Homicide Suspect May Have Hung Out in Casinos While “in Hiding”

Last night, we reported that Jesse Wells, one of the trimmers alleged to have participated in the death of Jeffery Settler, was arrested. Today, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has released more information. The information has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:

Jesse Wells

Jesse Wells

In late 2016, Detectives from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office traveled to the Lake Tahoe area to investigate tips that suspect Jesse Cole Wells (33 year old male from Laytonville) had been frequenting local casinos.

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detectives were assisted by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Douglas County Nevada Sheriff’s Office.

Evidence was discovered that Wells had indeed been in Lake Tahoe casinos, however Wells was not located at that time.

Between November of 2016 and February 2017, there have been additional tips and reports to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department regarding Wells’ whereabouts.

On 02-23-2017, Wells’ location was identified by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detectives sought a search warrant from the Mendocino County Superior Court for a residence in South Lake Tahoe (California).

Sheriff’s Detectives traveled to South Lake Tahoe and met with Investigators from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

Due to the violent offense for which Wells was wanted, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department served the search warrant with the assistance of their S.W.A.T. unit.

Wells was taken into custody without incident at 4:00 PM on 02-24-2017 and was to be booked into the El Dorado County Jail on the Mendocino County Superior Court arrest warrant alleging homicide and robbery, in lieu of $650,000.00 bail.

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detectives remained on scene to continue the investigation.

Wells will be extradited to Mendocino County at some point where he will be prosecuted along with the five additional suspects in custody on this case at this time.

This arrest was made as a result of the cooperative effort of law enforcement agencies working with concerned citizens who came forward with the information about Wells’ whereabouts.

Gary "Cricket" Blank

Gary “Cricket” Blank

Currently one suspect who is identified as Gary Blank III (34 year-old male from Garberville, California) is still at large and is believed to have fled the state of California.

Any persons with information about the location of Gary Blank III is encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Services Unit at 707-463-4421, the Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at 707-234-2100 or the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office via their Facebook page.

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15 Comments
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MOGTX
Guest
7 years ago

Good job mendocops to bad our cops were as good ,but soon as lamest sheriff ever derelict Downey retires. Maybe the new sheriff goes after the Mexican cartels ,and runs them out of Humboldt,but alas its just wish full thinking .

ralph
Guest
ralph
7 years ago
Reply to  MOGTX

oh no, did you really use the ‘M’ word???? Do you really think Humboldt has a gang problem or are they just misunderstood ‘snowflakes’ whose rights should be protected at any cost???? These are obviously not “M”‘s or they would have fled to the nearest sanctuary city.

Scuba
Guest
Scuba
7 years ago
Reply to  ralph

Mexican! Mexican! Mexican!

THC
Guest
THC
7 years ago
Reply to  ralph

We are a sanctuary City.

THC
Guest
THC
7 years ago
Reply to  MOGTX

Unfortunately, after Downey retires I’m sure a sheriff with more liberal leanings will be elected.

field mouse
Guest
field mouse
7 years ago

Oldest trick in the book, hide in plain sight. Grow dope in Leggett or hit the casinos in Tahoe.

Life is Good
Guest
Life is Good
7 years ago

Extradited is the wrong term. A law enforcement agency does not have to extradite a prisoner from county to county within the state.

N
Guest
N
7 years ago
Reply to  Life is Good

South Lake Tahoe = Nevada

Liz
Guest
Liz
7 years ago
Reply to  N

South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, California

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
7 years ago

All those casino’s are human cesspools. Very bad juju there. Now our county has people with big gambling problems losing theirs a$$s where before it wasn’t that prevalent at all.

Hmmm
Guest
Hmmm
7 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Havent you heard? Everything wrong is growers faults.
Addiction to gambling, meth, heroin, etc is not contributing to crime and human trafficking.

Yes im being sarcastic

silverlining
Guest
silverlining
7 years ago

I guess we know who got the bulk of the stolen weed. Takes money to gamble all the time.

Hunt em down
Guest
Hunt em down
7 years ago

Casinos have sophisticated surveillance – they may have used face recognition software to identify him – one of the dumbest places for a fugitive to hide out – glad they caught him – he will probably rat on the one guy remaining in hopes of a reduced sentence – so many lives ruined over money – what a shame –

Guest
Guest
Guest
7 years ago

Won’t be very long and the last one will be caught. Fugitives usually do. Can’t run forever. Make no mistake about it, sooner or later he’ll stand trial for his crimes. With any luck sooner rather than later…such a senseless act of greed.