Gary Eugene Wilson
Spirit of Jefferson Farmers Advocate | Thursday, June 5, 1980
Gary Wilson, Charged with three counts of forgery; and R Faircloth charged with one count of forgery; were both remanded to jail in default of bond
Wilson Guilty On Forgery Counts
Spirit of Jefferson Farmers Advocate | Thursday, July 9, 1981
A petit jury last Thursday found Gary Wilson guilty on four counts of uttering worthless checks in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
Wilson had been indicted for forging checks of $126; $140; $130 and $140 against Albert W. Hinkle.
The trial began Wednesday morning and continued until the noon hour Thursday. After the jury received the case from Judge Pierre Dostert, it deliberated no more than 15 minutes before returning the verdict.
Judge Dostert referred the case to the probation officer for a pre-sentencing investigation.
The case was handled for the state by Prosecutor Braun Hamstead.
Criminal Docket Set For April Term Jefferson Circuit Court; Number Of Trials Later In Year
Spirit of Jefferson Farmers Advocate | Thursday, April 25, 1984
Gary Wilson, two counts of breaking and entering, petit and grand larceny, August 8.
Escapee Still Free
The Evening Sun | Tuesday, July 17, 1984
Three of four Jefferson County, Va., jail escapees are back in custody, but police say they have no idea where the remaining inmate is.
County jailer Jim Bowers said William Baum III, 20, of Frederick, and Bruce Ballenger, 20, of Charles Town, W.Va., turned themselves in Saturday, while escapee Gary Wilson of Ransom was recaptured Friday.
The fourth escapee, John Welch, 27, of Kearneysville, Va., had not been recaptured, a sheriff's department spokesman said.
Hunch leads to citizen capture of jail escapee
The Star Democrat | Wednesday, July 18, 1984
SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) – Because a Sharpsburg man followed his instincts, he and his two sons played a role in the recapture of an escapee from a West Virginia jail, according to authorities.
Ronnie Kline said his instinct told him something was wrong when he saw two men along railroad tracks that pass near his home on July 13.
"I just had a feeling about them," said the 41-year-old Kline. "They looked tired and worn out."
Kline said that at the time, he was not aware that four inmates had escaped earlier that day from the Jefferson County Jail in Charles Town, W.Va.
He said, however, the two men on the railroad tracks "looked like they walked off a work release gang or something."
Kline said he went into his house, loaded his .357-caliber Magnum and called state police, who told him of the escape and said they would send an officer to the house.
When Kline went back outside, the two men were not in sight. His sons, 20-year-old Joseph and 19-year-old Eric, returned home, and he told them of his suspicions.
Eric Kline drove away on an errand, and on the way back home, he crossed paths with the escapees at a railroad crossing about a mile from his home.
One of the men asked for a cigarette and "started running toward me, so I took off for home," Eric Kline said.
When the father heard Erie's tale, he told him to "load the deer rifle and we'll get them."
Ronnie and Eric Kline drove to the railroad crossing and spotted escapee Gary E. Wilson, 27, of Ranson, W.Va.
“I parked on the tracks and saw him in the bushes eating berries,” said the elder Kline. “I asked him if he was one of the West Virginia prisoners and he said, ‘Yes.’”
Kline showed Wilson the gun and told him to walk to the car.
“I frisked him and told him to sit on the ground and be quiet,” said Kline, who held Wilson until police arrived.
Kline said he spotted the other man down the track, but that man, believed to have been
28-year-old John Welch, went the other way.
Welch is the only one of the four escapees still at large.
Man follows instinct, help capture prison escapee
The Evening Sun | Thursday, July 19, 1984
SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) – Because a Sharpsburg man followed his instincts, he and his two sons played a role in the recapture of an escapee from a West Virginia jail, according to authorities.
Ronnie Kline said his instinct told him something was wrong when he saw two men along railroad tracks that pass near his home in this Washington County town on July 13.
"I just had a feeling about them," said Kline, 41. "They looked tired and worn out."
Kline said that at the time, he was not aware that four inmates had escaped earlier that day from the Jefferson County Jail in Charles Town, W.Va. He said, however, the two men on the railroad tracks "looked like they walked off a work release gang or something."
Kline said he went into his house, loaded his .357-caliber Magnum and called State Police, who told him of the escape and said they would send an officer to the house.
