On Wednesday, January 25, 2012,  Thomas Manuel Prince, 27, of McKinleyville, was sentenced to five years in State Prison by the Honorable Judge W. Bruce Watson after pleading guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and corporal injury to a spouse, co-habitant or child’s parent.

Thomas Manuel Prince

On September 19, 2011, Prince physically assaulted the mother of his infant child as well as a female friend that attempted to stop the attack.  Prince also threatened to shoot both women.

“I am pleased that the court saw fit to sentence Mr. Prince to State Prison for the maximum term of five years. This violent, traumatic incident left scars with its victims and will permanently affect any relationship that he has with his minor child, a child his victim was holding when Prince carried out the assault. The community and the victims of this case will be protected while he is serving his time in prison,” said Deputy District Attorney Allan L. Dollison, the prosecutor who handled the sentencing of the case.

HCSO Press Release, Sept. 21, 2011

On 09-19-2011, approximately 0430 hours the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office was notified of an assault which just occurred in the 2900 block of Little Pond Drive, McKinleyville.

When the deputy arrived he met with the female victim and her infant son. The victim told the deputy her boyfriend, Thomas Manuel Prince, 27 years poured beer on her when she was sleeping and then punched her several times in the face, choked her to the point of nearly passing out, sprayed her face with paint and threatened to shoot her with a shotgun. The victim attempted to flee from the residence with their baby via a window, but was dragged back inside by the suspect who continued the assault.

When a 50 year old female friend attempted to assist the victim during the assault, the suspect assaulted her several times, striking her in the head and face, and threatening to shoot her.

Prince also smashed all the telephones in the residence so the victims could not call law enforcement for help.

The victim was transported to a local hospital to be treated for her injuries which included several lacerations and a black eye.

The Sheriffs office is attempting to locate Thomas Manual Prince, 27 years old of McKinleyville. He is described as a white male, 5-11, 210 lbs, brown hair and blue eyes. He is wanted for threatening a crime with intent to terrorize, domestic violence, damage to a telephone, battery causing serious bodily injury, false imprisonment and willful cruelty to a child. He was last seen fleeing the scene on a bicycle.

Submit Article to:

Jules Aubrey Dawson, alias “Jay Doss.” Sex: male. Race: African-American. Birthdate: 04/27/88. Age: 23. Height: 5’10.” Weight: 165.

HSU Police Seek Two More Robbery Suspects 

HUMBOLDT STATE – Humboldt State University police are pursuing two more, at-large suspects from San Diego in connection with a Dec. 2 strong-arm robbery on campus that has resulted in two arrests to date.

Police are seeking information on the whereabouts of Jules Aubrey Dawson, alias “Jay Doss,” age 23, and Miles B. Sharp, age 20. Warrants of $100,000 have been issued for each suspect. Neither is an HSU student.

Tips and leads should be submitted to the Anonymous Tip & Crime Report on the University Police Department’s website at www.humboldt.edu/police/.

Dawson and Sharp are wanted for an alleged attack early this month in Sunset Residence Hall, where assailants broke into

Miles B. Sharp. Sex: male. Race: African-American. Birthdate: 02/23/91. Age: 20. Height: 5’11.” Weight: 175.

the victim’s room, physically assaulted him, bound his limbs and robbed him.

University Police previously arrested two HSU students in the case, Benjamin Beilin, 19, a freshman from Valencia, Calif., and Eric Schneekluth, 21, a sophomore from San Diego. Both are charged with multiple felonies. Beilin has been released on $100,000 bail, Schneekluth remains confined in the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.

Submit Article to:

Daniel Allan Rausch

It was reported by a citizen that the vehicle was at the Arcata Marsh, located at the end of I Street. Officers responded to the area and found the vehicle parked and occupied by two males, later identified as 31-year-old Daniel Allan Rausch, and 28-year-old Aaron Zachery Huber. Rausch and Huber were taken into custody without incident.

Aaron Zachery Huber

Rausch and Huber were booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges:

Daniel Allan Rausch: PC 496 – Possession of stolen property, H&S 11377(a) – Possession of a controlled substance, and B&P 4140 – Possession of a hypodermic syringe.

Aaron Zachery Huber:  PC 496 – Possession of stolen property, PC 11357(a) – Possession of concentrated cannabis, and B&P 4140 – Possession of a hypodermic syringe.

The vehicle was released to the owner. On recovering her vehicle, the owner approached the car in which Huber was detained and made eye contact with him through the window.

She then crossed her two forefingers into a fearsome “hex” sign and told Huber, “I’m putting a grandmother’s curse on you!”

