19-year-old Woman Abducted at Gunpoint and Sexually Assaulted in Fort Bragg; Officers Respond Quickly and Arrest Two Suspects Near Fire Station

There is a public safety meeting of the Fort Bragg Council committee tomorrow at Town Hall at 3 p.m, with public comments being taken. Some people have indicated they will attend this meeting and speak on topics related to handling of these type of cases by police. The only item on the agenda is a discussion of the Ukiah Police Department’s contract with FBPD for dispatch services.

At this point, police don’t have any other cases that can be tied to these suspects but are investigating.

Since the California Judicial Council and the Mendocino County Court system have locked the press out of court files, we’re left with no option but to publish press releases—and we’re doing that. It’s a terrible situation. From what we can gather, Fort Bragg Police made a swift arrest in a horrific case. But beyond that, we’ll only know what’s spoon-fed to us.

Thanks to the California Judicial Council—for prioritizing secrecy over public accountability.

We were working on a data and case analysis of how sexual assault cases on the Coast. We pulled all the court files we could find and talked to people who had made reports. The initial findings showed a much stronger police response than what some people allege and also by the DA. But we can’t say that’s true. The California Judicial Council locked us out of the court files halfway through, pushing the county to close them off entirely for more than a week. Since then we have made 5 trips to the court house but have yet to try the new , often broken court computer or be able to figure out the bizarre off days and hours of the courts. Once, the judge was out of town so everything was closed down. It closes super early and to complete my search in this system would cost me thousands of dollars. It costs a lot of money to look at any file. TO LOOK. And then 90 percent of them don’t fit when you do look, that’s just how statistical analysis works.

Justice system? LOL. Don’t call me for jury duty to an inaccessible court system. I have zero confidence in it and I never thought that before, much less said it. If a government is above review, criticism and independent voices, its not American in any way. Just trust ’em cuz they say so.