LAKEPORT, Calif. – The preliminary hearing of the man accused of setting the August 2016 Clayton fire and more than a dozen others during a year-long period continued on Thursday, with more members of the surveillance team who tracked the suspect taking the stand.
Damin Anthony Pashilk, 43, of Clearlake is facing 23 counts for what authorities say was a series of arson fires – 16 fires, counting the Clayton fire, plus the attempted start of a 17th that self-extinguished – between July of 2015 and August of 2016.
In testimony this week, the focus has continued on the men who were involved with keeping Pashilk under surveillance and investigating the fires they maintain that he set.
On Thursday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff called to the stand Cal Fire employees Travis Needler, Jeremy Monroe, Dan White and Michael Thompson.
Travis Needler is a fire captain who has investigated 30 wildland, structure and vehicle fires, but Thursday was his first experience giving testimony in court about a fire’s cause and origin.
He investigated a fire on Aug. 8, 2015, on High Valley Road and Cerrito Road in Clearlake Oaks for which Pashilk is charged. Needler said he concluded – after interviewing two witnesses and reviewing the scene – that the roadside fire was intentionally set, having ruled out other potential causes.
During defense attorney Mitch Hauptman’s questioning, Needler acknowledged that when he originally completed the report, he had eliminated arson. But a year and a half later, when the report was sent to him for review, he modified it and changed the cause to arson.
Jeremy Monroe, Cal Fire’s deputy chief of law enforcement and fire intelligence, followed Needler to the stand.
He was on duty and assigned to conduct surveillance of Pashilk driving a gray Chrysler Sebring on July 23, 2016. On that evening, just after 7 p.m., the Western fire began on Western Mine Road near Middletown.
Testimony last week and on Thursday recounted how the surveillance team physically followed Pashilk and also used a GPS tracker that had been attached to the Chrysler.
Monroe followed Pashilk at a distance that evening. He had been positioned at Redbud Library when the operations chief requested he move to the Clearlake Safeway store’s parking lot in an effort to keep Pashilk under constant surveillance. From there, he followed Pashilk to the AutoZone shortly after 6 p.m. and then on to Twin Pine Casino in Middletown, where Pashilk parked and entered the building.
At 6:50 p.m., Monroe received a radio call from Damon Denman, a Cal Fire law enforcement officer who also was on the surveillance team, telling him that Pashilk’s vehicle was on the move.
Vehicles got between Monroe and Pashilk’s vehicles, and Monroe watched as Pashilk turned southbound onto Highway 29. Monroe said he could see in the distance a vehicle that appeared to be Pashilk’s, traveling about a mile ahead of him.
Both Monroe and Denman, traveling separately, followed the vehicle into Napa County, where they determined it wasn’t Pashilk’s car and headed back to the casino. When they arrived, Pashilk’s vehicle was back, parked near the loading and unloading area, where he had originally parked.
Monroe also tracked Pashilk on the afternoon and evening of July 26, 2016. At 6:48 p.m. that day, the Sulphur fire started on Sulphur Bank Road north of North Drive in Clearlake.
That day, Monroe said he trailed Pashilk from Clearlake to Twin Pine Casino, where he photographed him getting into his vehicle and leaving the casino parking lot while smoking a cigarette.
Dan White, who works for Cal Fire’s northern region law enforcement division, conducts complex fire investigations and arson surveillance, and also is a peace officer.
He was part of the Pashilk surveillance team, and was monitoring him on the evening of July 23, 2016, at the same time as Monroe. He recounted seeing Pashilk at the Clearlake AutoZone, with a woman in the front passenger seat who he said was the Chrysler’s registered owner, as well as another unknown female in the back seat.
White said he followed the Chrysler to Twin Pine Casino, where it was parked in the no parking area near the doors. He went inside and saw Pashilk sitting at a slot machine, watching one of the women he traveled with playing on another machine.
Pashilk then got up and left at about 6:45 p.m., getting in the Chrysler alone and heading south on Highway 29. White notified the other surveillance team members to let them know of Pashilk’s movements.
Like the others, he attempted to follow Pashilk south before turning around and returning to the casino, where he found the Chrysler parked once more. When White went into the casino, he saw Pashilk at the customer service counter just after 7 p.m.
Battalion Chief Michael Thompson, also a law enforcement officer for Cal Fire, gave most of the testimony on Thursday, explaining his efforts to investigate several of the fires Pashilk is accused of starting.
They include the Judge fire No. 1, which began just after 7:30 a.m. July 2, 2015, at Highway 20 at Judge Davis Trail east of Clearlake Oaks. Thompson excluded all possible causes but arson for that roadside fire.
He also helped investigate the Arrowhead fire on the afternoon of Aug. 25, 2015, on East Lake Drive in Clearlake; the Morgan fire on July 21, 2016, in the 18000 block of Morgan Valley Road near Staehle Lane in Lower Lake; the fire on Sulphur Bank Road, north of North Drive in Clearlake on the evening of July 26, 2016; the County fire on the evening of July 27, 2016, at Lakeshore and San Joaquin drive in Clearlake; the North Branch fire on the afternoon of July 29, 2016, on Ogulin Canyon Road, east of Highway 53 in Clearlake; the Agua fire on Aug. 7, 2016, on Highway 29 near mile post marker 16.29 near Lower Lake; and the Canyon fire at 5 p.m. Aug. 9, 2016, on Seigler Canyon Road in Lower Lake.
In the case of the Sulphur and Aqua fires, Thompson testified to finding depressions in the ground and vegetation in the area of origin, leading him to believe that was the location of an ignition source – possibly made of paper – that had been consumed by the fire.
The North Branch fire was located close to several businesses at an area known as “industrial court.” Thompson spoke to local business owners who helped him acquire surveillance video that showed a light-colored, two-door vehicle with a sunroof speeding away from the area, not stopping at the stop sign at Ogulin Canyon Road and Highway 53 before turning south onto the highway shortly before 2:45 p.m. He said he believed the individual driving the car was responsible for the fire.
When he investigated the Canyon fire on Aug. 9, 2016, he identified the origin area – less than 6 feet off the roadway edge – and said he found the remains of what appeared to be a twisted napkin that had been set on fire and had gotten into the dry vegetation. He said he could still see the twist in the paper product and it was starting to disintegrate. Thompson believed something similar could have been used to light the other fires.
Although it was completely burned – it was remnants of ash, still in form – he used an index card to collect the material and place it in a clear hard container with cotton balls. It disintegrated once he put it in the container, which was admitted into Cal Fire evidence.
All three witnesses were told that they are subject to recall. Testimony will continue on Friday.
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Surveillance experts continue testimony in Clayton fire preliminary hearing
- Elizabeth Larson
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