When Kline went back outside, the two men were not in sight. His sons, Joseph, 20, and Eric, 19, returned home and he told them of his suspicions.
Eric drove away on an errand and, on the way back home, he crossed paths with the escapees at a railroad crossing about a mile from his home. One of the men asked for a cigarette and “started running toward me, so I took off for home,” he said.
Meanwhile, his brother, Joseph, saw the incident through a pair of binoculars and called State Police, urging them to hurry.
When the father heard Erie's tale, he told him to "load the deer rifle and we'll get them."
Ronald and Eric Kline drove to the railroad crossing and spotted escapee Gary E. Wilson, 27, of Ranson, W.Va.
“I parked on the tracks and saw him in the bushes eating berries,” said the elder Kline. “I asked him if he was one of the West Virginia prisoners and he said, ‘Yes.’”
Kline showed Wilson the gun and told him to walk to the car.
“I frisked him and told him to sit on the ground and be quiet,” said Kline, who held Wilson until police arrived.
Kline said he spotted the other man down the track, but that man, believed to have been John Welch, 28, went the other way. Welch is the only one of the four escapees still at large.
Jail Escapee Is Still At Large
Spirit of Jefferson Farmers Advocate | Thursday, July 19, 1984
One of the four men who escaped from the Jefferson County jail, John Welsh, 28, of Fox Glen, remained at large Wednesday morning, but Sheriff Don Giardina said his capture may be imminent.
Giardina said that there had been reported sightings of Welsh, and that a dog had been utilized in an effort to locate the escapee, without success. Welsh has now been "on the run" for nearly a week and Giardina says he "may be running out of gas."
Two of the escapees, William E. Baum, III, 20 of Frederick, Md., surrendered at the jail last Saturday morning and a short time later Bruce Ballenger, also 20, of Charles Town, turned himself in.
Gary Wilson, 27, of Ranson, was taken into custody by residents of the Sharpsburg, Md., area last Friday evening and was being detained in the Washington County (Md.) detention center.
The four made their escape about 2:45 a.m. last Friday morning after a correctional officer opened a cellblock door to remove a bag of garbage.
Two Jail Escapees Held To Grand Jury
Spirit of Jefferson Farmers Advocate | Thursday, July 26, 1984
Two of the four Jefferson County jail inmates who escaped Friday, July 13, have been arraigned on felony escape charges before Magistrate E.W. Day.
The cases of William Baum, III, 20 of Frederick, Md., and Gary Wilson, 27, of Ranson, will be heard by the September term of the Jefferson County grand jury. They could face additional sentences of one to five years if ordered to trial and found guilty.
A third escapee, Bruce Ballenger, 20, also returned to jail, was not arraigned. He is currently undergoing a court-ordered 60-day evaluation at Huttonsville Correctional Center.
Still at large is 28-year-old John Welsh of Kearneysville.
Wildfires scorch Southland
October 26, 2007
Gayle Fey and Gary Wilson share a moment as they stand outside the evacuation center in San Bernardino. The couple live in Rim Forest, a small town on the outskirts of Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains. Fey and Wilson have been evacuated since Tuesday, and have been staying in the shelter located in the Orange Show Pavilion. Fey and Wilson are two of many away from their homes. / photo by Leah Heagy
Arrests Smash Drug Ring
Mountain News & Crestline Courier-News | March 20, 2014
Information that drugs were being held for a convicted major methamphetamine supplier apprehended Jan. 28 led sheriff’s deputies to arrest five persons and seize meth and drug supplies as search warrants were served over the weekend in three mountain communities.
Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Ells told the Mountain News information leading to the arrests on Saturday and Sunday was developed by Deputy Luis Sandoval and Sgt. Dani Pineda as a follow-up to the arrest of Oscar Echevarria Arteaga, who Ells called one of the major suppliers of meth and heroin on the mountain.
The information, Ells said, indicated drugs belonging to Echevarria Arteaga—who is now serving a two-year prison term after pleading guilty Feb. 7 to two felony drug charges—were being held for him at different sites.
That intelligence led to the preparation of search warrants for locations where the drugs were believed to be stored.
