Mendocino Sheriff Press Release:

On 09-25-2011 Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a discovered burglary of a vacation cabin located in the 16000 block of NorthSpur Road.

This area is approximately 14.2 miles east of Fort Bragg and approximately 10 miles northwest of Willits along the Noyo River watershed.

Upon arrival Deputies discovered the person responsible for the burglary had forced entry into the cabin and appeared to have taken food items.  At this time investigators are still attempting to obtain an inventory of the cabin’s items from the owner who was not present at the scene.

Deputies collected various items from inside the cabin that were believed to be touched by the person who had committed the burglary.

Those items were forwarded to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Evidence Bureau for processing of latent prints, which resulted in the recovery of a latent print.

The recovered latent print was forwarded to the California Department of Justice laboratory in Sacramento for identification purposes.

On 09-28-2011 at approximately 1300 hours a DOJ Latent Print Criminalist contacted investigators and confirmed the recovered latent print was that of Aaron James Bassler.

It should be noted on 09-20-2011 Detectives from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to discovered burglaries at one full-time residence and at two vacation cabins located in the 17000 block of NorthSpur Road.

Detectives learned the structures were not occupied at the time of the burglaries, forced entry was used and food items had been taken.  It was also learned that a .22 caliber rifle and a 12-gauage shotgun had been taken during one of the burglaries.  Detectives at this time believe Aaron James Bassler to be responsible for those burglaries.

As a result of the preceding information the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office activated the Reverse 911 system during the afternoon of 09-28-2011 to warn the residents of NorthSpur of Aaron James Bassler’s presence.

The Apprehension Operation for Aaron James Bassler continues with support from several local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The public is encouraged to be vigilant of their surroundings and to report any possible sighting of Aaron James Bassler by calling the Command Post at 707-961-2479 or 911 under emergency situations.