Crime & Safety

SWAT Negotiators Talk Down Armed Domestic Violence Suspect

The man was holed up in his home with guns when deputies arrived, an official said.

An Orange County Sheriff's Department SWAT team spent six hours Thursday talking down an armed domestic violence suspect.

Deputies were called out at about 5:30 p.m. to a home on the 22000 block of Tanbark Lane, a Lake Forest cul-de-sac, said OCSD Lt. Steve Gil. The standoff wasn't concluded until around midnight, he said.

The suspect, Craig John Valgean, 47, refused to come out of the home in defiance of deputies' requests when they came for a domestic violence call, Gil said. The initial responding deputies found out Valgean had guns in the house, and so decided to secure the outside of the home and call in the SWAT team.

Negotiators finally convinced Valgean to cooperate, and they arrested him on suspicion of domestic violence, Gil said.

Valgean has since been released, according to jail records.

Orange County Superior Court records indicate Valgean has no prior criminal charges that stem from actions inside the county.

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