Home, Sweet Home

Fausto Ordonez Restrepo, 20, of Ukiah can’t get out of jail because he has no place to go, and with a name like that it seems only an Umberto Eco novel would have a place for him. But he definitely can’t go home, because of the baby — so Judge John Behnke won’t let Fausto out of jail.

Fausto got jealous of someone somehow when the baby arrived and commenced what the judge called, “for lack of a better term, a rage incident,” wielding a vacuum cleaner to smash up his home and sending everyone in it running for their lives. “So he can’t go home with the baby there, and I want to know where he’s going to live.”

Anthony Adams of the Office of the Public Defender said, “Homelessness is not a crime, your honor. We can’t keep people in jail just because they have no where else to go.”

“My concern is he needs a place to live, because when left to his own devices something bad happens,” the judge replied.

Deputy DA Beth Norman made the case for keeping the lout on ice. “Your honor, he’s 20 years old and needs to start living on his own. He hangs out all day, he lays around and does nothing, then when nighttime comes he has no place to sleep. He needs to start acting like a grown-up and get off the streets — and get some medication, though I know he doesn’t think he needs it. Also, I’m a little frustrated with Probation…”

Ms. Sandra Vargas of Probation visibly bristled at the negative mention of her office; criticism of Probation ordinarily which comes from defense counsel. Ms. Norman, who has spent decades working in a senior capacity for at least four Mendocino County District Attorneys, went on to mention how something could have been set up for Fausto with Redwood Children’s Services.

Public defender Adams, who has become the go-to guy for the local dailies on the problems of the mentally ill in jail, said, “I think Ms. Vargas did a fine job on this case and I agree with her analysis, although I do take exception when probation officers start making psychological diagnoses. Ms. Norman says he lays around all day and does nothing, but that’s not true. He’s not lazy, he just has a hard time staying focused on a single task — and homelessness is not a condition for keeping someone in jail.”

Judge Behnke half agreed, “I’ll go along with the idea that homelessness is not a crime. However, we’re talking about a problem with the rehab process and my concern is that if we don’t have a plan in place, and he gets out on Friday night with no place to go it’s a recipe for disaster — for both him and the community. The next 48 hours is the most likely time for him to re-offend, so I’m going to ask where he’s planning on going, and if he doesn’t have a place to stay I’ll increase his jail-time. We’ve been dealing with him a long time now and I know he’s not lazy, but he does have a problem focusing.”

Ms. Norman said she would contact Redwood Children’s Services on Monday and Fausto could then be released at noon with a place to go. (Redwood Children’s Services has been renamed Redwood Quality Management Company — perfectly vague, and at the same time condescendingly imperious — as befits our local helping pros.) Norman again described the “rage incident” with the vacuum cleaner, and Adams told the court the family wasn’t seeking any restitution for the damage in the home because his client had worked hard and been an exemplary breadwinner for the household.

“They don’t want restitution and specifically asked he not be charged with any,” said Mr. Adams. “I want to point out that he does try to do what’s right, your honor.”

Behnke: “I want to hear from him. What are his plans, where is he going to go?”

Fausto: “I’ve been looking into getting into the Arbor on Monday.”

(Arbor Youth Resource Center is a transitional program for grown-up foster kids.)

Behnke: “What about today?”

Fausto: “I would try to get some money for a motel.”

Behnke: “I’m more inclined to go with the Monday plan, so I’m going to continue this until Monday. I want to be sure we’re giving him every chance to succeed.”

* * *

Gil Alfredo Olea Vargas, another seeming refugee from an Umberto Eco novel, came in on charges of attempted murder, an alleged attempt at patricide. Vargas was said to have chased his father around the house threatening to cut off his head with a butcher knife. When Deputy Gregory Clegg arrived the knife had been thrown outside, but another family member, the defendant’s sister, said she’d been threatened as well and Vargas was arrested. Judge Behnke said the would-be guillotine would have to be held for trial.

* * *

Then came a name more common to Mendocino County, Manuel Rodriguez of Covelo, and yet another incident suggestive of reverse family values. Mr. Rodriguez and his girlfriend, Tasha Wake, had spent the night driving around Covelo, and when the pacifying thrums of locomotion had ceased Rodriguez not only threatened to kill Ms. Wake, he emphasized the threat by taking a shot at her “because she knew too much.”

Deputy Gilmore arrived in Covelo from Willits after midnight and was shown the bullet hole in the living room wall, as well as the exit hole outside the home. Ms. Wake told the deputy that the gun was about 18 inches long and had a red laser sight on it. Rodriguez, she said, wanted to shoot her because he was afraid she would snitch on him. After he fired the first shot from the hip, the gun jammed and he recharged it. She said she later found a live round and a spent shell casing on the floor.

