By THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A Mendocino County resident being sought since December on suspicion of participating in a drug-related assault and kidnapping that took place in Clearlake was arrested early Wednesday morning at a home north of Willits.
Scott Anthony Cape, 41, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, said Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann.
In December, Cape and two other men allegedly beat a man, bound him with zip ties and put him in the trunk of his own rental car, Hermann said.
Two suspects, Priest Martinez, 34 and James Miller, 21, both of Redwood Valley, were arrested soon after the incident. They allegedly said they planned to take him out of the county but abandoned the car as police searched for the victim, who had called them from a cell phone, Hermann said.
The beating and kidnapping are believed to have stemmed from a dispute over drugs, Hermann said.
When Cape was arrested, items used to manufacture methamphetamine and 15 pounds of marijuana were found at the Sherwood Road area home, said Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force Commander Bob Nishiyama.
-- Glenda Anderson
Willits fugitive caught along with meth lab
ReplyDeleteBy Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/22/2008 12:23:56 PM PST
A tip led officers to the early morning arrest of a Willits fugitive and the discovery of a methamphetamine lab and 15 pounds of marijuana at a remote Sherwood Road ranch on Wednesday.
Scott Anthony Cape, 41, of Willits, was being sought by Clearlake police following the kidnap and assault of a man there on December 4. Cape had eluded police and bail bondsmen several times in the past two months before the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force received the tip, according to Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Nishiyama.
Cape, according to police, had moved into the residence of Doug Charles Brass, 55, currently in Mendocino County jail on unrelated charges, because he knew Brass was not around.
The MMTCF raided the residence at around 3 a.m. and took Cape into custody without incident, discovering chemicals and glassware that could recenly have been used to manufacture methamphetamine.
"Cape has had prior involvement with making methamphetamine," says Nishiyama. "He probably needed money and meth for his own use while on the run; it looks like an active lab to us."
Cape was arrested on suspicion of assault causing great bodily harm and kidnapping stemming from the Clearlake warrant, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Police theorize the December kidnapping began with a five-pound pot shipment "lost" between Willits and Sacramento. A Clearlake man allegedly told the shipment's originator he knew where it was and offered to retrieve it.
The man dropped off three pounds, keeping two pounds as a "finder's fee." The marijuana's owner allegedly sent three men Cape, James Miller and Priest Martinez to "convince" the finder to return the rest of the marijuana.
Cape, Miller and Martine reportedly broke into the home of the Clearlake man and beat him severely before tying his hands and neck with plastic zip ties, breaking his cell phone, dragging him out to a waiting car and forcing him into the trunk. Unknown to the assailants, the victim had a second phone and called 9-1-1 from the trunk while being driven around. Dispatchers tried using the cell phone signal to determine where the car was, but could not locate it.
"At one point during the incident, dispatchers heard the victim being assaulted by the unknown suspects who had apparently stopped and took his [second] phone," states a Clearlake Police Department release. The victim had managed to open the trunk, he later told police, believing the men would have eventually killed him.
The suspects abandoned the car at the north end of Clearlake and the victim spent the night in the trunk before freeing himself and calling police.
Martinez, 34, and Miller, 20, of Redwood Valley were arrested in December. According to Lake County Deputy District Attorney John Langan, the crimes carry a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
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