Grande.
Lorenzo Morgan, 29, who attended the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Academy for its 23-week course from April 2019 until September 2019, graduating with the department’s Class 215 before being hired by the Colton Police Department, was in his car near the intersection of National Trails Highway and Mill Street in Oro Grande when the shooting occurred.
Morgan, who was off duty and roughly 15 miles from his home in Apple Valley, himself phoned in the report of the mishap at 2:46 p.m. He related to sheriff’s dispatch personnel that he had sustained a gunshot wound below his waist as the result of an accidental discharge of his gun, and gave his location, saying he was parked to the side of the road.
Within 17 minutes of the call coming in, a paramedics unit and deputies had reached Morgan, who had shot himself in the leg, piercing his femoral artery. At that point he was in a state of both hemorrhagic shock and full hypovolemic shock. He was rapidly transported to Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville, located 5.9 miles from where he was found.
Morgan had lost more than seven pints of his roughly 11.5-pint volume of blood, which led to his heart seizing up.
Despite valiant efforts by all involved in applying aggressive life-saving measures, he was lost.
Based on Morgan’s statement to the dispatch center, the conclusion of investigators is that the shooting was accidental, and Morgan’s death warrants no further inquiry or criminal investigation.
Before Morgan’s body was transported out of Victor Valley Global Medical Center, it was draped in an American flag, and was provided with a procession of honor escort to the sheriff’s coroner facility in San Bernardino.
Previous to his work as a police officer, Morgan, who had a Bachelor of Science degree in informational technology from the University of Phoenix, had worked as a behavioral therapist with disabled children.
“Officer L. Morgan was a beloved father, friend, colleague, and a caring officer who loved working for the Colton Community,” according to the Colton Police Department. “He is survived by his parents, fiancé, son, and soon-to-be-born son.”

Two Countywide & 14 City Measures On The November 8 Ballot In San Bernardino County

In addition to the statewide initiatives they will have the option of voting for or against, San Bernardino County voters, depending on where they live, will have some local measures to decide on come November 8.
Those living in Rialto are eligible to vote on Measure A, a proposal put forth by the Rialto Unified School District to authorize the issuance of $340 million in bonds to update safety systems, renovate classrooms and make other facility upgrades at all campuses in the district. To debt service those bonds, homeowners will be required to pay on a yearly basis 6 cents per $100 of the assessed value of their homes for the next 27 years. To pass, Measure A must be approved by 55 percent of the voters participating.
All voters in San Bernardino County are eligible to vote on Measure D, which was designed by the board of supervisors to undo Measure K, which was passed by more than two thirds of the county’s voters in 2020. Measure K set the supervisors’ individual salaries and benefits at $60,000 per year and restricted them to a single four-year term in office. Measure D will increase their salaries to $185,460.976 and their benefits to $68,556.82 along with add-on pay of roughly $17,800 for a total annual compensation of $271,817.79. It will also allow those supervisors already in office to serve three more four-year terms and all future supervisors to served three terms in office as well. Continue reading

October 28 Sentinel Legal Notices

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER CIVSB 2218737
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner NICOLE AMBER MARQUEZ filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
NICOLE AMBER MARQUEZ to NICOLE AMBER SERRANO
THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing
Date: November 14, 2022
Time: 8:30 AM
Department: S16
The address of the court is Superior Court of California,
County of San Bernardino, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 09/29/2022
Judge of the Superior Court: JOHN M. PACHECO
Nicole Amber Marquez, In Pro Per
1126 West F Street
Ontario, CA 91762
(909) 541-1565
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on October 7, 14, 21 & 28, 2022.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER CIVSB 2218781
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioners RAMON JOSE MARQUEZ and ELIZABETH CASTANEDA on behalf of minor children filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
RICO ANDRES MARQUEZ to RICO ANDRES SERRANO
[and]
AYDEN ISAIAH MARQUEZ to AYDEN ISAIAH SERRANO
[and]
LOU CARLOS MARQUEZ to LOU CARLOS SERRANO
THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing
Date: November 16, 2022
Time: 8:30 AM
Department: S16
The address of the court is Superior Court of California,
County of San Bernardino, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 09/29/2022
Judge of the Superior Court: JOHN M. PACHECO
Ramon Jose Marquez and Elizabeth Casteneda, on behalf of minor children
4800 Rosewood St.
Montclair, CA 91763
(909) 964-8512
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on October 7, 14, 21 & 28, 2022.

