Law Enforcement

EMQ FamiliesFirst announced on Wednesday it would be reducing its Davis campus program and administrative staff by 77 positions effective July 31, 2013.  The Residential Treatment Program is open while they work to resolve licensing and certification issues, a statement from spokesperson Kristine Austin said.

“We are fully committed to children in crisis, their families, and the community of Davis,” said Darrell Evora, president & CEO of the agency. “This has been a very painful time for all involved. I am especially grateful to my colleagues at EMQ FamiliesFirst who have dedicated their careers to working with vulnerable young people, and to all those in Davis and Yolo County who support our mission.”

When the allegations against EMQ FamiliesFirst originally came to light, including the off-campus rape of an 11-year-old and persistent problems with the young residents going AWOL into the community without supervision, the focus was rightly on the impact, upon young and vulnerable residents, of changes to FamiliesFirst policies in the last six to nine months.

However, those policies also had serious impacts on employees.  Robert Keith Oldham is now suing EMQ FamiliesFirst after Mr. Oldham claims he was terminated on January 18, 2013, for what he is calling “falsely-alleged violations” of employee policies and procedure.

Closure is a word that, more and more, I think should not exist.  The more I live and observe, the more I recognize in human psychology there is no such thing as closure – at some point, people just move on with their lives.  But there is never closure and in most ways they are never the same.

And so this week, I too am forced to deal with one of the pivotal moments of my past, as the Buzayan family made a decision to end their case.

In June of 2005, a witness reported to the Davis Police Department what they believed to be a hit and run accident in the parking lot of Safeway in South Davis.  The witness did not report seeing contact between the two vehicles, but noticed some damage to the car as the family’s SUV pulled away.

Investigating a misdemeanor crime, Davis Police Officer Pheng Ly made the fateful decision to arrest the 16-year-old high school student Halema Buzayan at 10 pm at night, despite the family’s request that they bring her to the police station for questioning the next morning.

Last week, the state agency reviewing the FamiliesFirst situation in Davis, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), completed its investigation, in the wake of reports of a sexual assault and rape of an 11-year-old by residents at the facility who are 13 and 14 years old.

In a statement from Michael Weston, Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Outreach Programs at CDSS, “The children accused of sexual assaults and other abuse have been removed from the facility and additional staff put in place to ensure the appropriate levels of care, safety and supervision is being provided for the children who reside there. The Department is also conducting daily monitoring of the facility.”

On Monday, the Davis Police announced that a 16-year-old male Davis resident was taken into custody, and is being held on charges for the double murder of Oliver Northrup and Claudia Maupin. There are no other suspects in this case.  By early Tuesday, the Vanguard had learned the name of the suspect, but declined to disclose the information publicly until the charges became official.

Late on Tuesday, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office filed a criminal complaint against 16-year-old Daniel Marsh, who they claim “did willfully and unlawfully kill a human being, to wit, Oliver Northup, with malice aforethought. This is willful, premeditated, and deliberate murder within the meaning of Penal Code Section 189.”

On Monday, the Davis Police announced that a 16-year-old male Davis resident was taken into custody, and is being held on charges for the double murder. There are no other suspects in this case.

The investigation is on-going, and because it involved a minor, we cannot release any other information at this time.  Police officials would only confirm that the suspect is not a family member to the deceased.

Last week, upon hearing about the gang rape of an 11-year-old and the other myriad of problems at the local facility – we called for heads to roll.  The California Department of Social Services has not disappointed.

In a remarkable complaint filed against the facility, they called for the FamiliesFirst facility in Davis to be shut down and they have effectively sought to ban the Clinical Director Audrie Meyer and Regional Executive Director Gordon Hamilton from working in this sector ever again.

In a scathing report, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) completed its investigation of FamiliesFirst, a group home that is located on Fifth Street in Davis, in the wake of reports of a sexual assault and rape of an 11-year-old by residents at the facility who are 13 and 14 years old.

In a statement from Michael Weston, Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Outreach Programs at CDSS, “The children accused of sexual assaults and other abuse have been removed from the facility and additional staff put in place to ensure the appropriate levels of care, safety and supervision is being provided for the children who reside there. The Department is also conducting daily monitoring of the facility.”

The CEO of FamiliesFirst, Darrell Evora, spoke out on Saturday, telling news crews, “I’m outraged…  So I understand the public being outraged. We’d never want that to happen to a child in our care.”

“Very sad, and then shocked, and dismayed,” said Mr. Evora.  “We’re doing our best now to shadow kids and keep them in line of sight,” he added.

The immediate incident is shocking enough – an 11-year-old girl held down and raped by two boys ages 13 and 14.  The individuals involved were all residents at the FamiliesFirst treatment facility on Fifth Street in Davis.

