The Sheriff's Blogger

Man sentenced to life for strangulation murder of 15-year-old runaway

LA County DA's Office

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 110 years to life in prison for the strangulation murder of a 15-year-old runaway.

Deputy District Attorney Samuel Hulefeld said Gilton Beltrand Pitre, 38, was convicted in May of the first-degree murder of Alyssa Gomez, whom he strangled in a room at the Olive Motel on Sunset Boulevard in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. Jurors also convicted Pitre of one count of unlawful sex with a minor under the age of 16.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Powell, who presided over the trial and imposed the sentence, additionally ordered Pitre to pay $7,310.14 to the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for burial expenses and $10,000 in restitution.

Pitre murdered the victim between June 3 and 4, 2007.

Evidence presented at trial showed the defendant approached the victim on the street the evening of June 3 and asked if they were going to “hang out.”

That evening, the defendant checked into the motel using his own name. A surveillance camera later captured the defendant carrying something large and wrapped in a blanket from the motel and putting it into the trunk of his car.

The victim’s body was discovered the morning of June 4 in an alley about a mile away. She was wrapped in the motel’s bedding. DNA evidence recovered linked Pitre to the crime, Hulefeld said.

SPEEDING DRIVER CONVICTED OF KILLING WOMAN IN HIT-AND-RUN FREEWAY CRASH

July 14, 2010

Orange County District Attorney's Office

SANTA ANA - A speeding hit-and-run driver was convicted today of killing a 64-year-old woman in a crash that caused the victim's car to flip on the freeway. Eduardo Orozcoaguilera, 27, Anaheim, pleaded guilty to the court to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter by unlawful manner of driving and with gross negligence, one felony count of hit and run with injury, and a sentencing enhancement for fleeing the scene of the crime. He is expected to be sentenced to seven years in state prison on Oct. 4, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-57, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

At approximately 2:50 a.m. on July 19, 2008, Orozcoaguilera was speeding eastbound on California State Route 22 near Harbor Boulevard in a Chevrolet sedan. The defendant was driving erratically, swerving in and out of lanes, and crashed into the left rear of a Toyota. The driver of the Toyota lost control as a result of the crash and flipped over on the freeway. Orozcoaguilera also lost control of his car and crashed into a concrete wall.

Orozcoaguilera abandoned his car and fled the scene on foot. The driver of the Toyota was able to climb out of the overturned vehicle and attempted to help his trapped family, including three children. Muktar Bagum, the front passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene due to major head trauma.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. that morning, the defendant contacted the California Highway Patrol and confessed to being the driver from the crash earlier that morning.

Deputy District Attorney Susan Price of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.

Brown Announces Results of Operation Watchdog to Keep Tabs on Hundreds of Registered Sex Offenders in San Diego

State Attorney General's Office

SAN DIEGO -- Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. announced today the successful completion of "Operation Watchdog," an unprecedented law enforcement sweep to verify that 300 registered sex offenders in San Diego are obeying the law and living at the address they have reported to authorities. Nine arrests were made.

"Because of sex offenders' propensity to reoffend, keeping tabs on them is crucial to protecting the public," Brown said. "As in many things, the price of safety is constant vigilance, and my office is committed to providing that."

Led by David Collazo, a special agent supervisor in Brown's office, Operation Watchdog involved more than 100 state, federal and local law enforcement officers, who fanned out over San Diego County yesterday to check on more than 300 registered sex offenders. Five of the 26 task force teams took along specially trained dogs to check for illegal drugs and guns.

Some 4,600 registered sex offenders live in San Diego.

Sex offenders on probation or parole were searched. The others were questioned to make sure they were complying with all state laws, including living at the same address they provided to law enforcement authorities. Arrests were made for parole and probation violations and possession of drug paraphernalia and guns.

As Operation Watchdog began yesterday morning, the Attorney General visited the command center and was briefed. Besides its enforcement function, the Attorney General's office maintains a website at www.meaganslaw.ca.gov that lists the locations of 63,000 sex offenders in the state, along with other pertinent information.

The SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement) task force that conducted the operation was formed nearly a decade ago to reduce the number of sex crimes in San Diego County and apprehend the perpetrators of those crimes. SAFE assists in criminal investigations such as the case of convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III, who was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for the 2009 rape and murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois and the February 2010 rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King. Gardner had lied to authorities about his residence, listing Riverside County instead of San Diego.

Yesterday's sweep was the first such large-scale effort, although SAFE conducts hundreds of face-to-face interviews with sex offenders each year to make sure they are in compliance with the law.

$1.25M Drug Smuggling Ploy Uncovered at

PINE VALLEY — Two Mexican nationals are being held in federal custody on drug smuggling charges after their failed attempt to smuggle more than 125 pounds of cocaine through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint Wednesday morning near Pine Valley.Prior to the seizure, U.S. Border Patrol agents came across the suspected smugglers as they arrived to the checkpoint in a Nissan Quest minivan at about 9:45 a.m.  As the agents interviewed the male driver and female passenger, both 30 years of age, they became suspicious of their nervous behavior.   

The minivan was referred to a secondary inspection, where an exterior search of the vehicle was conducted by a Border Patrol K-9 Team.  The search yielded a positive alert, prompting agents to conduct a physical search of the vehicle.

 

During the search, agents discovered 49 packages of cocaine concealed inside the door panels of the minivan.  The cocaine had a total weight of 125.68 pounds and an estimated street value of $1,256,800.

 

The suspected smuggler was arrested and later turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the narcotics.

 

The U.S. Border Patrol makes use of enforcement assets such as canines to enhance detection capabilities in an effort to prevent illicit smuggling of humans, drugs and other contraband.  During the past week, enforcement efforts involving Border Patrol canines have resulted in narcotics seizures of more than 260 pounds of cocaine throughout San Diego County.  

U.S. Border Patrol Nets 73 Pound Cocaine Seizure

US Border Patrol

 

Agents intercept more than 137 pounds of cocaine in four day span

 

PINE VALLEY, Calif. — In a recent string of narcotics seizures in San Diego County, the latest incident took place this morning as U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered more than 73 pounds of cocaine stashed inside a Chevrolet Tahoe during a checkpoint inspection near Pine Valley.

 

At about 9:30 a.m., agents working at the checkpoint came across the SUV, which was driven by a 33-year-old male Mexican national. During the inspection, the agents became suspicious of the driver’s nervous behavior and inconsistent answers and referred the vehicle to secondary inspection.

 

A Border Patrol K-9 team then conducted an exterior search of the SUV, alerting agents to the vehicle’s center console. A further search revealed a secret compartment built underneath the vehicle’s floorboard containing 28 tightly-wrapped bundles of cocaine.

 

The cocaine had a total weight of 73.89 pounds and an estimate street value of $738,980.

The suspected smuggler was arrested and turned over to a multi-agency, anti-drug task force, along with the narcotics.

 

Other recent incidents include a 26.65 pound cocaine seizure that occurred during a traffic stop near Rainbow, Calif last Saturday, a seizure of 36.8 pounds of cocaine that took place yesterday during a traffic stop in La Mesa, and a 12.3 pound heroin seizure that also took place yesterday during a checkpoint inspection near Pine Valley.

 

Highly-trained U.S. Border Patrol agents maintain a high level of vigilance to detect and interdict illicit cross-border smugglers at the immediate border and routes of egress. From October 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, U.S. Border Patrol agents have seized more than 720 pounds of cocaine in San Diego Sector.

Tagger pleads guilty to felony vandalism

LA County District Attorney's Office

LOS ANGELES – An Alhambra man accused of being the prolific tagger who painted cat figures on freeways and buildings in the downtown Los Angeles area earlier this year pleaded guilty today to a felony vandalism charge, the District Attorney’s office announced.

