CENSUSED To DEATH: Yuba City Woman Gunned Down After Census Worker Confrontation

Posted by BOC Staff | Frank Kuni,Lonnie Patterson,Uncategorized,US Census,Victoria Vasselin,Yuba City PD | Sunday 23 May 2010 2:52 pm

Yuba City, CA–

The Sutter County Coroner’s Office identified the woman shot in the foyer of her Mariners Loop home as Victoria Helen Roger-Vasselin, 67, of Yuba City.

Ms. Roger-Vasselin’s companion, Lionel “Lonnie” Patterson, is in the custody of the Yuba City Police.

A female census worker is said to have arrived at the home of the couple to intake their census information when she was told at the door by Mr. Patterson that they would not let her in and they would not be participating in the census.  According to the census worker, who has not been identified, she began arguing with the resident about his requirement to comply when he threatened her with a firearm.

The census worker then called her supervisor and was advised to call police, which she did, at 9:04 PM.

The conflicting reports start there.

The District Attorney states that the census worker was at the home between 9:00 PM and 9:30PM.

The Yuba City Police state that the census worker was there between 7:45 and 8:15PM.

My first question is,  if the police have an accurrate timeline, why would someone that was threatened and in fear of their safety wait almost an hour to report the incident?

Yuba City Police responded to the Vasselin-Patterson home with 5 Officers and were met at the door by Mr. Patterson, allegedly with a gun in his hand.

Officers preformed a “take down” maneuver and while wrestling him to the ground, Vasselin came around the corner with a shotgun pointed in the direction of the officers.  Currently, Patterson is being held on a “lethal weapon” charge; it appears he did not have an actual firearm.   Ms. Vasselin’s shotgun was not loaded.

“A bunch of things I think went wrong,” said Roger-Vasselin’s son, Matt Biscotti. “It was late at night, (my mother) was startled at the door, and I think the police were startled to see her holding some protection.
“It happened real fast, it was dark, and it was all quick. And we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
Biscotti said his mom was still inside when she was hit, and that the gun she was carrying was not loaded.

Census spokesman Sonny Le said door-to-door census workers are instructed to visit homes late in the afternoon, evenings and weekends when most people are home. He said workers are not supposed to be out past sunset. According to the Census 2010

Le said the census worker was upset and took some time to compose herself before calling her supervisor in Fairfield, who in turn contacted Yuba police.

The incident in Yuba City comes on the heels of major domestic concern for the “Open Your Door To Census Workers” campaign.

In Pennsauken, NJ, the sharp eye and maternal sentry alarm of Amy Schmalbach resulted in the capture of a registered sex offender who allegedly has up to 16 aliases.

Frank Kuni, using the alias Jamie  Shepard, came to Schmalbach’s home on May 4th to intake her census information.

Toward the end of the interview, which took place outside on her porch,  Ms. Schmalbach recognized Kuni from her frequent checks of the New Jersey Sex Offender Database.

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