She said Huber appeared startled at the gesture.

Submit Article to:

Solomon Clark assists the disguised Skylar Moser, who also selected the three-year Applecare warranty on the MacBook Pro he was about to run out the door with. Security cam photo courtesy Simply Macintosh

Kevin L. Hoover

Eye Editor

PLAZA – Simply Macintosh employee Solomon Clark was selling a MacBook Pro and iPad to a customer this morning when the man suddenly thought different – but only about the paying-for-it part.

Clark said the customer had settled on the two items, and he was about to show him accessories when things took an unexpected turn.

“He was holding both, which seemed kind of weird, when I went to show him where the cases were,” Clark said. “I turned around and he was on his way out the door.”

Skylar Austin Moser

Clark and fellow employee Hank Ketelsen gave chase as the man headed south, crossing Eighth Street to the area of the Arcata Post Office. Slowed in his escape by the boxes of Apple products he was toting, the fleeing suspect couldn’t outpace his pursuers.

When Clark and Ketelsen caught up with him, the suspect said, “Yo man, back off. I’m gonna shoot you with pepper spray,” Clark recalled.

At that point, a mail delivery vehicle drove up and Clark yelled, “He’s stealing stuff!” The postal employee then positioned the mail truck to block the suspect’s escape, but he eluded the blockage and  then ran a down the alley behind the Post Office to the area of Seventh and I streets.

There, the fleeing thief was blocked again, by a citizen driving another truck. The citizen got out and confronted the suspect, who again threatened use of pepper spray. “He told the guy, ‘Back off, I’ll spray you!’ and the guy said, ‘I don’t care,’” Ketelsen recalled.

The suspect apparently tried to spritz the citizen with the pepper spray, but Ketelsen said there was a misfire of some sort. “Nothing came out,” he said.

As Clark, Ketelsen and the citizen struggled to restrain the man for police, another passerby who apparently thought the three were mugging someone came over to assist the suspect. “He didn’t know what we were doing and didn’t want to see someone hassled,” Ketelsen said.

But at that point, the suspect’s blonde wig, sunglasses and gray beanie fell off, and his ruse collapsed along with any well-intentioned passerby intervention. “You’re wearing a wig. I’m not going to help you,” the citizen said, according to Ketelsen.

Police arrived within a minute or so, Ketelsen said, and arrested Skylar Austin Moser, 22, of Arcata. All of the stolen property was recovered.

Moser was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked on charges of robbery, possession of tear gas over 2.5 ounces and use of a tear gas other than for self defense.

Submit Article to:

BLUE LAKE – On Sunday, Dec. 18 at about 7:50 p.m. Sheriff Deputies responded to the 76 Gas and Mini Mart at 295 Blue Lake Blvd., Blue Lake, to handle a reported armed robbery. Upon their arrival they were met by the female clerk who reported the following:

At about 7:45 p.m. the lone clerk was working when a female subject entered the convenience store and demanded money from the cash register. The female suspect claimed that she had a knife and a gun, however, no weapon was displayed. After receiving the money from the cash register the suspect told the clerk to go into the bathroom for five minutes. The victim clerk complied and after five minutes she exited the bathroom and immediately locked the store doors and called law enforcement.

The female suspect was described as a white female adult, approximately 45-55 years old, approximately 5 ft. tall with a thin build. The suspect wore a medium brown mask that had the appearance of wrinkled skin. The suspect wore a dark blue jacket, possibly with plaid patterned lining, a black beanie cap and brown fleece gloves. The suspect was carrying a black trash bag in her hand when she entered the store.

Responding deputies patrolled the area and were unable to locate the suspect.

The amount taken is not being disclosed at this time pending further investigation. Video surveillance will be reviewed for possible suspect identification.

Further details will be provided when obtained.

Anyone with information regarding this robbery is requested to call the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriffs Office Crime Tip line 707-268-2539.

Submit Article to:

PLAZA – On Wednesday, Dec. 7 at about, 2:36 a.m., the Arcata Police Department received a report of several subjects involved in a fight in the area of the Plaza.

Kurt Sheerin. Courtesy HCSO

Upon the officer’s arrival, they found two subjects with minor stab wounds. The victims told the officers that they had been in a fight with a subject and during the fight the suspect pulled a knife and stabbed/cut each of them.

One victim received a cut to his hand and the other received a cut to his arm. The suspect was seen getting into the passenger’s side of a vehicle that drove eastbound on Seventh Street from H Street.

An officer saw the vehicle in the 600 block of Seventh St and overtook the vehicle as it reached A Street. The officer conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and detained all the occupants.

