Woman in 2018 Rio Vista church fire now faces a mental health review
A Rio Vista woman who previously served jail time for setting an unlawful fire in 2018 and remains in Solano County Jail custody on a probation violation will return Monday to Solano County Superior Court for mental health diversion review and other proceedings.
Judge E. Bradley Nelson in August sentenced Danielle Rene Ricafrente, 25, to three years formal probation for making a criminal threat and battery against her mother after the defendant and her attorney struck a deal with a prosecutor and pleaded no contest to the threat charge on July 8 in Department 4 i n the Justice Center in Fairfield.
Ricafrente — who has suffered from mental health problems before and after the crimes for which she was originally charged — faces the review and probation violation proceedings at 11 a.m. in Department 23, Judge John B. Ellis’ courtroom, in the Hall of Justice in Fairfield.
She faced a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail but, as part of the plea deal, was promised the formal probation term, placement in a residential treatment program and was required to attend a 52-week domestic batterers program, court records indicate.
In the new case, she is represented by Marjaneh Maroufi, a deputy public defender in the Alternate Public Defender Office.
Ricafrente’s sentence — which included two probation violations — came a little more than four months after she was released from custody, when Nelson, on March 29, imposed a 225day jail sentence for setting the fire in connection to arson and vandalism inside a Rio Vista church last year.
According to Rio Vista police records dated June 8, 2019, Ricafrente’s mother reported that her daughter threw her against the wall of their home. A witness heard the defendant say, “I’m going to poison you. I’m going to kill you.”
When interviewed on July 24 in the main jail on Union Street in Fairfield, Ricafrente told an officer that she had used a gram of methamphetamine and had not slept for three days when she assaulted her mother “in a blackout.”
Additionally, she told the interviewer that she began using heroin at age 15, the narcotic supplied by her adult boyfriend at the time. After she stopped using heroin, Ricafrente began using meth. She relapsed in the first week of June 2019, according to court documents.
When Nelson imposed her previous sentence in March, which included fines and fees, Nelson noted credit for time served in the case, nearly eight months, and released Ricafrente. He ordered her to report to the county Probation Department, where she was required to register as an arsonist.
In his remarks after the sentence, Nelson urged Ricafrente to take all necessary psychotropic medications recommended by a psychiatrist.
As part of a March 1 plea deal, according to court documents, Nelson agreed to dismiss charges of arson, vandalism and seconddegree commercial burglary of the Union Baptist Church on June 12, 2018. Ricafrente also agreed to stay away from the 125 Sierra Ave. house of worship. With the plea, she avoided serving a state prison sentence.
As the case made its way through the court — at the intersection of the state’s legal and mental health systems — Ricafrente was, at one point, deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and was confined to Napa State Hospital for treatment. Court records also indicated that, while there, she was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia and, from time to time, also had been “noncompliant” with jail staff.
She was later restored to mental competency and became eligible to stand trial following a competency hearing.
According to court records, including a Rio Vista Police Department report, officers responded to the church at 9:15 a.m. June 13, 2018, to investigate a report of vandalism to the interior of the chapel. There, they also found that a cross behind the altar had been set on fire. The fire, according to police, possibly occurred between 8 p.m. and midnight on June 11.
Ricafrente eventually was determined to be a person of interest and was arrested on suspicion of burglary, arson of a church, felony vandalism and hate crimes against a church. The Solano County DA filed a complaint on June 15 last year.