Working with a Sheriff’s Department narcotics team and deputies from the department’s Central Station in San Bernardino, Twin Peaks investigators served a warrant at the 112-acre Pohl Ranch, in the 1800 block of Highway 18, just above Upper Waterman Canyon Road, at 1:39 p.m. Saturday.
In a building on the grounds, Ells said, deputies found a pound of methamphetamine, a loaded shotgun, 10 baggies of meth packaged for sale, drug scales and empty baggies.
At that site they arrested Douglas Kent Johnson, 55, Sandra Kay Mayo, also 55, and Timothy John Estermyer, 53. All were booked at Central Detention Center for possession for sale of a controlled substance, and remained in custody Tuesday on $50,000 bail apiece.
Estermyer pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Tuesday and had pre-preliminary and preliminary hearings set for March 26 and 28. Judge Kenneth R. Barr raised his bail to $175,000, according to court records. Johnson and Mayo were arraigned the following day, with hearings set for the same days and bail raised to the same amount, court documents say.
A 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, a warrant served at a home in the 1200 block of Bear Springs Road in Rimforest resulted in the arrest of Gary Eugene Wilson, 57. The residence is the same house where Echevarria Arteaga was taken into custody.
Wilson was booked at West Valley Detention Center for possession for sale of a controlled substance and conspiracy, both felonies. His bail was set at $100,000. The district attorney’s office had not charged him as of Tuesday afternoon. Court records say his criminal history consists only of traffic violations and a 1999 conviction for petty theft.
The warrant services resumed on Sunday, with deputies swooping down at 12:15 a.m. on a house in the 26500 block of Blackfoot Trail in Rimforest, where they arrested 43-year-old Rafael Rosales Jimenez. He was booked at Central Detention Center for possession for sale and conspiracy, and his bail was set at $50,000.
At 2:30 p.m. investigators served a final warrant, at a home in the 1200 block of Aleutian Drive in Lake Arrowhead, where they arrested 39-year-old Josue Mojardin Vega.
He was later booked at Central Detention Center for possession for sale and conspiracy, and was awaiting charges on Tuesday. His bail was also set at $50,000.
Ells said that at every location deputies found drugs and drug evidence such as scales.
Two Drug Suspects Plead
Mountain News & Crestline Courier-News | March 27, 2014
Two of six persons arrested earlier this month when deputies seized drugs, drug-sales materials and a loaded shotgun from a ranch below Crestline pleaded guilty to felony charges Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Court records say Douglas Kent Johnson, 55, pleaded guilty at his pre-preliminary hearing before Judge Kenneth R. Barr to possession of a controlled substance for sale and being a felon or addict in possession of a firearm.
Johnson was sentenced to the low term of 16 months for each offense, and the sentences will run concurrently. He was remanded to the sheriff’s custody for transport to the state prison in Chino.
Timothy John Estermyer, 53, also arrested when deputies served a search warrant on March 15 at Pohl Ranch, on Highway 18 below Crestline, pleaded guilty to a single felony charge, possession of a controlled substance. He was placed on three years’ probation and fined a total of $1,136, including $500 in appointed counsel fees and a $330 restitution fine.
Arrested with Johnson and Estermyer was Sandra Kay Mayo, 55. Mayo, also in court on Wednesday, did not enter a plea, but was ordered back into court on April 21 for a drug-court review. She remains in custody at Central Detention Center on $175,000 bail in the meantime.
The arrests of Johnson, Estermyer and May stemmed from sheriff’s deputies’ further investigation into the arrest of Oscar Echevarria-Arteaga, described as a major supplier of methamphetamine and heroin on the mountain, on Jan. 28.
Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Ells said investigators had learned suspects were holding Echevarria-Arteaga’s drugs for him while he is in custody.
In addition to the three defendants in court on Wednesday, three other suspects arrested the same weekend have yet to be charged. They include Gary Eugene Wilson, 57, who was arrested at the same house where Echevarria-Arteaga was apprehended; Rafael Rosales Jimenez, 43, arrested at a house in Rimforest; and Josue Mojardin Vega, arrested at a residence on Aleutian Drive in Lake Arrowhead.
Arrestees Won’t Face Charges
Mountain News & Crestline Courier-News | May 15, 2014
A total of 12 persons, arrested by Twin Peaks sheriff’s deputies in recent months for a variety of offenses, will not be prosecuted by District Attorney Michael Ramos, a check with his office has determined.
