PREVIOUSLY: EPD Raids Devil’s Playground Campground Again; Finds Guns, Meth, Chickens, Fully Stocked Bike Shop

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Eureka Police Department press release: 

On March 17, 2015, at about 7:30 a.m., Eureka Police Department officers and detectives with the Problem Oriented Policing Unit served a search warrant at a well-entrenched transient encampment located in the greenbelt area just north of the Bayshore Mall. The warrant was obtained after EPD received information from multiple sources that the residents of the illegal camp were in possession of a cache of firearms and dealing methamphetamine.

The suspects, Timothy Lynn Stockhoff (age 53 of Eureka) and his son, Joshua Allen Stockhoff (age 27 of Eureka), are both convicted felons with extensive criminal histories. Timothy Stockhoff was located inside his tent and detained without incident.

During a search of the encampment, which included multiple tents and structures, officers located ammunition and 5 firearms including a Ruger .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, a sawed-off Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun, a Ruger .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle, a .30 caliber M1 carbine with high capacity magazines, and a Ruger .17 HMR scoped bolt action rifle. A records check on the Ruger pistol confirmed it had previously been reported stolen in the City of Eureka. Additional records checks are pending on the other firearms. Officers located several grams of methamphetamine in Timothy Stockhoff’s tent along with ammunition and 4 of the 5 firearms. Additionally, a bicycle “chop shop” was located in another nearby tent and dismantled. Approximately a dozen bicycles, several bicycle frames, and a number of miscellaneous tools were collected for safekeeping as suspected stolen property.

Timothy Stockhoff was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for the following offenses: felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of stolen property and possession of methamphetamine.

Joshua Stockhoff was not located at the time the search warrant was served. He is believed to have fled from a makeshift wooden shack (where officers located the sawed-off shotgun and ammunition) located to the rear of the encampment as officers approached. Stockhoff remains outstanding at the time of this release and a felony warrant will be sought for his arrest alleging felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Investigators also located a Del Norte County woman and her two children, ages 4 and 6 years old, at the camp. The children were taken into protective custody by Child Welfare Services pursuant to Protective Custody Warrants issued for them by the Del Norte County Superior Court.

Following the execution of the search warrant, the entire campsite was completely removed down to the dirt with assistance of other City staff and a frontend loader. Two large dumpsters (60 yards total) were nearly completely filled with junk and trash from the campsite.

The Eureka Police Department asks that citizens not call the department to inquire if any of their stolen bicycles or other items were recovered during this operation. EPD property clerks will be comparing the recovered items to our stolen property report inventories. Theft victims will be notified if any of their identifiable missing items have been recovered.