By Donna Westfall – September 17, 2024

One has to wonder why there is a revolving door with some of the criminals around our town. First I’d like to mention Dixie Rae Snider. 67 year old. A real nuisance to the neighborhood. If you lived near her you could hear her irritating voice yelling about …. well just about anything.

Here’s a couple of snap shots of Ms. Snider from her current and previous booking photo’s:

$10,000 bail and she’s still in jail.

3.) TRESPASSING – She was evicted some time ago, but keeps coming back.

Then there’s Kelly Hopkins.

44 year old man booked September 10th for Vandalism, Theft and Burglary. He was arrested by law enforcement officers from the United States Forest Service, National Park Service, and California State Parks.

The arrest warrant for Kelly Hopkins listed 10 counts involving public monies being stolen from fee tubes, vandalism, conspiracy, and theft of government property.

The United States Forest Service would like to thank the Del Norte Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol for their assistance in this investigation. His bail: $50,000.

Good news at the jail:

We have been very busy over the last few years making a great deal of progress in our County Jail.

Our Inmate nutrition program is up and running well, with inmates learning to cook and clean in a commercial kitchen with our Correctional Cooking Staff. We have Early Access Mental Programs, nursing staff on duty 16 hours per day, church services, drug and alcohol counseling, Cal Aim medical services partnered with DHHS and our Tribal partners from both the Yurok Tribe and Tolowa Dee -Ni Nation rehabilitation programs – who are making every attempt to rehabilitate inmates in our care.

Our daily inmate population has increased back to the 2010 to 2016 era with a maximum of 100 inmates, which is an increase Del Norte County desperately needed. We still have to make tough decisions on who to hold in the jail as it reaches maximum capacity. Violent crimes and property crimes are on the rise and tend to have the highest incarceration rates. A majority on these crimes are also related to drugs in one form or another. The Del Norte County Jail averages about 2300 bookings per year. All of these bookings are done with only 9 Correctional Deputies. This includes our transport team that transports inmates who have been sentenced to state prison or have been committed to a mental health facility.

We are doing everything we can to hire new staff and work with the Board of Supervisors on potential solutions. The Del Norte County Sheriff is constitutionally responsible for the jail and it is imperative to have full staffing.

Correctional Facilities across the nation consistently battle the contraband that makes its way inside the facilities. There are many forms of smuggling that take place by inmates and outside partners to move drugs, medications, tobacco and other items into facilities. We do locate most contraband being smuggled in through bodily cavities, mail and inmate property, however occasionally contraband makes its way inside.

We have included some photographs of our staff conducting an on site search last week where contraband was located. Medications, a tattoo gun and other items were located during the search. We have included a photo of “pruno”, which is a homemade alcohol made with yeast, fruit, sugar and water.

Message from Sheriff Scott: We are working hard to build a jail we are proud of. New cameras are being installed, a safety check monitoring system has been implemented as well as a lot of elbow grease have gone into the jail recently. I am truly proud of our dedicated staff. They need Community Support more than ever as staffing for Law Enforcement is harder to find than ever before. These are local folks who have family and friends in Del Norte County and truly care about the safety and residents here.