D.A.: Vigilante justice does not pay

A Willows man was sentenced to eight months in county jail for his part in what Glenn County District Attorney Bob Maloney called a case of "vigilante justice."

Superior Court Judge Donald Byrd handed down the sentence on a charge of false imprisonment Friday morning to Manuel D. Molina, 42, and the time amounted to twice that recommended by the Probation Department.

“The main players in this incident have been brought to justice,” Maloney said.

The district attorney praised the hard work of the Willows police and county sheriff’s officials in what he described as a “very difficult and complicated case,” which started with a home burglary in November, 2010.

That is when the home of Molina and Raina Arnold was hit.

Jeffery McMahon, 19, reported on Nov. 30, 2010, that he was taken to a house on Fifth Street in Willows, where he was accused of having committed the burglary, and was then beaten unconscious, the District Attorney’s Office reported.

McMahon described the house where he was taken, and a search found the described rope and a knife as well as material with red stains, the District Attorney’s Office reported.

As many as a half dozen people may have been involved in the affair, the investigation of which was clouded because many of those people had drug habits or were believed to have drug habits.

“The irony here and the danger of vigilante justice is that McMahon probably is not the person who burgled the Molina-Arnold house,” Maloney said.

And that case is still considered unresolved.

Molina was originally charged with false imprisonment, torture and conspiracy charges, but reached an plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.

In exchange for the no contest please on false imprisonment, the other charges were dropped.
Salvador Molina, Jr. will be sentenced on July 11 in Orland for a similar felony violation of aiding and abetting false imprisonment by force and violence, the District Attorney’s Office reported.