Continue reading

Electronic Tracking Thwarts Election Sign Theft In Redlands

In what is believed to be the first use of an electronic tracking system to thwart the vandalism and/or disruption aimed at electioneering activity in San Bernardino County, the Redlands Police Department on October 17 recovered four stolen campaign signs and cited the woman who had removed them from where they had been posted.
The signs in question were ones for Redlands School Board candidate Erin Stepien, which had been placed at various locations around Redlands, including at the Plaza Las Palmas retail center, 1150 Brookside Avenue, at the corner of Brookside Avenue and San Mateo Street. The sign at the shopping center had been outfitted with a tracking device.
At 7:40 p.m. on the evening of October 17, a Monday, Candy Olson, Stepien’s campaign manager, noted that one of Stepien’s campaign signs was being moved. She traced it to a location on Sonora Circle Drive, proximate to or at the residence of Patty Holohan, the incumbent school board member against whom Stepien is running. Olson contacted the police to inform them of the theft.
According to the department, Olson’s relaying of the tracking data related to the sign sufficed as evidence of a “violation of Penal Code section 484(a) petty theft occurrence at 20:04 hrs [8:04 p.m.] on October 17, 2022, at 1150 Brookside Avenue, Redlands.”
Records obtained from the Redlands Police Department indicate its officers were dispatched at 8:55 p.m. to the Sonora Circle Drive location. While they were en route, at 8:58 p.m., the tracking device gave indication the sign was being moved once more, ultimately to a location in the 900 block of Thomas Avenue in Redlands, whereupon Olson texted the police, alerting them to the sign’s repositioning.
According to the department, its officers were able to go immediately to the location of the sign, the Thomas Avenue residence of Mary Ethel Bell, 62, where she was found to be in possession of four Stepien campaign signs, including the one removed from the Brookside Avenue/San Mateo Street commercial center and three others.
“On Monday night, Oct. 17, a school board candidate reported that her political signs had been
stolen from the corner of a shopping center at the corner of Brookside Avenue and San Mateo Street,” the Redlands Police Department’s weekly update for October 13 to October 20 states. “The victim had an Apple Air Tag inside one of the signs and received notification when it was moved. She traced the sign to an address in Redlands. Police responded and found the suspect in possession of four signs. She was arrested and the signs were returned to the victim.”
In response to the Sentinel’s request of the city for information pertaining to the incident, Redlands City Attorney Yvette M. Abich Garcia clarified that Bell had been subjected to a cite-release arrest rather than being taken into custody. With regard to the factual circumstances surrounding the arrest, the amount of bail set, all charges the arrestee is being held on and the time and manner of release, Abich Garcia said there was no bail and that a “citation [was] issued in the field and [Bell was] released.”
Olson, reporting on what had been related to her by the officers dispatched to Bell’s home to locate and recover the signs, indicated Bell acknowledged having coordinated with Patty Holohan, the incumbent school board member Stepien is running against, in the removal of the signs. The Sentinel has been unable to confirm that Bell made an admission of working on behalf of Holohan or the Holahan campaign. The full police report containing Bell’s entire statement to the police officers who were dispatched to her residence is being withheld.
According to Abich Garcia, “Section 6254(f)(2)(A) of the [California Public Records] Act does not require disclosure of investigatory records or information when doing so ‘would endanger the successful completion of the investigation or a related investigation.’ The matter has been submitted to and is pending with the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office for further review and investigation and disclosure of investigatory records would jeopardize the pending case.”
This week, some Redlands residents were calling upon Holohan to resign. Holohan, who is continuing her electioneering effort unabated, ignored those requests, and did not directly address questions about Bell’s action or Bell’s connection to her campaign.