By Patric Hedlund, TME

Monday was a bad day for Matthew Hobbler Simmons, co-founder of the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center (LARC). You might have seen him on Animal Planet, showcasing his wolf dog rescues cared for by veterans suffering from PTSD, becoming each others’ healers. It was a good story. Insiders say much of it was just that, a story.

On the morning of April 13, Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the door of Simmons’ home at the top of Curtis Trail in Lockwood Valley with a search warrant.

Simmons decided to leave.

He was stopped in his vehicle and arrested at…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

(Left) Matthew Simmons, 46, the co-owner with Lorin Lindner, PhD, of Lockwood Animal Rescue Center (LARC)—a wolf dog rescue facility—was arrested in Lockwood Valley on multiple charges as a convicted felon in possession of firearms (above), including guns allegedly illegal to own in California, such as sawed-off shotguns and extended-load semiautomatic weapons.

Above: Several of the semiautomatic pistols, extended loads and rifles seized, plus black gunpowder suitable for making bombs—unlicensed, illegal in California, and illegal to be in the possession of a convicted felon.

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This is part of the April 17, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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