The Christmas holiday is here. And while it is certainly a time to reflect on the many blessings we have, it is also time to delve into the world of lowlifes and cautionary tales.
While sitting around the Christmas Tree sipping hot cocoa and trading tales of Christmases long, long ago, make sure to remind families and children that reading the Weekly Lowlights is a great way to see how you can end up on Santa’s Naughty List.
The week’s lowlights begin with a pair of angry women.
The Ebinizer Scroogela of the Turlock Police Activity Report is Charlene Heidelbach, 49, who in her nearly half-century on this earth never learned that she can’t get her way all the time. She threw a hissy fit – much like an angry small child. Scroogela threw her fit in a store, but her mom and dad were not around to give her a spanking, so she ended up going to jail instead.
Police report that at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday Heidelbach became upset with a store employee after she was told she could not return merchandise. Heidelbach allegedly began pulling clothes off racks and then punched the store employee. She was arrested for assault and battery in the 1800 block of Countryside Drive.
Janet Gong, 43, was arrested Thursday after she became embroiled in a confrontation turned nasty with a Pitman High School employee. Police say Gong was on campus for enrollment-related purposes – hopefully for her child – when she got into a verbal argument with the victim. Gong tried for her best Mike Tyson punch-out, but the victim dodged her swing and Gong whiffed terribly. Apparently she was not versed in the sweet science. Gong was arrested at 8:51 a.m. for assault on school grounds and assault on a school employee.
At 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, police arrested Larry Wilcox, 44, in the 3000 block of Countryside Drive after they found him panhandling. Wilcox gave a false name to officers – perhaps it was Tiny Tim – but through investigation police learned his true identity and that he had three warrants out of Modesto, a felony and two others for panhandling. As he was being arrested he allegedly proclaimed “God Bless us everyone!”
Also on Wednesday Joe Peggram, 43, was arrested and booked after he was found driving a stolen vehicle just after 12 midnight at the intersection of Washington Road and American Avenue.
One driver must have been pretending he was steering Santa’s sleigh. A witness called Turlock police reporting a vehicle driving recklessly in the area of Emily and 5th streets. Officers found the squirrely pilot, Adam Vargas, 30, who proved to be a novice sleigh captain. He of course had no driver’s license – either for a motorcar or a magical sleigh. To boot he was found in possession of narcotics. He was arrested at 12:04 p.m. on Tuesday.
One little runaway elf, Bradley Babb, 53, was arrested Thursday after he and his buddy Chris Russell, 41, were spotted by police trespassing on railroad property. When confronted both tried to flee. Russell eventually complied and stopped, and Babb kept running – presumably trying to find his way back to the North Pole. Russell was soon caught and arrested for resisting arrest and issued a citation for trespassing.
Also on Thursday Justin Wildman, 22, was found to be rather relaxed, as he was allegedly drunk and sleeping in his car at 10:30 p.m. in the 2200 block of Lander Ave. He was arrested for driving under the influence.
Of course it wouldn’t be a complete Weekly Lowlights without a little meth thrown into the mix. At 11:54 a.m. Wednesday Moises Serna, 36, was pulled over for a traffic stop in the 1000 block of North Olive Avenue. As luck would have it his license was suspended and yep, you guessed it, he was in possession of meth. He was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.