The victims came to the scene of the traffic stop and identified one of the occupants of the vehicle as the person that stabbed/cut them.

The suspect was identified as Kurt Sheerin, 28, from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The victims refused medical treatment at the scene.

Allen was booked and lodged in the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for assault with a deadly weapon.

Submit Article to:

Humboldt State University Press Release

HUMBOLDT STATE – Police at Humboldt State University are investigating a strong arm robbery in a campus residence hall that took place Friday afternoon.

The incident occurred in Sunset Hall just after 5 p.m. The victim reported that three men broke into his room, bound his arms and legs and stole a number of items. The victim reported being physically assaulted by the suspects, but no weapons were observed by the victim.

The victim declined any medical attention.

University police responded and conducted a thorough search of the area. They determined that the suspects had likely fled and posed no immediate additional threat, though they are urging students living in residence halls to be vigilant. The suspects were last seen on foot near the area of LK Wood Blvd. and Plaza Ave. Fliers describing the robbery were posted throughout the area.

They will also be conducting additional patrols around campus residence halls over the next week.

The following is a description of the suspects:

Suspect #1: Black male adult, 18-20 years old, 5’9”/155 lbs, black hair, brown eyes.

Suspect #2: Black male adult, 18-20 years old, 5’10”/155 lbs, black neck length dreds, brown eyes.

Suspect #3: Hispanic male adult, 18-20 years old, 5’8”/165 lbs, black hair, brown eyes.

Area police agencies have been advised of the incident and provided with descriptions of the suspects.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact University Police at 826-5555.

Submit Article to:

Raymond Eacret

MCKINLEYVILLE – On Saturday Aug. 27, an armed robbery occurred at the Alliance 76 Gas Station in Arcata. Over the course of the investigation, Raymond Jonathan Eacret of McKinleyville was identified as the suspect in the robbery. An arrest warrant was issued for Eacret, who is currently on parole. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to take Eacret into custody over the past month. 

On Thursday, Oct. 6, acting on a citizen tip,  detectives from the Arcata Police Department, agents from California State Parole and deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, located and arrested Eacret without incident in the 1400 block of Terrace Lane in McKinleyville.

Submit Article to:

Dennis Houghton of Environmental Services surveys the husk of the burned-out bench. KLH | Eye

ARCATA MARSH – On August 3, retired Humboldt State ornithology professor Stan Harris was taking his daily walk around the Arcata Marsh with his son Michael. When they reached the south side of Klopp Lake, they found something amiss: someone had chopped out the slats and one arm from a memorial bench. Doc Harris reported the damage to the Interpretive Center staff. (Photos of the mangled bench appeared in the Aug. 10 edition of the Eye.)

Coincidentally, Doc Harris once was on a trip to the Galapagos with the person memorialized with the bench: Rosalind Novick, a pediatrician who passed away from breast cancer in 2000. The bench, which was underwritten by the Corbett family, was one of the first ones installed at the Marsh (circa 2002).

Novick’s former partner, Lan Sing Wu, says that the two moved to Arcata in 1977 and became involved with the local Audubon chapter, helping to plant trees around the oxidation ponds, build bird blinds, and lead Saturday morning bird walks at the Marsh. Another friend recently bought a FOAM life membership for Lan Sing and Rosalind, whose names are being added to the plaque in the lobby of the Interpretive Center.

City staff responded to Doc’s report and discovered that stained wood from the bench had been transported to the steps near the Klopp Lake picnic tables and used to make a campfire. The damaged bench was quickly removed and will be replaced as soon as inmates at the High Rock Conservation Camp can build a new one.

According to Doc Harris, this is not the first memorial bench at the Arcata Marsh to be vandalized. He remembers damage inflicted on a bench on the west side of the Log Pond that is dedicated to Frank Ferguson, a retired elementary school teacher. And at least one brass plaque attached to another bench has been stolen.

In response to these events – and other acts of vandalism at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary – Friends of the Arcata Marsh (FOAM) has set up a fund to reward those who report tips that lead to successful prosecution of lawbreakers at the Marsh.

Up to $250 will be paid for information given to the Arcata Police Department that results in conviction for vandalism, destruction of public property or similar illegal acts within the boundaries of the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Anyone having information on the Novick bench destruction or other vandalism at the Marsh is asked to call APD at (707) 822-2428 and leave a message for Ranger Kevin Stonebarger.

Sue Leskiw is president of Friends of the Arcata Marsh.

The Rosalind A. Novick Memorial Bench was destroyed to create this. KLH | Eye

Submit Article to: