Corrupt juvenile justice institution in Tehama county, California

Note: On Wednesday May 2, 2012 I (Barry R. Clausen) a reporter for NewsWithViews.com, the Sacramento Valley Mirror and other publications took a large out of court settlement from Chico, California resident, Melissa Lynn Jones, a former member of the Tehama County, California Mental Health Department. The suit arose as a result of Jones’s attempt to murder me during a March 31, 2009 interview.

The scheduled interview was regarding Jones and her friend, Alicia Allen, a Tehama County Juvenile Probation Officer and their sexual activities with underage juveniles. These juveniles were Hispanic and all were connected to the unsafe mental and physically abusive conditions at the County’s Juvenile Hall. The following, even though lengthy, it is a condensed autobiographical version of the attempt on my life and the county’s corruption and subsequent cover-up by county officials regarding child abuse and allegations of pedophilia connected to the Juvenile Justice Center.

It was 3:00 p/m on March 31, 2009 in Red Bluff, California at the end of an unsuccessful news interview for Tim Crews, publisher of the Sacramento Valley Mirror. I was in the process of opening the driver’s door of my truck to leave the site of the interview when from behind me I recognized the sound of a slide coming home on a semi-automatic pistol. I quickly turned to see the barrel of a .45 caliber gun about one foot from my head and Jones the obliviously mentally deranged slim tall blond woman screaming in an ear-piercing screech. “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to blow your fu**ing head off!” Even though it had been decades since my military and law enforcement training, I quickly jerked my head to the left, brought up my right hand and grabbed the gun along with the hand holding the weapon. The fight was on for possession of the gun.

After I successfully gained control of the Glock .45 from the wacked out female holding it I removed the clip and pulled the slide back anticipating a shell would exit the chamber. But in doing so I saw no shell, so I made the assumption there was not a bullet in the chamber. This was later discovered to be incorrect because she had made an error in loading the gun. Instead of allowing the slide to travel forward at its own speed she had apparently held the slide causing it to proceed slowly thus, not allowing the shell to lock onto the slide.

At that moment Jones, who at the time was a Tehama County Mental Health Nurse, began attempting to hit my face with her fists. As I backed up, she continued to advance towards me so I swung the gun at her thinking I would hit her arm or wrists and the pain of the metal against the bones of her arm would stop the attack. Instead of hitting her wrist, the gun, twice bounced off the side of her head. That didn’t deter her; she ran to the open tailgate of her SUV and grabbed the baseball size rocks she had just inside the tailgate and began throwing them at me. Two thoughts went through my mind as I dodged the rocks; should I pistol whip her or run? I decided that getting away from her was the best option as I did not want to give her an opportunity to say, “He attacked me first.”

At the beginning of our short conversation, Jones was not willing to answer my questions especially when I asked her about her sexual contact with 16 & 17 year old Hispanic boys. Before that question, I had asked her about the meeting she had earlier that day with Dan Emry who was at the time head of the Tehama County Probation Department. She responded with, “He hates you as much as I do!” She then started saying stupid things like, “I want to know the names of who you talked to,” and “I’m going to sue you.” While she was saying these things she kept laughing and stating in a loud voice, “I can do anything I want and you can’t do anything to stop me!”

As she was throwing rocks, I was on the phone with the 911 operator. I explained that this woman was throwing rocks at me and the operator said, “She’s throwing rocks at you?” I responded with, “Yea but I already got the gun away from her.” The operator said, “She had a gun and you now have it in your possession?” “Yea, send help,” I said. The operator responded with, “The cars are on their way as soon as you tell us where you are.”

I had walked to the opposite side of the church parking lot where she had asked me to meet her for the interview in case she had something else in mind. From this location I could see the street sign and the sign for the North Valley Baptist Church on David Avenue.

After the short fight for the gun, her fists attempting to hit me in the face and dodging rocks I felt out of breath and my call to 911 must have made me sound like an idiot. I have often watched and listened to 911 callers on TV and thought they sounded goofy. I now realize what they go through. In the three minute conversation with the 911 operator I became one of those idiots.

Minutes later two police cars from the Red Bluff Police Department arrived. One vehicle drove to where I was standing with the weapon raised in my right hand. The officer in the vehicle approached me while the other vehicle drove directly to where Jones was. Almost immediately more Red Bluff Police Department officers and Tehama County Sheriff’s Department deputies came from all directions.

When the vehicles from the Red Bluff Police Department arrived; their on-site investigation and interviews were done in a very professional manner which resulted in the arrest of Jones. Police determined that the weapon she used in the failed attempt on my life was a newly purchased Glock .45 caliber pistol. It was explained to me sometime later when talking to Dave Baker of the Tehama County Prosecutor’s office that she had told him that her brother was a former Navy Seal and he was teaching her how to use the gun. Obviously, the “former Seal” did not have time to teach her much, as she made numerous mistakes during the time she was in the process of trying to shoot me in the head.

In speculation there are several scenarios that could have happened. One of those was that the stones that she had in her vehicle could have been used to show that she killed me in self-defense. She would shoot me, throw a few rocks around, hit herself in the head and then say she shot me in self-defense.

As a former Probation Department employee I had reported several cases of abuse of incarcerated juveniles and nothing had been done. It had become evident during the last several years that Tehama County officials were not going to investigate the abuse of the juveniles that I had reported within the County Juvenile Justice Center so I decided to investigate the charges myself.
Jones and Allen were part of my personal investigation and when I had documentation and interviews to verify that there was actually enough evidence to confront Jones and Allen my immediate thoughts were to send Jones a request for an interview. I had been to the Mental Health Department two days prior to the attempt on my life and requested the receptionist contact Jones and to tell her I was in the lobby and I wanted to speak to her. The receptionist tried to contact her but she was told Jones was not available to talk with me at that time.

On March 28, 2009 I had met with Allen just previous to the Jones interview at Allen’s home in Red Bluff. It was not a scheduled interview but she did take time to talk with me. Allen had been on administrative leave for over one year as a result of an internal investigation related to the inappropriate sexual contact with underage Hispanic males. During the short talk we had at her front door she admitted to what she labeled as an “indiscretion” and said, “I made a mistake once, I dated someone I shouldn’t have. If there is a punishment I’ll deal with it.” She went on to say, “I’m going back to work with my head held high. If I quit, it will be on my terms, not the county’s.” (Following the attempt on my life Jones, Allen and Dan Emry, Chief of the Tehama County Probation Department, immediately resigned their positions and then Allen moved to Medford, Oregon).

Within the Tehama County Juvenile Justice Center there have been several cases of hostility and stress related problems. One of the most notable cases of creating a hostile working environment was an incident between two juvenile hall staff members, Ms. Sarah Olson and Ms. Alicia Allen when Allen was a “Juvenile Hall Counselor.” The problem with Ms. Allen had arisen numerous times before and had apparently been covered-up by management in each case. The following provides an example of Allen’s hostile attitude and in spite of that, unbelievably she received a promotion and became a “Juvenile Probation Officer.”

An official “Special Incident Report” dated 9-22-04 from the Tehama County Juvenile Justice Center regarding a physical confrontation between the two staff members states, “Allen came from behind the desk and ran into Olson’s shoulder with her shoulder very aggressively while passing and stated, excuse me c**t. Allen then grabbed Olson by the arm and pulled her fist back as if she was going to hit Olson and stated, I will hurt you, you f**king bitch.”

Because I had already interviewed the juveniles Allen had been involved with, I was genuinely surprised that she freely admitted to the inappropriate sex she had with a minor boy. She also made it clear she believed she could not be charged as a result of the statute of limitations running out. In other words, she thought she was running free of any charges.

During our short conversation I brought up the issue of her friend Melisa Jones and the inappropriate sex she was also having with juveniles. Her comment to me was, “If you want that information contact Jones and see what she has to say.”

My written request to interview Jones was sent to her the morning of March 30, 2009 which was just two days following my interview with her friend Allen. “I have conducted many interviews in relation to the county’s investigation into to the allegations against you and Allen. I would like to spend a few minutes with you to hear what you have to say about those allegations.

“I am doing a story on the issue and it is only fair that I hear your side of what transpired. I often think about something you said to me about Mossman. You came into the Pod I was working and stated, “If Mossman hurts one more kid I’m going to report him.” These words do not correspond with what I am hearing about your actions. Please give me a couple of minutes. It’s your choice as to what you want to say.

“On March 18, 2009 I was in contact with a member of the U.S. Department of Justice in Sacramento about the allegations. That contact was met with a request for me to give copies of my interviews to federal authorities for a possible federal investigation into “Child Abuse/Civil Rights Violations.”

“I have also met with members of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and they are currently looking into possible civil rights violations.”

If you choose not to talk to me please let me know who your attorney is and how to contact him/her. There is a way to put an end to these allegations and the unfortunate mess it has created.

On March 31, 2009 I received a call from Counselor Jones in response to the written request I had sent her asking for an interview pertaining to a news story and an exposé I was working on pertaining to the abuse of children within the Tehama County Juvenile Hall.

During that short phone conversation she agreed to meet me for that nearly fatal interview at 2:00 p/m that same afternoon. I was unable to locate Jones at the place she had originally instructed me to go so I went back to the Mental Health Department and had the receptionist call her on her cell phone. She was evasive as to where I should go so I waited at the Mental Health office for her return. When she returned I suggested that we go to a local Mexican restaurant where we could get a coke or coffee. She said “No, if you want an interview go to the place I told you to go earlier.” I suggested to her that I would follow her as it was not clear where I had been instructed to meet her.

Then after two years of waiting for her case to go to trial she was finally convicted in one of the Tehama County Courts. For the attempt on my life she received a monstrous 45 days in the County jail!

The incident with the gun made local news. On Redding’s ABC TV Channel 7 News, there was a story about the attack with the weapon. The Sacrament Valley Mirror was the first to run the story followed by the Chico News & Review. In nearby Redding the Record Searchlight posted the story on their website and on the front page of the paper was an in-depth story of the attack. However, the local Red Bluff Daily News did not see any interest in the attempted murder as they apparently believed there was no story. Other than reporting on the fraudulent investigations the paper has never asked me for a copy of the documented physical and sexual abuse nor have they ever interviewed me. They have failed as a paper to report to the community the truth about what was transpiring right under their nose.

According to newspapers that did find the story newsworthy, reporters found that both women were engaging in sexual intercourse, oral sex, alcohol, and drugs with several male wards.

More here


(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here