Man accused of multiple rapes arrested in Sonora
An Adventist Health Sonora employee and Stanislaus County resident who was arrested by Sonora police Tuesday on suspicion of raping a local homeless woman in June had also been arrested on similar charges just a week before in Modesto.
The Sonora Police Department reported on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon that Joseph Frank Pineda Pimentel, 37, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of rape using force or fear.
According to Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office booking logs, Pineda Pimentel was arrested at Adventist Health Sonora about noon Tuesday before being booked into the Tuolumne County Jail, where he remained on $150,000 bail as of Wednesday afternoon.
Jaquelyn Lugg, spokeswoman for Adventist Health Sonora, confirmed Pineda Pimentel was an employee at the hospital. She said he had been removed from the schedule and was not currently working, but he was not released from his position at this time.
“There is no indication that these charges involve a patient or any other of our employees,” she said. “The arrest was not due to anything that happened on hospital grounds.”
Lugg said in an email the hospital could not comment at this time on additional personal details when asked for the duration of his employment.
New Melones and Don Pedro are the state’s fourth-largest and sixth-largest capacity reservoirs when they are full.
Tuolumne Utilities District, which provides water to more than 40,000 Tuolumne County residents, said Wednesday that Pinecrest was holding 15,413 acre-feet, or 84% of capacity. Lyons Reservoir was holding 1,160 acre-feet or 21% of capacity.
Now that Labor Day has passed, TUD is working with Pacific Gas and Electric Co to begin moving water from Pinecrest Reservoir down to Lyons Reservoir, TUD spokeswoman Lisa Westbrook said.
The district’s goal is to have Lyons water storage at 2,500 acre-feet by October, when TUD begins annual ditch outage maintenance and repairs.
“TUD recognizes the exceptionally dry conditions and has emphasized to our customers to continue to practice water efficiency until the drought has ended,” Westbrook said Wednesday.
Tuolumne Utilities District will be asking all water customers to conserve water in early October during the annual PG&E Main Canal outage scheduled Oct. 3 to Oct. 10, Westbrook said.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. owns both reservoirs and senior rights to the water from the South Fork of the Stanislaus River that flows into them, though TUD has been engaged in ongoing negotiations since last year to acquire them from the utility giant.
“As we enter into Fall/winter the District will remain in close communication with PG&E regarding weather predictions on precipitation and snowpack to help us manage the watershed and water storage,” Westbrook said.
This summer has done next to nothing to change the outlook for the current water year. As of Wednesday, primary watersheds in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties had received 18.7 inches of precipitation since Oct. 1. That works out to 47% of average for the date Sept. 8, according to a five-station index that includes Calaveras Big Trees and Hetch Hetchy. The 18.7 inches so far this water year is also less than the 19 inches the region received in the 2014-15 water year, one of the driest water years on record since 1966.
According to U.S. Drought Monitor maps updated Aug. 31, all of Calaveras and Tuolumne counties are in extreme drought, and all but the highest, easternmost mountains in both counties are in the monitor’s most dire category, exceptional drought.
“We had an underwhelminging winter on the heels of a below average winter before that, basically back-toback really dry years,” Sierra Littlefield, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Sacramento, said Wednesday in a phone interview. “Summertime is typically dry, and it’s the same this summer. We’ve really seen warm, hot, and dry conditions persist.”
Whether this coming 202122 winter will be wet or below average again remains to be seen. According to El NiñoSouthern Oscillation updates from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate prediction scientists, there’s a 70% chance drier La Niña conditions could prevail from November to January, and through the 2021-22 winter. La Niña conditions typically mean drier than average winters for the Golden State. As of midAugust, ENSO Alert System scientists were on a La Niña Watch.
Also Wednesday, the state Department of Water Resources and the state Water Control Board announced “draft groundwater management principles and strategies to better anticipate and minimize the impacts of drought” on drinking water wells. The new framework is intended to address impacts on groundwater-dependent communities, “as droughts become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change,” state DWR staff said.
Release of draft principles and strategies for drinking water wells opens a 30-day public comment period. Spoken comments will be accepted during a public webinar scheduled 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 23. Written comments can be emailed to sgmps@water.ca.gov through Oct. 7.
Last week, drought restrictions on diversions from the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers prompted lawsuits from multiple irrigation districts, including Oakdale, South San Joaquin, Turlock and Modesto, as well as the City of San Francisco. Merced Irrigation District filed legal papers against the state this week, suing over its use of the Merced River.
Heat was bearing down on the Sonora area again Wednesday, with daytime highs approaching 101 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and a heat advisory in effect for the Mother Lode foothills through 9 p.m. Wednesday. There was also a fire weather watch issued for the region from 11 p.m. Thursday to 11 p.m. Friday.