For reasons that include the need for further investigation and insufficient evidence, Ramos’ staff has declined to file charges in cases with arrests dating back to late October 2013, said Christopher Lee, Ramos’ spokesman.
In a case turned down because of insufficient evidence to prosecute, a 45-year-old Sacramento resident will not face charges for her Jan. 28 arrest in Running Springs for suspicion of cruelty to a child.
Jillian Kathleen Boyd was taken into custody after a dispute between Boyd and a friend, for whose children Boyd told this newspaper she had been caring for several days. Boyd said she was the one who summoned authorities, and not the children’s mother.
According to a sheriff’s report, a responding deputy saw one of the children holding a jar of marijuana that belonged to Boyd. Boyd said it was medicinal marijuana, and that she has a card, as required by law, for the drug, which she uses to treat back pain resulting from an injury.
The report also said the children’s mother claimed the dispute between the women began when she learned Boyd had given the juveniles Neuro Sleep, a drink containing melatonin.
However, Boyd told the Mountain News the children had taken the beverage without her permission. Neuro Sleep is a product of a firm called Neuro Drinks, and it is sold over the counter without age limitations. Its manufacturer’s website says its products reduce stress, increase mental performance and support a healthy immune system.
Boyd said she is concerned the report of her arrest, which has been posted in an online search engine, could damage her personal and professional reputation, and asked that the record be set straight.
The DA has also declined, pending further investigation, to prosecute three men arrested on the weekend of March 15-16 in Rimforest and Lake Arrowhead, on conspiracy and drug charges. Gary Eugene Wilson, 57, Rafael Rosales Jimenez, 43, and Josue Mojardin Vega, 39, were apprehended as part of a sheriff’s follow-up to the arrest in Rimforest of a man a sheriff’s official described as a major mountain supplier of drugs.
Lee said turning a case down pending further investigation means it is closed until requested information or additional investigation is completed by the arresting agency and resubmitted to the DA’s office.
Ramos’ office declined to prosecute Crestline resident John Adam Kintzer, 25, who was arrested Feb. 2 along with Bryan Scott Ricks, 22, for allegedly stealing a woman’s groceries, Lee said. Ricks was charged with misdemeanor theft of personal property in that case, but court records say the charge was later dismissed after Ricks pleaded guilty to a felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in connection with a Feb. 28 arrest.
Neither Jason Eugene Averhart nor Felicia Marie Law, both 42, has been charged, pending further investigation, in their Dec. 19, 2013, arrest for reportedly having drugs in their bedroom, Lee said. Their arrests came during a probation compliance check deputies made on both persons.
San Bernardino resident Marlene Breceda, 29, will also not be charged, based on insufficient evidence, Lee said. She was arrested last Dec. 12 after a sheriff’s deputy noted that a car in which she was a passenger had an obstructed license plate.
In the car, the deputy reportedly found Breceda’s five children, four without legally required restraints and one in the trunk. Breceda, who did not have legal custody of the children, had reportedly abducted them from her mother, who is their legal guardian. Circumstances surrounding the incident did not justify a filing, prosecutors determined.
Josue Manuel Helguera, 19, arrested Dec. 10 for having sex with a 16-year-old girl in a parked car in Running Springs, will not face charges of sex with a minor no more than three years younger. Lee said the case was turned down, but did not elaborate on the reason.
Insufficient evidence was the reason for prosecutors’ decision not to charge Michael Rene Wagner, 51, of Cedarpines Park. He was arrested last Nov. 30 for allegedly choking his wife, who had sprayed mace in his face during a domestic argument.
Turned down pending further investigation was a case against Samantha Janeen Dominguez, 19, She was arrested Nov. 25 in Crestline along with suspected burglar Kyle Adam Robinson. Dominguez was also booked for burglary.
On Jan. 31 Robinson pleaded guilty to a felony burglary charge in an unrelated case and was placed on three years’ probation and sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Aaron Robert Willis, an 18-year-old Rim High student, was arrested on campus last Oct. 24 for allegedly having sold peanut butter cookies laced with marijuana to fellow students. Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Ells said his office submitted the case to Ramos on Nov. 17, but Lee said the case is nowhere to be found in the district attorney’s system. It also does not appear in the Superior Court’s online case information system.
