This is a roundup of current incidents and bulletins from Ventura County businesses:
TO homicide will get 50-year sentence
THOUSAND OAKS – A Thousand Oaks man was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years to life in jail for the homicide of his spouse practically a yr in the past, in response to the Ventura County District Lawyer’s Workplace.
Tim Ray Gautier, 56, was sentenced by Ventura County Superior Court docket Choose Anthony Sabo.
In September, a jury found Gautier guilty of first-degree homicide in the loss of life of his spouse, Gina Gautier, 57. The jury additionally discovered true a particular allegation that Tim Gautier had used a firearm to trigger his spouse’s loss of life.
The killing happened on Jan. 11, 2021, as Gautier and his spouse argued at their dwelling within the 2300 block of Fountain Crest Lane. Shortly earlier than 7 a.m., Gautier fired two pictures at his spouse as she stood within the open doorway of the residence. She later died at Los Robles Regional Medical Middle.
A house surveillance system captured audio of Gautier retrieving a gun throughout the argument, prosecutors stated, and returning with the firearm to proceed the argument inside minutes of the gunfire.
Gautier previously labored as a producer of non secular movies, together with the 2016 film “Everlasting Salvation.”
He remained housed at Todd Street Jail as of Wednesday night, jail data confirmed.
Actor arrested in alleged DUI crash in Simi Valley
SIMI VALLEY – Actor and comic David Koechner, 59, was arrested in Simi Valley on New 12 months’s Eve day after a misdemeanor hit-and-run crash whereas allegedly driving drunk.
Simi Valley Police Division Officer Casey Nicholson stated the company was first contacted in regards to the accident at 2:10 p.m. close to Cottonwood Drive and Prairie Ridge Court docket. A bystander reported seeing a silver SUV hit the middle median earlier than driving off, leaving each the car and the median broken, he stated.
Shortly after, a patrol officer noticed the SUV close to Tapo and Walnut streets. Nicholson stated the driving force was touring on the mistaken facet of the street and the officer needed to swerve across the SUV to keep away from a collision.
The officer pulled over the car and spoke to Koechner, who was the one individual within the SUV, and who allegedly exhibited indicators of alcohol intoxication. A breathalyzer check confirmed a blood alcohol content material of 0.12, roughly 1.5 occasions the authorized restrict, authorities stated.
Koechner was arrested on suspicion of two misdemeanors: driving drunk and hit and run. He was cited and launched from county jail with a court docket date set for March 30, in response to jail data. No accidents have been reported.
Koechner is a comedic actor who appeared on “Saturday Night time Dwell” and is finest identified for his roles as Todd Packer on “The Workplace” and Champ Form within the “Anchorman” movie collection.
Illegal pesticide gross sales result in $625k settlement
SANTA PAULA – An agricultural provide firm in Santa Paula agreed to a $625,000 settlement over illegal pesticide gross sales, Ventura County District Lawyer Erik Nasarenko’s workplace stated.
Fruit Growers Provide, which has a retail location at 980 W. Telegraph Street, offered restricted pesticides to non-permitted customers 317 occasions between January 2019 and November 2020, the DA’s workplace stated. The corporate has company workplaces in Valencia and different areas across the state, however illegal pesticide gross sales have been discovered solely on the Santa Paula website, stated Senior Deputy DA Karen Wold, who dealt with the case.
The gross sales concerned pesticides which are restricted by the state of California and may solely be offered to permitted customers. A replica of the customer’s allow is meant to be collected earlier than the sale. Permits for licensed business and personal applicators are issued by the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner.
On the Santa Paula website, a number of staff bypassed an inside pc program that alerted personnel to the pending sale of restricted pesticides, in response to the DA’s workplace.
The multi-agency investigation discovered restricted supplies unlawfully offered included the fumigant Fumitoxin, anticoagulant rodenticide Contrac Blox, toxic herbicide Gramaxone, strychnine-based rodenticide Martin’s Gopher Bait 50 and restricted weed killers.
The pesticides require customers to inform the ag commissioner’s workplace 24 hours earlier than use so the company can consider climate situations and areas of faculties, properties, hospitals and livestock.
State wildlife officers have discovered the presence of Contrac Blox in a excessive proportion of wildlife deaths lately, together with mountain lions, bobcats and raptors, prosecutors famous. The poison is acutely poisonous, with a deadly dose attainable from a single feeding.
Fruit Growers Provide accepted duty for the breakdowns in its inside management programs, prosecutors stated, and pledged to work with the ag commissioner’s workplace to ensure illegal pesticide gross sales do not occur once more. The settlement features a everlasting injunction that requires the corporate to adjust to related legal guidelines.
Of the $625,000 settlement, $315,000 will go to the California Division of Pesticide Regulation for its pesticide regulation program. One other $310,000 will cowl civil penalties for illegal enterprise practices. From the sum for civil penalties, $100,000 will go towards a supplemental environmental venture for the Nationwide Park Service Santa Monica Mountains Nationwide Recreation Space. The park service will use the funds for wildlife analysis, monitoring and safety efforts, together with defending declining mountain lion populations harmed by pesticide poisoning.
“The safety of wildlife is vital to the preservation of the atmosphere,” Nasarenko stated in an announcement. “Our workplace will proceed to carry these accountable who don’t comply with the regulation and consequently put our distinctive Ventura County environmental communities in danger.”
Jail go to ban prolonged
VENTURA COUNTY – Ventura County Sheriff’s authorities have prolonged a brief ban on in-person visits on the county’s two largest jail services as COVID-19 an infection charges stay excessive.
The extension impacts each the principle jail, subsequent to sheriff’s headquarters at 800 S. Victoria Ave. in Ventura, and Todd Street Jail outdoors Santa Paula at 600 Todd Street.
Over the previous week, a spike in coronavirus instances has affected inmates at each services, officers stated.
As of Tuesday, 117 inmates had examined optimistic, stated Cmdr. Mark Franke on Wednesday, referring to the newest numbers accessible. Of these inmates, 21 have been housed on the important jail and 96 on the Todd Street facility.
No COVID-infected inmates required hospital therapy as of Wednesday, Franke stated. He was not conscious of any who’ve wanted hospitalization throughout the newest outbreak, which started to impression detention operations final month.
The resurgent virus first led to a week-long quarantine of the Todd Street inhabitants in mid-December, when private visits have been suspended for seven days. The suspension has been repeatedly prolonged, with the principle jail quarantine added in late December as infections unfold amongst the inmate inhabitants there.
The Todd Street website can home practically 800 inmates. The principle jail, which is situated subsequent to Ventura County Superior Court docket and can also be known as the pre-trial detention facility, can home about 890 individuals. As of Wednesday, the inmate inhabitants at each websites totaled about 1,100 individuals, in response to Franke.
Inmate infections have bumped up according to a spike in instances affecting the inhabitants countywide, officers stated. The transfer is meant to gradual unfold of the virus and shield inmates, workers and native residents.
Attorneys can nonetheless make in-person skilled visits.
You may go to inmates on video via the sheriff’s web site at venturasheriff.org beneath the “inmate data” hyperlink.
Jeremy Childs is a breaking information and public security reporter overlaying the night time shift for the Ventura County Star. He may be reached by calling 805-437-0208 or emailing jeremy.childs@vcstar.com. You can too discover him on Twitter @Jeremy_Childs.
