On 01/01/16 at about 9:20AM, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department that one of their deputies was in a vehicle pursuit, east on Highway 50 approaching El Dorado Hills Blvd. The Sacramento County deputies involved in the pursuit asked El Dorado County deputies for assistance. The suspect was described as a white male adult wearing a black long sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and a black baseball hat.

Before several El Dorado County deputies arrived to assist, the pursuit ended on Highway 50 at Cameron Park Drive just east of the of the onramp. The suspect reportedly stopped and ran from the vehicle. Responding El Dorado County deputies immediately set-up a perimeter in the area to contain the suspect.

In the area of Syar Concrete on Durock Road, a deputy spotted a male matching the description of the suspect walk out of the bushes. The deputy ordered the male to stop but he ignored the deputy and continued walking away. The deputy drew his Taser and again ordered the suspect to stop. The male finally stopped, turned around, and spit towards the deputy.

Additional deputies arrived and the suspect was ordered to the ground for handcuffing. When deputies went to control his hands, the suspect resisted by pulling away. After a struggle and repeated orders to stop resisting, he was finally forced into handcuffs. Even after handcuffing, the suspect continued fighting by kicking, forcing the deputies to use a leg restraint and an anti-spit mask to keep from being spit on.

The Sacramento County deputies confirmed the handcuffed subject was the person they were pursuing. He was identified as 40 year-old Ryan Maurer of Pollock Pines. El Dorado County deputies transported Maurer to the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville where he was booked on felony evading with disregard for public safety (pursuit) charges. Since he ran away on foot from Sacramento County deputies, failed to obey commands and fighting with El Dorado County deputies, an extra charge of resisting arrest was added.

Maurer was released from custody on a $12,000.00 bond.

Lt. Tom Murdoch

On 12/20/15 the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Iron Mountain area for the report of a vehicle that was stuck in the snow. There were three occupants inside the vehicle and they reported they were unable to get themselves out due to heavy snow conditions. Patrol deputies attempted to respond and were unable to access the area due to the conditions. Two tow trucks also attempted to gain access to the area without success. On 12/21/15, El Dorado County Search and Rescue volunteers responded to the area and assisted the occupants and vehicle to safety. All of the vehicle occupants were uninjured in the incident. The rescue took approximately five hours to complete during extreme winter weather conditions.

Sgt. Todd Hammitt

Sheriff John D’Agostini and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office have launched the official El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. The success that other law enforcement agencies have experienced with social media and a desire to stay connected with the citizens of El Dorado County were the leading factors in launching the page.

The Sheriff’s Office will utilize the page to showcase its involvement with our citizens and the community in which we work. It is our goal that the information posted on the page will assist El Dorado County citizens in staying informed and up to date with the day to day functions and events that occur involving the Sheriff’s Office and El Dorado County.

Another goal is to gain as many followers of the page as possible. As we have experienced recently in the Sand and King wild land fires, it is extremely important to quickly put accurate information out to our citizens. This page will allow critical information to reach the maximum amount of El Dorado County citizens in the shortest amount of time.

An example was on 12/27/15 at about 11:40 AM, when deputies responded to a robbery that just occurred at Walgreen’s in the 4000 block of Plaza Goldorado in Cameron Park. The robber reportedly went to the pharmacy, demanded drugs, telling employees he had a gun, and ran from the store.

Following up on several leads, some from the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, deputies went to a residence in the 3100 block of Quad Lane to contact a person who matched the robber’s description. Inside the home, deputies located 18 year-old Brandon Purcell who appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. After a brief struggle, Purcell was taken into custody. The stolen pharmaceuticals were recovered.

Brandon Purcell was booked into the El Dorado County Jail on Robbery charges. He is still in custody in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The Sheriff’s Office encourages all of our citizens to spread the word about the Facebook page, like it, become a follower and share it with your Facebook friends.

Sgt. Jeff Leikauf

Lt. Tom Murdoch

Booking photo of Brandon Purcell