Louis “Cricket” Blank III. Photos provided by MCSO.

Mendocino County SHeriff’s Office press release:

Louis “Cricket” Blank III.

UPDATED INFORMATION
In late February and early March of 2017, Detectives from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office were in communication with numerous state, local and federal law enforcement agencies in multiple states in efforts to try and locate and arrest Gary Louis Blank III (AKA Cricket).This included agencies in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey as information had been provided by anonymous sources that Blank had been provided a ride from Southern California towards the northeast.

On March 10th, 2017, at approximately 9:07 PM (Pacific Standard Time), Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detectives were notified by Detectives from the New Jersey State Police that they had good information about Blank’s whereabouts.

At 9:21 PM (Pacific Standard Time) the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the New Jersey State Police that they had located and arrested Gary Blank III at residence in the Borough of Red Bank, New Jersey.

Blank was arrested without incident and subsequently booked into the Mercer County (NJ) Jail on the Mendocino County Superior Court NO BAIL arrest warrant, for murder. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office detectives are traveling to New Jersey to follow up on the arrest.  

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office will work with the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office and the State of New Jersey to have Blank extradited to Mendocino County for prosecution on Jeffrey Settler’s murder. This arrest concludes a 4 month apprehension effort to locate and arrest the seven suspects.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office would like to extend our appreciation to the New Jersey State Police and the Toledo Ohio Police Department for their assistance on this case. 

BACKGROUND
On 11-11-2016 at 3:39 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were summoned to a reported man who had been murdered on a remote property located in the 49000 block of North Highway 101 in Laytonville, California.

The property was a rural parcel approximately 5 miles from Highway 101, on a dirt road that traveled in a westerly direction. Deputies responded to the scene confirming there was a male adult who was obviously deceased as a result of what appeared to be a violent assault. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detectives were summoned to the scene, along with Investigators from the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office and Criminalists from the California Department of Justice.

During the investigation it was determined the deceased male adult, Jeffrey Quinn Settler, was operating a commercial marijuana growing operation on the property. In the early morning hours of 11-11-2016 (Thursday), multiple subjects who had been recently employed by Settler as marijuana trimmers returned to the property in the middle of the night with the intent to commit robbery of processed marijuana.

The investigation has revealed the subjects knew the marijuana was stored in the same structure where Settler slept and the subjects violently assaulted him during the robbery, causing his death. The subjects were believed to have fled the property in at least two vehicles and were believed to have stolen over 100 pounds of processed marijuana. The suspects were believed to have fled to Southern California or out of state.

In all seven suspects were identified and subsequent felony arrest warrants were sought.

Prior to 03-10-2017, six of the suspects were in custody and awaiting prosecution for homicide or in the process of being extradited to Mendocino County.