Chadley Joe Gott-Simmons was someone well known to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office. He’s a long time resident of Redwood Valley, the small town of under 2000 just north of Ukiah and Lake Mendocino in the inland valley along Highway 101. Available records and media reports show he was arrested in 2002, when he was 19, for driving under the influence.
A location on Uva Drive in Redwood Valley has been Gott-Simmons’ residence of record for the past 10 years or more.
Since then, in the six years between 2005 and 2011 he was arrested at least fifteen more times. While already on probation, he was charged in April of 2005 with burglary. In the remainder of that year he was charged on three more occasions of being under the influence of a controlled substance, trespassing, attempted vehicle theft, and possession of stolen property, along with probation violations.
In 2006 he faced another trespassing charge, and in 2007 he was arrested for vandalism. 2008 was another “busy” year, and more violent, as he was charged with battery, disorderly conduct, vandalism of over $5,000 damage, and resisting arrest. In 2009 he was charged with being under the influence, failure to appear in court, probation violations, and in December, with making threats of violence and another vandalism charge.
June of 2010 saw him charged again with threats of violence, vandalism of over $5,000, and indecent exposure after illegally entering an occupied dwelling. Further details of that incident and the others were not available. He was charged in March of 2011 with simple possession of narcotics. After a break in records, while he may have been serving time, Gott-Simmons was arrested earlier this year, on February 15, and charged with misdemeanor battery.
All that history led up to charges that may now finally result, if he is convicted, in his being put away for many years in prison.
The victim was assaulted in her home, located on Pinecrest Drive.
On the evening of Thursday, May 28, a 46-year-old woman arrived at the Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Ukiah, about 10 miles from her home in Redwood Valley, on the small rural road of Pinecrest Drive near the Redwood Valley Middle School. According to the Sheriff’s Department, she reported that her injuries were the result of a sexual assault. Responding deputies took her statement that she had been forcibly raped by Chadley Gott-Simmons at least twice that day at her own home.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Unit took over the case, and continued the investigation well into that night. Through the victim’s statement and the evidence collected they established probable cause to arrest Gott-Simmons, and found him at his home in west Redwood Valley, near Highway 101 on Uva Drive.
Chadley Joe Gott-Simmons, 31, 6’4″ and 195 pounds, was arrested at 4:00 am Friday and charged with rape by force or fear, false imprisonment, and oral copulation by force. He is being held on $100,000 bail at the Mendocino County Jail. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information about the suspect or case is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s office.
