Sheriff’s Office, Oakley PD, CHP, Antioch K9 officer assist

By Antioch Police Department

Need more examples of how East County law enforcement works together to keep you safe?

Today, at about 11:23 A.M., APD Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call reporting an individual pointing a firearm at security for the Cielo Supermarket at W. 18th and A Streets after a shoplifting incident.

According to Corporal Colley, security officers followed 21-year-old Emil Williams to his car following petty theft of items from the store. “They told  him to ‘put it back.’ The officers followed him to his car to get his license plate and the guy ended up brandishing a firearm.”

APD Day Shift rushed to the scene and found the suspects just left in a burgundy Mercedes. A witness obtained a partial license plate for the vehicle, and APD dispatchers (the best in the business) located a match.

A countywide radio broadcast was issued and an alert Contra Costa Sheriff’s Deputy located the vehicle on Highway 4 near Marsh Creek Road. Officer Amiri and Canine Purcy responded to assist, and a vehicle stop was made westbound on Highway 4 at Laurel in Oakley. The occupants were detained, and a loaded semi-automatic handgun was found in the vehicle.

“Williams is in custody,” Colley stated. “Antioch Police booked him and transported him to jail in Martinez.”

Officers obtained video from the scene that matched the vehicle and the individual who pointed the firearm. Both he and the driver were placed under arrest for armed robbery and given a one-way trip to the County Jail in Martinez so they could tell others to avoid committing crime in East County.

Officers also had Deer Valley Road south of Lone Tree Way blocked off in the southbound lanes during the pursuit.

APD would like to thank the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, Oakley Police Department, and California Highway Patrol for their assistance with this incident. We know this jammed up traffic for a bit in the area, so we apologize for the delay, and appreciate your patience while we worked this incident. #antiochpdca  #eastcountystrong

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

In architecture and design

The City of Antioch is inviting young adults ages 18-24 to learn while you EARN this summer.

Join BUILD ANTIOCH, summer jobs program. BUILD ANTIOCH is a paid internship and unique, fun immersion in the world of architecture and design. Attend the program virtually for 15 hours a week for six weeks starting July 19 – August 27 from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

2021 Summer Program Eligibility

• Resident of Antioch
• Ages 18-24 at the start of the program
• Able to commit to working 15 hours a week

The Internship Experience

• Learn how to sketch, model, build and more!
• Design process and presentations
• Collaborate with peers
• Meet with mentors, architects, and engineers
• Learn how to create designs to meet real-world challenges

Design your own FUTURE!

The application will remain open until Monday, June 28 at 4:00 PM. For more information, please click on the link below:

Build Antioch – City of Antioch, California (antiochca.gov)

Dad’s BBQ and Cutie Pie Salon

By Allen Payton

The Hicks and King families are very entrepreneurial. On Saturday, June 12, 2021, they held ribbon cuttings for Dad’s BBQ and Cutie Pie Salon, for their new locations in Antioch. This is Dad’s BBQ’s second location, with their first in downtown Pittsburg, having opened during COVID. Cutie Pie Salon relocated from their A Street location in 2019.

Dad’s BBQ owners, Dietra Hicks King and her father, Dennis Hicks, Sr., were joined by staff members and Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe and Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson to cut the ribbon.

“We started in Oakland 21 years ago,” King said. “We were there for six years and then moved to Pittsburg, with my late, beloved husband Eric (who also owned Putt-and-Turf) as the second generation. We were there for 14 years. Now, we’re here in Antioch, where we opened on October 1st, 2020, with the family’s third generation.”

Hicks said he was thankful for all the support and overwhelmed with the increased business during the pandemic.

Dad’s offers popular food items, such as barbecue ribs, tri-tip, cheesy mac ‘n cheese, Mom’s Louisiana gumbo and for dessert, sweet potato pie, banana pudding and peach cobbler.

King’s daughter, Delitha Rideout Henson was joined by her staff and the city officials to cut the ribbon for her Cutie Pie Salon’s new location just a few doors down from Dad’s. (See video)

Henson opened her salon in 2012. This is her third location.

“It’s been a challenge and a blessing in one,” Henson said and shared that she is grateful for all the love and support.

Cuitie Pie offers thermal hairstyling, silk press, braiding, weaving, relaxers, haircuts, makeup, coloring, threading and more. They also sale their own brand of luxury haircare products. The salon is currently launching additional services including lashes, teeth whitening, and a wig collection partnering with Sista Cuzin. Plus, permanent make-up is coming soon.

Located at 5887 Lone Tree Way, Suite R in Antioch, near Office Depot in the Slatten Ranch Shopping Center, Dad’s BBQ is open seven days a week from 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Place your order online through Doordash and Grubhub.

Cutie Pie Salon, located in Suite N, and is open Tuesday-Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Book your appointments online at www.cutiepiesalon.com.

Following 2018 complaint filed by Contra Costa County resident with California Attorney General’s Office.

