Butte County DA Mike Ramsey Archives

photo courtesy of family

Richard Moulton and Jax.

by Dave Waddell

Nine Butte County sheriff’s deputies, a majority of them armed with assault rifles, fired a total of 63 rounds two years ago at Richard Moulton, a 52-year-old Red Bluff businessman, killing him.

Recently, Seth Stoughton, a use-of-force expert who testified at the trial of George Floyd’s police killer, expressed concern about what seems to have been “contagious fire” from multiple deputies in the killing. read more

Four confirmed deaths of unhoused residents this year

ChicoSol has confirmed the following deaths, all taking place on streets or in encampments in 2024:

River Chase Bernreuter, 25. His body was found Feb. 2 on Business Lane.

Kenneth James Corbitt, 44, whose body was found Feb. 5 on Fair Street.

Francisco Franco, 61, of Chico. His body was found Feb. 15 on Business Lane.

Julie Bergstrom, 41, of Oroville. Bergstrom was found dead Feb. 29 at the Alternate Site encampment approved by the City for unhoused individuals.

City attorney: “Public take over” was an emergency

In a Jan. 17 email to ChicoSol, City Attorney John Lam said the City was not in violation of the Brown Act when it held a Jan. 6 emergency meeting.

Lam said the use of City property near The Hands sculpture in back of the Municipal Center by the nonprofit Safe Space the previous day had amounted to a “public take over.”

Safe Space, which operates an emergency winter sheltering program, ran intake in the space from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 5, an operation that it says proceeded smoothly. The group’s leadership said it believed that it was using public property as defined in the City code, and wasn’t required to get special permission.

Tag: Butte County DA Mike Ramsey

Force expert: ‘Contagious fire’ in Moulton killing? DA, sheriff secretive about 2019 shooting by nine Butte deputies