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Volume 171 • Issue 85 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, July 22, 2022
Bomar brothers guilty of second-degree murder Thomas Frey Staff writer
Courtesy photos
Animal Services staff removed 25 dogs, both living and deceased, from the El Dorado Hills home.
Arrest made in EDH animal cruelty case Mountain Democrat staff
An El Dorado Hills woman has been arrested in connection with a local animal cruelty case. About one month ago El Dorado County Animal Services staff was made aware of possible animal abuse at a residence on Tea Rose Drive in the Bass Lake area of El Dorado Hills. Arrested on felony animal cruelty charges and taken into custody without incident on July 19 was Sandra Sharlene Tidwell, 49. The woman was connected with the Sierra Nevada German Shepherd Rescue group, according to authorities. “There were multiple complaints regarding a stench of feces from the residence,” states Chief of Animal Services Henry Brzezinski in a news release. “The investigation continued and a search warrant was ultimately authored.” On July 19 El Dorado County Animal Services personnel, in cooperation with El Dorado County Sheriff ’s Office detectives, served that search warrant. Animal Services officials say approximately 25 dogs, including puppies, both living and deceased, were removed from the residence during the search warrant. The living canines were transported to the county animal shelter, where they are currently undergoing care and rehabilitation. “Because this is an active investigation, no further information regarding this case is available at this time,” noted Brzezinski. Tidwell was released on $10,000 bail, according to EDSO inmate records. Dogs seized were transported to the El Dorado County animal shelter, where they are currently undergoing care and rehabilitation.
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Brothers Chase and Cody Bomar were each found guilty of seconddegree murder with special allegations of using a deadly and dangerous weapon in the 2018 killing of their former roommate Jeremy Fortuin on Pony Express Trail in Cedar Grove. Cody and Chase — who were 21 and 19 years old, respectively, at the time of Fortuin’s death — sat quietly while they awaited the jury’s verdict to be read Tuesday, July 19, in El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Vicki Ashworth’s courtroom. They faced murder charges for fatally stabbing 42-year-old Fortuin 13 times in a multiple-week trial that ended with the jury not returning the first-degree murder conviction the District Attorney’s Office was looking for. The evidence was there that the Bomars killed Fortuin. Forensic pathologist Dr. Katherine Raven, who performed the autopsy, testified that Fortuin’s body was full of stab wounds, including one through his back and into the large chamber of the heart while another pierced the ventricle. Attorneys Adam Weiner, representing Cody, and David Kramer, counsel for Chase, didn’t deny the Bomars killed Fortuin but argued the defendants were protecting themselves against a “violent guy.” “The defendants actually believed the immediate use of deadly force was necessary to defend
Mountain Democrat photos by Thomas Frey
Bailiffs escort Cody Bomar out of the El Dorado County Superior Courthouse in downtown Placerville after he was found guilty of second-degree murder along with his brother Chase. In 2018, the brothers stabbed to death 42-year-old Jeremy Fortuin. against the danger,” Kramer said. On Feb. 5, 2018 — more than a month before Fortuin’s March 13, 2018, death — two related incidents occurred at 4519 Pony Express Trail, where the Bomars, Fortuin, Johnny Ring and Tanya Jones had all had lived together. Weiner said in closing statements on that February day, Chase Bomar exits the courtroom after the jury’s verdict was when Ring and Jones returned Tuesday, July 19. were at the house, “Out of nowhere Chase’s windshield Perry with the El comes Jeremy Fortuin. had been smashed and Dorado County District He grabs Tanya, coming he confronted Fortuin Attorney’s Office said at her with what’s been about it, according to during the trial that described as punches a report from sheriff ’s what occurred March in a windmill type of deputy Jill Jencks, who 13 “was a story of fashion, going at her, arrived on scene along revenge” stemming then Johnny Ring with Deputy Griffin from the Feb. 5 defends her.” O’Camb. incident. Ring testified that in Chase told O’Camb he “When Jeremy hit prior years he had been was struck by Fortuin Chase, Chase declined punched by Fortuin with a pipe in the medical treatment and had seen him hit confrontation. Chase against medical advice,” his brother and pull had two contusions Perry said in his closing hair off his head. on his forearm about statement. “It was clear Later that night the 2-3 inches in diameter. that the matter would Bomars are at the Pony Cody stepped in to try be handled outside of Express residence when to break it up and was court and on the street. a vehicle with five or struck himself, also in On March 13, 2018, six people, including the forearm. Fortuin shows up. Prosecutor Miles n See Verdict, page A7
Medic 49 still in limbo
Fire chief: Hiring staff is a unicorn hunt Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The Diamond Springs-El Dorado Fire Protection District Board of Directors’ vote to eliminate Medic 49 ambulance services reached another impasse at a July 12 meeting. The directors voted to approve new board member Michael Weidert, who would have broken the tied vote that came June 14; however, the
absence of another director led to another 2-2 vote. The board previously voted to suspend the ambulance service, starting July 1, until the fire agency could hire more personnel. Despite being understaffed, Chief Matt Gallagher told the Mountain Democrat he is unsure if Medic 49 will be put on the directors’ agenda again. Gallagher said his fire district is making every effort to staff
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“They are actually calling firefighterparamedics unicorns right now because they are just so hard to find.” — Matt Gallagher, chief of the Diamond Springs-El Dorado Fire Protection District Medic 49, including looking into alternative staffing options through the El Dorado County Emergency Services Authority, also known as the West Slope Joint Powers Authority, an
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See unicorn hunt, page A5
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