However, Willis pleaded guilty on May 1 to a felony charge of burglary, and was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to spend 180 days in county jail with credit for 11 days served, so it is unlikely the cookie case will be filed.
Second Drug Bust at House
Mountain News & Crestline Courier-News | July 17, 2014
A reputed associate of a major mountain drug dealer who is now in state prison was himself arrested July 10 after sheriff’s deputies raided a Rimforest house and confiscated a pound and a half of marijuana and $300 worth of methamphetamine.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Dani Pineda said Deputies Michael Chavez and Eric Dyberg, acting on information developed during an investigation, went to a house in the 1200 block of Bear Springs Road at 12:49 p.m. and contacted Gary Eugene Wilson, 57.
In the house the deputies reportedly found three plastic bags of marijuana, with an estimated street value in excess of $1,500, five grams of meth, valued at about $300, and more than $100 in cash.
Wilson was arrested without incident at 2 p.m., jail records say. He was transported to Central Detention Center, where he was booked for possession for sale of controlled substances and released at 4:46 p.m. the following day. No charges had been filed against him as of Tuesday, according to court records.
“We would consider him a major dealer,” Pineda said.
Wilson’s criminal record shows only a 1999 conviction for petty theft, three prior Vehicle Code violations and a pending case involving a charge of driving without a license. However, his arrest last week is his second drug-related apprehension this year. On the weekend of March 15 and 16, Wilson was one of six persons arrested at four mountain locations after deputies received information that drugs were being held for convicted drug dealer Oscar Echevarria Arteaga.
As of Tuesday, Wilson had not been charged in that arrest. A district attorney’s spokesman said earlier this year that further investigation of Wilson’s activities had been requested prior to filing charges.
On Feb. 7, Echevarria Arteaga pleaded guilty to two felony drug charges and is now serving a two-year term at Chino State Prison. He was arrested Jan. 27 at the same house where Wilson was apprehended. When Echevarria Arteaga was arrested, deputies found two guns and a pound of meth in his house, with the drugs sitting on a table next to toys belonging to his two children.
He was also charged with willful cruelty to a child with possible injury or death, stemming from the presence of meth within his children’s reach, but that charge was dismissed as part of a plea bargain.
Pineda said the children remain in the custody of county child protective services officials.
Dealer’s Friend Pleads to Gun Charge
Mountain News & Crestline Courier-News | September 11, 2014
A Rimforest man, reputed to be an associate of an imprisoned major mountain drug dealer and who was himself arrested for drug possession in that community on July 19, has pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and must spend time in jail as part of his probation, court records say.
At his pre-preliminary hearing on Aug. 22, Gary Eugene Wilson, 58, pleaded guilty before Judge Annemarie G. Pace to felony possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm.
Wilson was placed on three years’ probation and given 19 days’ credit against a 120-day jail sentence. Judge Pace also ordered him to pay a total of $246 in fines, but noted that Wilson cannot afford the cost of his appointed attorney or $26-a-month probation supervision fees.
Details on the arrest that led to his plea were not available, but two felony drug-possession charges in a second case, resulting from his July 10 arrest in Rimforest, were dismissed in the interest of justice in conjunction with his guilty plea.
Wilson was arrested on March 19 in the same house, in the 1200 block of Bear Springs Road, where sheriff’s deputies had arrested now-imprisoned drug dealer Oscar Echevarria Arteaga on Jan. 28. Sheriff’s reports say Echevarria Arteaga was apprehended with a pound of methamphetamine and two guns in his possession.
Wilson was not charged in that case, but was arrested again, at that same house, on July 10 by deputies who confiscated a pound and a half of marijuana and $300 worth of methamphetamine. The charges in that arrest are the ones dismissed on Aug. 22 when he pleaded in the firearm case.
Unclaimed Persons Case Report
NamUs #UCP122186 | June 3, 2024
On Tuesday, March 26, 2024, the homeowner drove to her vacant vacation home in Rimforest [California] to check on her house because she had not been to the vacation home since 2023. She entered the home and found 67-year-old Gary Eugene Wilson decomposed on the couch in the living room. Paramedics from the San Bernardino County Fire Department responded and confirmed Gary was deceased.