By Scott Alonso, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa County Office of the District Attorney

Martinez, Calif. – On May 20, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with the District Attorneys’ Offices of Ventura, Sonoma, and San Joaquin Counties, entered into a negotiated settlement agreement with former MoviePass affiliated executives, Theodore Farnsworth and Mitchell Lowe, for engaging in numerous unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business acts and practices, while overseeing the operations of the now defunct movie theater subscription service. CCCDA MoviePass Documents

In total, Farnsworth and Lowe will have to pay $400,000 in civil penalties and cy pres restitution, as part of the signed Stipulated Judgment approved by the Honorable Nancy Davis Stark. In addition to the monetary payments, Farnsworth and Lowe are enjoined from engaging in any of the alleged unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business acts or practices committed during their tenure as MoviePass managers. The settlement gets divided by all the DA’s involved and some goes to the state. The DA’s then use the monies for consumer protection activities.

MoviePass, Inc. (MoviePass) was an American subscription-based movie ticket service headquarter in New York City. Founded in 2011, the service initially allowed subscribers to purchase up to three movie tickets per month for a discounted monthly fee. The service utilized a mobile phone app where users checked into a theater and chose a movie and showtime, which resulted in the cost of the ticket being loaded by MoviePass to a prepaid MoviePass debit card, which was then used to purchase the ticket from the movie theater.

In 2017, Helios and Matheson Analytics purchased MoviePass. Around the time of the purchase, the business model for MoviePass, shifted from a three movie per month subscription to offering, among other things, an “unlimited” subscription plan at $9.95 a month and an “unlimited” fixed rate annual subscription. However, over the course of the next two years, the business model and terms of service changed multiple times to the detriment of the consumers.
After the acquisition of MoviePass by Helios and Matheson Analytics, the Defendants engaged in numerous unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent acts and practices. These acts and practices include, but are not limited to:

• Falsely advertising that MoviePass subscriptions offer “unlimited” movie watching. Specifically, “any movie”, “any day”, at “any theater”, when in reality MoviePass continually added limitations to customers’ subscriptions.
• Unconscionably changing terms of service during a subscription period.
• Converting all prepaid “unlimited” plans to three movies per month.
• Shutting down the availability of movies when a certain dollar amount is reached. (Trip wire).
• Failing to notify autorenewal customers of material changes to their subscriptions.
• Continuously charging customers’ debit or credit cards after receiving notice of cancellation from customers.

In addition to the above acts and practices, in 2019, MoviePass suffered a data breach. The data breach was the result of a MoviePass engineer creating an unsecured and unencrypted server as a debugging tool. This server had more than 161 million pieces of personal identifying information, including names, MoviePass card numbers, credit card numbers, billing information, email addresses and login information, belonging to at least 58,000 consumers. Despite being notified by private individuals, MoviePass allowed this server to operate for three months before it was taken down. MoviePass failed to advise the California Attorney General’s Office of the data breach, as required by law.

MoviePass shut down its operations in September of 2019. Both MoviePass and its parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January of 2020.

In 2018 a local Contra Costa County resident filed a complaint against MoviePass with the California Attorney General’s Office. The complaint alleged that MoviePass was in violation of the Terms of Service as the company was not showing available tickets in the mobile app and limited the number of movies to the consumer even though they paid in advance for a year of “unlimited” service. In turn, the complaint was forwarded to our office for further investigation.

We welcome residents to file consumer complaints with our office via our website, www.contracostada.org. Case information: People v. Theodore Farnsworth and Mitchell Lowe, Docket C21-01045, Contra Costa County Superior Court.

Would affect two potential wells in the city; no one from city reached out to owner for his input or to offer comments during meeting before council “consensus vote”; majority also supports county-wide moratorium

By Allen Payton

During their meeting on Tuesday night, May 11, 2021, a majority of Antioch City Council members expressed their support for a moratorium on oil and gas drilling inside the city limits. While the agenda item was only a discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson who proposed the matter, Council Members Tamisha Torres-Walker, Mike Barbanic and Lori Ogorchock supported directing the city attorney to return with a proposal for the council to vote on at a future meeting.

Wilson, Barbanica and Torres-Walker also expressed support for a countywide moratorium. Ogorchock was opposed. Mayor Lamar Thorpe didn’t express an opinion on either proposal.

The moratorium in Antioch would currently only affect one company, Sunset Explorations, owned by East County businessman Bob Nunn, who was not aware of Tuesday night’s agenda item until this reporter reached out to him for comment prior to the start of the meeting.

“I brought this item back up,” Wilson said. “It has two parts, first as a resolution as a city to call a moratorium and then a moratorium for the county. After hearing from many advocates in the community, I believe this is the time for it.”

In response to questions from the Herald, Nunn said he has “drilled a well in city limits a number of years ago”, but that “was a dry hole.” His company has also “filed a permit in the southeast corner of town that we have stalled,” and owns “mineral rights on FUA2 (Future Urban Area 2)” which is located north of Lone Tree Way and southwest of Highway 4, near the future extension of Laurel Road.

Nunn’s company also has a permitted site on the east side of Deer Valley Road just outside Antioch city limits, which started drilling three wells, three years ago.

Public Comments

Charles Davidson, who said he lives in Hercules, spoke about the oil drilling on Deer Valley Road. “The well’s owner denied the Air District’s inspector access to the site,” he claimed.

Antioch resident, Harry Thurston spoke in support of a county moratorium. “There has been limited oversight of this site by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Antioch citizens are at unacceptable risk,” he said. “It will lead to unrestricted oil drilling in East County. We should be stopping all oil extraction” and then spoke about “environmental justice”.

Another speaker, an Antioch resident who said she purchased her home in 2008, spoke against oil drilling. “I’m in an area I can breathe clean air and drink clean water,” she said. “I want to live in a place where no environmental injustices take place. We have everything in Antioch. You just need to promote the right businesses. I have seen firsthand the destruction of many places in the U.S. and around the world due to oil. It’s time to embrace wind and solar.”

Shoshana Wechsler spoke next saying, “I’m a coordinator of Sunflower Alliance…and a resident of unincorporated west county. The toxic emissions in unincorporated Contra Costa don’t stay there. They go wherever the wind blows them. The greenhouse gas emissions threaten everyone and everything on this planet. The permit application slipped through the cracks. Phase out the existing drilling on Deer Valley Road. Other cities have done that. They got it done. It’s Antioch’s chance to put the climate resiliency plans to work. Your forward momentum on this, lifts everyone up.”

Barbara Collins, a resident of East Contra Costa County wrote in favor of the moratorium.

Another public comment submitted read, “Does the city have any power to limit the mineral rights of owners in Antioch? Please stop all this posturing about oil wells.”

Council Discussion and Consensus Votes

The council then took up the matter.

“About a year ago this month, three of us voted and approved a Climate Action Resiliency Plan. This would go along with that,” Wilson stated. “We are committed to making sure we have a healthy city and are free from health risks. The action that we did a year ago moves us away from fossil fuel. We also discussed the climate in our Strategic Plan. This needs to be more than just an item we discuss. We need to call for a moratorium in our city and ask for our county to do the same.”

Asked to offer her input, the city’s Environmental Resources Coordinator, Julie Haas-Wajdowicz said, “I would definitely echo what Mayor Pro Tem Wilson says. So, I think we should support a moratorium. Additionally, I would look forward to working on a declaration of climate emergency.”

“I don’t have a whole lot of background in oil drilling,” she added.

“I would like to bring this back for council to discuss a ban on oil drilling,” Wilson said.

Thorpe then asked for a “consensus vote” of council members.

Torres-Walker, Barbanica and Ogorchock all said, “yes”.

“This is something we have to research and come back,” said City Attorney Thomas Smith. “To me it sounds like something that can go through the zoning process.”

Torres-Walker and Barbanica also added their support to Wilson’s efforts for a county-wide moratorium. When asked, Ogorchock said “no”.

Asked if they were prepared to pay Nunn for his mineral rights, Barbanica, Ogorchock and Wilson did not respond. Asked if she had reached out to Nunn or had asked city staff to, prior to the meeting, Wilson did not respond.

Stockton, Calif – Eddie Lira has been appointed to the executive team of locally-owned BAC Community Bank as Executive Vice President, Chief Business Development Officer.  Eddie is a commercial banking professional with over 15 years of experience in leadership, portfolio management, and business development.

Most recently, Eddie worked for a large national bank, overseeing a team of business professionals across the Central Valley. This team was focused on providing business lending, cash management, and deposit solutions for customers under their care.  Eddie’s past responsibilities include serving as Vice President, Commercial Banking Officer for six years at BAC Community Bank.

“We welcome Eddie back to BAC, and we are excited to see him in this new role,” said BAC’s Chief Executive Officer Dana Bockstahler. “His business banking expertise and years of delivering exceptional service and solutions will be of great value to our customers.”

As a member of the bank’s executive team, Eddie will be working directly with Dana Bockstahler, Chief Executive Officer; Janet Jenkins, Chief Credit Officer; Paul Haley, Chief Lending Officer; and Jackie Verkuyl, Chief Administrative Officer.

Committed and invested in the local community, Eddie volunteers for local non-profit organizations and currently serves as a board member of the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Eddie can be reached at (209) 473-6827 or eddie.lira@bankbac.com.

About BAC Community Bank

BAC Community Bank, first headquartered in Brentwood, California, now operates 11 branch offices throughout San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and eastern Contra Costa counties including in Antioch at 3448 Deer Valley Road, and is identified as “one of the strongest financial institutions in the nation” by BauerFinancial, Inc.

The bank is now centrally headquartered in Stockton, California and is continuously recognized for banking excellence through local awards and banking industry accolades.

BAC Community Bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and is an Equal Housing Lender. More information available online at www.bankbac.com.