What was more shocking is that as police investigated this complaint, which occurred two weeks before the girl finally reported the assault on June 4, they found a web of sexual assaults and assaults at the facility.

The Vanguard has learned that on Wednesday, June 5, a 13-year-old male and a 14-year-old male were taken into temporary custody by the Davis Police Department after an 11-year-old female reported that she had been held down and forcibly raped by the boys. Both males were taken to the Yolo County Juvenile Hall.

According to a press release from the Davis Police Department, “All three of the minors reside at FamiliesFirst, which is a group home in Davis that houses and supports youth. The sexual assault did not occur on the property of FamiliesFirst. Other youth were reported to be present, although their involvement is still being investigated. Each of the youth had left the FamiliesFirst facility without permission, which they were required to have, and they were not under the supervision of the Families First staff, as they were required to be.”

On May 3, Davis resident Eli Davis recounted his April 19, 2013, encounter with a Davis police officer who demanded identification as he mowed his lawn in front of his west Davis home where the 68-year-old has lived at for nearly 30 years.

Davis police spokesperson, Lt. Glenn Glasgow, explained to the Vanguard this week that a community member flagged down a Davis police officer, explaining that they had possibly interrupted a residential burglary that was occurring.

Last week, longtime Davis resident Eli Davis wrote a letter to the local paper, claiming, at his home near Lake Blvd, he was mowing his front lawn a few weeks ago in the middle of the afternoon when he was approached by a police officer who asked if he lived in the residence.

The Vanguard has learned that Mr. Davis, 68, has lived at his home for nearly 30 years.

On Friday came the story of Eli Davis, who lives somewhere between Village Homes and Lake Blvd. in West Davis.  In a letter published on Friday in the Davis Enterprise, he claimed he was mowing his front lawn a few weeks ago in the middle of the afternoon when he was approached by a police officer who asked if he lived in the residence.

Apparently he “fit the description” of someone in the area who had committed a crime, and the officer demanded identification, which, as we reported on Friday, Mr. Davis was under no obligation to provide, but did so anyway.

Letter Writer Claims Racial Prejudice in Police Encounter – In the movie The Hurricane, they flash to a scene where the police pull over the protagonist Rubin “the Hurricane” Carter in a vehicle stop where he’s told they are looking for two black men.  “Any two will do?” actor Denzel Washington quips.

But, as we learn, it’s no laughing matter as Mr. Carter is ultimately fingered for the triple homicide and spent most of the next two decades in prison.

It has been a week since the community learned of the brutal stabbing deaths of 87-year-old former defense attorney Oliver Northup and his wife Claudia Maupin, 76, in South Davis, and authorities say that while they are getting help from the state and the federal government investigators, they have few new leads in the case.

“Nothing new really [to report],” Davis Police Lt. Paul Doroshov told the Vanguard on Sunday.  “We’re doing it with the assistance of agencies, like the FBI has been a huge help to us.  The California Department of Justice has been a big help.”

It will be some time before we get the official police statistics from Picnic Day this year, but I think I can save people the trouble.  The record will show that people were ticketed for drinking too much.  Some disturbed the peace.  I saw a case of resisting arrest, and I saw the aftermath of a fight where a man got his face possibly slashed in front of his young daughter.

But, for the most part, things were calm.  People were out there having fun, whether it was on campus, near campus or in the downtown.  Some people told me it was an out-of-town group in the downtown.  But from what I could see on the ground for nearly 11 hours, there weren’t a lot of problems.

This week, lost in the furor over the Boston Marathon Bombings and the captivating manhunt on Thursday night and Friday, was the fact that Senators caved on simple legislation that nearly 90 percent of the population, including many members of the NRA, support: background checks.

While Senators gave way to cowardice, the city of Davis was torn asunder by a gruesome double-murder of respected citizens.  While police seem to have few leads at this time, from the facts that exist, a reasonable theory was that this was a burglary that went bad, that the burglar or burglars broke into the Cowell Blvd residence and were surprised to find the occupants at home, and the burglar then brutally stabbed the occupants.

“In an effort to change the culture of Picnic Day, city and university officials, along with both police departments and community members have been working  to prepare for the April 20, 2013 Picnic Day,” a press release from the Davis Police Department reads.  The city council has renewed the “Safety Enhancement Zone” for the downtown core area for Picnic Day 2013.

Passed unanimously by council on February 26, “The Safety Enhancement Zone ordinance allows the City Council, through a proclamation, to declare a specified geographical area as a safety zone during a designated time frame. This declaration then doubles the base fine for specified city ordinance violations committed within the declared Safety Enhancement Zone.”