Local News & Events

[shadylady]

pcslim: A few friends did participate, but there seemed to be less enthusiasm for the event this year than usual, at least within my circle of friends and acquaintances. I haven't heard any reports as to if the event went well or not. I suppose no news is good news and that everything was normal with the usual displays, vendors, and events.

[twister]

Sheriff’s citizen volunteer arrested in Trona on suspicion of lewd acts with a child
This is odd. I hadn't heard a word about this until now. Usually kids who make claims like this are lying, but law enforcement tends to give them the benefit of the doubt even though by now they should know better.

Deputies arrested a sheriff’s citizen volunteer Tuesday on suspicion of lewd acts with a child and oral copulation with a child, according to a San Bernardino County sheriff’s news release. Edwin Funke, 39, of Trona was arrested 4:34 p.m. Tuesday and booked into the Adelanto Detention Center, the news release states. Booking records show his bail was set at $50,000.

LINK:
http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20170315/sheriffs-citizen-volunteer-arrested-in-trona-on-suspicion-of-lewd-acts-with-a-child

[mrgreen]

Trona Man Arrested for Sexual Assault of 14-year-old Girl
The people a 247headline.com went out of their way to include a picture of the suspect with a with a strange smirk on his face and wearing sunglasses. They were definitely attempting to make him look like a shady character. I agree with twister that people should be skeptical of accusations like this since so many turn out to be false. Teenage girls are always looking to start drama.

On Monday, March 13, 2017, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department detectives received information regarding an inappropriate sexual relationship between Edwin Funke and an underage girl. Detective spoke with a girl who confirmed the sexual assault that took place at Funke’s Trona home. This according to the victim, took place several times last year.

LINK: https://247headline.com/trona-man-arrested-for-sexual-assault-of-14-year-old-girl/

[surfsteve]

When I heard the story yesterday I was told that the police actually caught him yesterday in the act of forcing her to have sex with him, which sounded kind of crazy. It is amazing how twisted people's stories get when being spread by word of mouth.

On the picture it says Chris Martin, 17 hours ago. Since Chris Martin is the Author of the story it leads me to believe that the story was written 17 hours ago and that the picture was probably from a much earlier time. It's misleading to put that information in the picture. What ever happened to captions describing what the picture was about? To be fair it should have either said it was taken from file footage or when it was taken.

[shadylady]

A couple different names are floating around pertaining to the identity of the accuser. I won't repeat them since it's not considered ethical to share the name of an accuser in a sex crime case, especially if the accuser is under eighteen, but like surfsteve says, there are lots of rumors going around and they probably aren't all accurate.

[surfsteve]

I remember growing up as a kid in the early '60's thinking how unfair racism was back then, only to have discovered after Kennedy was killed that instead of being fair they took it 180 degrees in the other direction. I agree that something needs to be done; but like a car flipping from over correcting to avoid an accident this whole pedophilia thing could very easily turn into a modern day witch hunt.

I suppose Shadylady: that even though it might shed some light, releasing the girls name would be just as unfair as releasing the name of the accused before he was proven guilty.

[mrfish]

I suppose Shadylady: that even though it might shed some light, releasing the girls name would be just as unfair as releasing the name of the accused before he was proven guilty.

Absolutely! If it's considered ethical to release the name of the accused, then the name of the accuser should also be released. This applies even if the accuser is under eighteen because of the gravity of the situation. Just being accused of a crime like this can ruin someone's life. The accuser should not get off without exposure and the possible social consequences of making an accusation. People sometimes lose their jobs just as a result of just being accused of this sort of thing. The accuser gets off without any hitches and if the accuser turns out to be a false accuser (which is often the case) there still are not likely to be any repercussions. Not fair! Not fair at all!

[surfsteve]

The accusers in the Salem Witch trials were all under aged girls and enjoyed the status of being every bit as famous as today's rock stars.

On a side note rather than being afflicted by witchcraft the girls afflictions were probably caused by the ergot fungus which commonly grew on rye and caused LSD like hallucinations.

[ergot]

The mere fact that bail was set at only $50k shows that law enforcement doesn't consider the case against the accused very strong. I'm surprised he was even arrested with bail set that low for a felony that could potentially land him in prison for over ten years and land him on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life. Most likely the charges will be dismissed in a few weeks and the accusations will be deemed unfounded (aka, it was a false accusation).

[tronagirl]

ergot: There are a number of rumors going around. The consensus is that he'll be charged and that the accusation is valid. There's also a rumor that there may be other perps. The bail amount is pretty low, but it may be that he's not considered a flight risk for any number of possible reasons. It's surprising that there hasn't been another article considering the amount of info circulating around Trona and Ridgecrest!