201912.24
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Celebration of life ceremony planned for search and rescue volunteer who died on Mt. Baldy

by in News

A celebration of life ceremony is planned for Saturday, Dec. 28, for a volunteer search and rescue worker who died while looking for a hiker who went missing in early December.

Tim Staples, 32, died on Saturday, Dec. 14, after an apparent fall while searching for missing hiker Sreenivas “Sree” Mokkapati, 52, of Irvine.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday that Staples’ celebration of life ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in Rancho Cucamonga at Abundant Living Church at 10900 Civic Center Drive.

Staples was a social science and English teacher at Damien High School, an all-boys Catholic school in La Verne.


Staples was one of 126 people from 10 counties working in 23 teams searching for Mokkapati on Mt. Baldy. Staples’ search partner radioed that the two had gotten separated, officials said. The volunteer search and rescue worker was found unresponsive in an area of ice and snow, after apparently falling down an ice chute. A medic who was lowered to Staples found him dead.

The search for Mokkapati — put on hold after Staples’ death — remains suspended indefinitely, according to Jodi Miller, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Mt. Baldy trails had been put under an emergency closure Dec. 11 so rescue workers could more easily look for signs of Mokkapati. The closure is set to be lifted on Christmas Day.