Newspaper Worker Arrest Over Ad Threat 1 day ago RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A member of a newspaper's advertising staff was arrested in connection with a classified ad seen as a veiled threat against a prosecutor who has targeted a local gang.
Police arrested Chandler William Cardwell, 32, at his home and booked him Saturday on suspicion of making terrorist threats and possession of a concealed firearm. Bail was set at $1 million. Cardwell was a member of the East Side Riva street gang, against which District Attorney Rod Pacheco had recently announced a crackdown, police Chief Russ Leach said. The Aug. 25 ad for a garage sale listed Pacheco's home address and cellular telephone number and said proceeds would benefit the "Rod Pacheco Memorial Fund." Cardwell was arrested after authorities executed search warrants at The Riverside Press-Enterprise and discovered that his cell phone was used to order the ad, authorities said. Investigators were trying to determine whether anyone assisted Cardwell and how he located Pacheco's home address and phone number, Leach said. Ronald R. Redfern, chief executive officer and publisher of The Press-Enterprise Co., said the company conducts reference checks on job applicants. "We had no idea the employee was involved in a gang and we still don't know that he is or that he was," Redfern said. Members of Cardwell's family denied that he participated in the threat and that he was involved with the gang. mediacare http://www.mediacare.biz
