Crime Blotter June 4-18: Carmichael Man Threatens Mother with Makeshift Torch

Playing with fire

A Carmichael man was arrested Saturday morning for threatening his mother with an ignited aerosol can.

According to a summary incident report from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, an enraged Shane Sotelo, 47, of Carmichael ignited the spray can at his parents’ home on the 4200 block of Glenridge Drive, holding the torch within a foot of his mother during an “outburst of anger.”

The 67-year-old victim told sheriff’s officers she could feel the heat from the flame and feared she was nearly set on fire. When she fled the home, the 6-foot-3 Sotelo reportedly grabbed a blanket from the residence and set it on fire. The sheriff’s report says he then made comments about setting fire to the house and its occupants, which included the victim’s husband.

Sotelo was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and arson. He was still in custody as of Tuesday.

A Shane Anthony Sotelo was sentenced in 2003 to 16 months in state prison on illegal firearms possession charges, according to online court records from the Sacramento Superior Court.

Prescription for trouble

A settlement conference has been scheduled for a Woodland Hills man arrested last week during a routine traffic stop that turned into a short foot race with sheriff’s deputies.

Edward Dennis Villalonga, 42, of Woodland Hills will next appear in Sacramento Superior Court on July 6 to face charges that he was in possession of controlled substances and resisted officers’ attempts to place him under arrest last Monday night in Carmichael.

Officers pulled over the white, two-door Honda coupe driven by Villalonga around 11:30 p.m. June 13 at Dewey Drive and Winding Way. During the stop, sheriff’s officials say Villalonga exited the vehicle and began running westbound on Winding Way.

Deputies chased and caught up with their suspect, but say Villalonga put up a struggle that caused one deputy to sustain minor injuries to one of his legs.

Once they had corralled their suspect, a search of Villalonga turned up an unmarked pill bottle of prescription medication. He also had a second bottle with two prescription labels for Hydrocodone, an opioid-derived pain medication and Soma, a muscle relaxer. Deputies found no prescription for the anxiety medication Alprazolam they also found on him.

Villalonga also had an outstanding arrest warrant from Ventura County, according to a summary report of the incident.

The injured deputy sustained some bruising and swelling to his left leg, said department spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos, who deemed the injury “nothing serious.”

“He had to seek medical attention as a matter of policy — to make sure that he was clear to return to work after an on-duty injury,” Ramos explained.

Tough intervention

Reports of a suicidal man led to a tense confrontation with a stubborn driver earlier this month in Carmichael.

According to the June 4 incident summary, sheriff’s authorities received word of a man who had reportedly overdosed on pills and barricaded himself in a room with a shotgun. When deputies arrived to the scene in the 6000 block of Sylvester Way shortly before 11 p.m. that Saturday, they found the 68-year-old man sitting in a white pickup truck.

The man’s neighbor was attempting to block the pickup with his own vehicle, but the reportedly suicidal individual was able to maneuver around and ignored deputies’ siren lights for a quarter-mile as he led authorities on a slow pursuit.

A tack strip thrown out across the roadway flattened the tires of the pickup truck, but the man drove on the flattened tires for another 250 to 300 yards before stopping just short of hitting a parked car, the report said.

Ignoring several commands to exit the vehicle, deputies resorted to tazing the suspect through the passenger window. The 68-year-old man continued to resist while deputies took him into custody, the report said.

Ramos said the possibly suicidal man was cited instead of arrested before being transported to a hospital.

“The decision of whether or not he undergoes a psychiatric evaluation would be up to medical staff at the hospital where he was taken,” he added.