Gilmore said Ms. Wake was talking very quietly, glancing nervously around, and said she believed Rodriguez could be somewhere nearby, listening. Then she clammed up, and would say no more.

At the time of this incident, Rodriguez was out on his own recognizance (O.R., no bail) in another case and had failed to appear for a court date, so a bench warrant had been issued. Rodriguez’s lawyer, the venerable Albert Kubanis of Ukiah, brought this up during his cross-examination of the deputy.

“Deputy Gilmore, did you have a conversation with Ms. Wake about the possibility of her being prosecuted for harboring a fugitive?”

“Yes, that’s likely. I was at the residence looking for him, and I had a warrant for his arrest.”

“You said she told you they were driving around all night?”

“That’s correct.”

“Were they taking any intoxicants?”

“I don’t believe I asked.”

“Did she say where she first saw the firearm?”

“She said it was by his right leg, between the seats.”

“And based on the length it appeared to be something other than a handgun?”

“Correct.”

“And she found a 9mm cartridge and an empty shell casing?”

“Correct.”

“How did she identify it as 9mm?”

“I don’t believe I asked.”

“Did she mention someone named Rutherford?”

“Yes. She indicated it was him who found the cartridges. They were both there together.”

“Was he a felon?”

“Yes, on parole.”

“Did she tell you he threw the cartridges away?”

“Yes. As a felon, he was restricted from having ammunition in his possession.”

“Did you contact him?”

“Yes. But he was unwilling to talk.”

“Did you follow up to find out where these items were disposed of?”

“I did not.”

“Can you estimate the height of the bullet hole in the wall?”

“It was approximately five to five-and-a-half feet.”

“Do you know how tall Ms. Wake is?”

“I do not, no.”

“And she said this shot was fired from the hip?”

“Correct.”

“Is it difficult to hit a target with a shot fired from the hip?”

“At that distance, no.”

“Has Ms. Wake contacted anyone from your office trying to withdraw her statements as untruthful?”

“Not anyone from my office, no.”

“Nothing further.”

In a previous incident Rodriguez had allegedly fired a shot at two Covelo men, Thomas and Lonnie Hanover. Deputy DA Joshua Rosenfeld wanted attempted murder on this charge, count one, but Judge Behnke reduced it to assault with a deadly weapon. He did, however, hold the defendant to answer on a robbery charge regarding the Hanovers, along with the attempted murder of Tasha Wake.

* * *

Christina Ruppert has been fingered as the sneak-thief who’s been stealing from the patrons of the Orr Springs Resort for quite some time. She goes to the community kitchen at the resort and takes food because she’s hungry. But prosecutor Dan Madow had no sympathy for Ms. Ruppert and wanted her charged as a felon on this case. When Deputy Glegg arrested Ruppert at the Shell Station in Ukiah recently, she was under the influence and in possession of methamphetamine, which tends to make people compulsively talkative, and she prattled away to Clegg everything he needed to build his case — a full confession, actually.

Ms. Ruppert told Clegg she was on her way to her boyfriend’s place when she stopped at the Orr Springs Resort, as she often does, she said, looking for anything of value. She went into the communal kitchen, which is never locked, according to manager Lieban Gunther (the son of the late local activist, Roanne Withers) and cleaned out the fridge and cupboards. Then she went out to the parking lot and tried to break into some vehicles, bold as brass, right in front of the video surveillance cameras. She admitted to having done the same thing many times before. Why? She was hungry. What about breaking into the vehicles? Why was she doing that? Because she often found currency and other valuables in the vehicles.

Ruppert's defense attorney, Andrew Higgins of the Office of the Public Defender, had only one thing to say on his client’s behalf: She was cooperative with law enforcement. Most obliging. And she was hungry.

Deputy Craig Walker was called to testify about another occasion when Ruppert had burgled the resort, but he’d been called out to respond to some criminal emergency on the streets of Ukiah, and was momentarily unavailable. The lawyers didn’t really need his testimony because of the defendant’s cooperative attitude, and she readily admitted that she’d stolen several bottles of liquor from the bartender’s vehicle.

Mr. Higgins defended this theft by saying the bottles were only small ones, the kind served on airlines. No big deal. She was a transient, from southern California. She was hungry, and she was thirsty, too, the kind of defense that might be better left unsaid.

Judge Behnke said, “This doesn’t rise to the level of a felony. Ms. Ruppert was hungry and I can sympathize with that, but she had another hunger as well, a hunger for methamphetamine, which has led her to return again and again to take anything that isn’t tied down.”

Public defender Higgins asked if Ruppert's bail could be reduced to misdemeanor levels and this was granted as soon as the judge was assured that her mother was coming to get her and take her home. Otherwise, like Fausto, if she were turned out and left to her own devices, she’d return to the Orr Springs Resort and steal all the food and whatever else she could lay her tweaker mitts on.