Full Notification

Public Information Release
September 17, 2015
Lieutenant Steve Brooks, Public Information Officer


On September 17, 2015 at approximately 2:55 am, a Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy was patrolling the evacuation area around Hidden Valley Lake. He was parked at the intersection of Jerusalem Grade and Spruce Grove Road, conducting enforcement stops in the evacuated area.

The deputy noticed a white Toyota Tacoma which, turned onto Jerusalem Grade from Spruce Grove road. He also noticed that the vehicle contained three male subjects. The deputy conducted an enforcement stop of the vehicle and contacted the driver, who was identified as 23 year old Dyami Gene Connell of Brisbane CA. During the contact, the deputy noticed that Connell was wearing camouflage clothing. The front passenger who was identified as 28 year old Michael James Jimenez also of Brisbane was wearing camouflage pants and a black jacket. The rear passenger, who was identified as 23 year old David Michael Cesari of San Francisco, was wearing all black clothing.

They told the deputy that they were going out Jerusalem Grade to get fuel. When the deputy questioned their story, they told him that they were going to access Knoxville to get around the hard road closure. When he asked them to describe how they were getting around the closure and what the directions were to get to Lower Lake, they were unable to tell him. The deputy asked them if they turned right or left after the Jerusalem Bridge and the driver said they were going straight at that point. The deputy, who is familiar with the area, knew that you cannot drive straight, due to a fence and small embankment.

While talking to the subjects, the deputy could smell the odor of marijuana emitting from the passenger area of the vehicle. He asked the subjects repeatedly if they possessed any weapons or drugs, which they all denied.

The deputy informed the subjects that he was going to search the vehicle. When he removed Cesari from the vehicle, he felt a hard object in his front right jacket pocket. The deputy removed the object and found it to be a loaded 40 cal magazine. He then asked Cesari where the firearm was and he said it was tucked in the small of his back at his waistline. The deputy removed a semi automatic 40 caliber pistol, which was underneath a heavy jacket. He inspected the firearm and discovered it was loaded. The deputy continued his search of the vehicle and located a full face concealing mask, 3 pairs of gloves, tools, duct tape, zip ties, numerous key rings with keys, acetone, lighter, headlamps, flashlights, binoculars, empty plastic bags, empty garbage bags, backpack and large knives.

The deputy noticed that the wheel wells of the vehicle had visible mud and he believed they had found a way around the hard closure through private property. The subjects claimed to live on Black Bass Pass, but Central Dispatch had no incident history tying them to the residence.

All three subjects maintained they were not burglarizing residences. A Napa County Deputy had informed him that the Toyota was spotted on Cobb the night before and believed they had possibly been burglarizing residences. He had described the vehicle as being a white Toyota with a camper shell, which matched the description of the vehicle.

David Cesari was arrested for possession of burglary tools, entering a closed disaster area, having a concealed unregistered firearm with ammunition, carrying a concealed firearm, carrying a loaded firearm in public and conspiracy to commit a crime. Dyami Connell was arrested for possession of burglary tools, entering a closed disaster area and conspiracy to commit a crime. Michael Jimenez was arrested for conspiracy to commit a crime and entering a closed disaster area.

All three subjects were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked. Their bail is currently set at $100,000.00.