South Lake Tahoe, CA…Yesterday evening, shortly after 6:00pm, 34 year old South Lake Tahoe resident John Liska was contacted by Officer Matt Morrison during a traffic stop. Liska provided a false name to Officer Morrison, but his actual identity was discovered during their interaction. While Officer Morrison conducted the stop, Officer Chris Webber recognized Liska’s name as that of the suspect in an active criminal case he had investigated in May of this year involving a local vehicle burglary. In that vehicle burglary, a check was stolen, forged and passed for cash at a South Lake Tahoe bank. Probable cause existed to arrest John Liska for several felonies related to that investigation.

Liska is a convicted felon from Alaska. A subsequent search of his person and vehicle turned up several items of contraband. Liska was in possession of a stolen firearm. He also unlawfully possessed ammunition, metal knuckles, an illegal spring-loaded knife, a sap (a sap is weapon which is typically a flat-profiled, leather-covered lead rod, fitted with a spring handle, and is a felony to possess in California), marijuana and illegal drug paraphernalia.

Liska was booked into the El Dorado County Jail in South Lake Tahoe for burglary, possession of stolen property, forgery, passing a forged check, false personation of another with intent to defraud, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by an ex-felon, unlawful possession of the spring-loaded knife and sap.