As part of a plea agreement, 33-year-old Rick Ordonez will play restitution to the California Department of Transportation for tagging that occurred between January and March of this year, said Deputy District Attorney Pallavi Dhawan. Restitution will be determined at Ordonez’s sentencing, scheduled for July 20 in Department 50 of Los Angeles Superior Court.

Dhawan said that under terms of the plea agreement, the defendant will be ordered to serve 90 days in jail and complete 300 hours of community service as part of three years of formal, supervised probation.

Ordonez was charged with six felony vandalism counts on July 2. The remaining counts will be dismissed at the time of sentencing.

The defendant was arrested by deputies with the Sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau on June 30 and held on $50,000 bail.

PAROLEE TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR KICKING AND SLAPPING PUPPY AFTER SWINGING IT BY THE NECK USING LEASH AS A LASSO

July 13, 2010

Orange County District Attorney's Office　

WESTMINSTER - A parolee will be arraigned today for abusing an 8-pound puppy by using a leash as a lasso to swing it by the neck during an argument with his girlfriend in a Walmart parking lot. Verne Joseph Strong, 56, Newport Beach, was charged today with one felony count of animal abuse by a caretaker and a sentencing enhancement for a prior prison conviction for second degree commercial burglary, for which he is on parole. He faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted. The People will be requesting $50,000 bail at Strong's arraignment today, Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. in Department W-14, West Justice Center, Westminster.

Strong's girlfriend, Angel Marie Holmes, 37, Newport Beach, is charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact and faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. Her arraignment date is to be determined.

At approximately 6:45 p.m. on July 11, 2010, Strong is accused of getting into a verbal argument with his girlfriend, Holmes, in a Walmart parking lot in Westminster. During the argument, he is accused of opening the trunk of his Chevrolet sedan and pulling out an 8-month-old chihuahua-dachshund mix puppy, which had been locked inside.

Strong is accused of swinging the 8-pound dog by the neck several feet off the ground using the leash in a lasso motion before throwing him to the ground. He is accused of then kicking the dog with force that caused the puppy to slide across the asphalt under the car.

Strong is accused of retrieving the dog and getting into the car with Holmes. Witnesses in the parking lot called 911. Westminster Police Officers arrived to find Strong and Holmes still parked in the Walmart parking lot, sleeping in their car.

As an officer approached the car window to make contact with the defendant, the puppy began to bark from inside the car. Strong is accused of slapping the dog in the head with a full swing of his arm, knocking the dog over and rendering him temporarily stunned and motionless as the officer watched from the other side of the window. Strong is accused of slapping the dog a second time before getting out of the car to speak with the officer.

Strong was arrested at the scene. When interviewed at the scene by officers, Holmes is accused helping Strong avoid prosecution by denying that Strong had swung or kicked the puppy and lying about the crime.

The puppy, Meanie, was taken to the humane society in Westminster for evaluation and treatment.

Deputy District Attorney Katherine David is prosecuting this case.

DRUNKEN DRIVER TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR KILLING FRIEND AND INJURING TWO OTHERS AFTER CRASHING INTO TREE AT 70 MPH

OC District Attorney's Office

SANTA ANA - A speeding drunken driver will be arraigned tomorrow for killing one friend and injuring two others after slicing his car in half by crashing into a tree. Andrew Stueber, 25, a Marine stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, is charged with one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated with sentencing enhancement allegations for causing bodily injury to two additional victims. Stueber is also charged with an infraction for failing to maintain insurance. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison. The People will be requesting $150,000 bail at Stueber's arraignment tomorrow, Friday, July 9, 2010, in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.

At approximately 2:10 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2009, Stueber is accused of driving in a Ford Mustang while under the influence of alcohol after a night of drinking with friends at Goodys Tavern in San Clemente. He is accused of speeding on Avenida Vista Montana at approximately 70 mph in a 35 mph zone with friends Edmund Vandecasteele, 22, Robert Nichols, 22, and Kyle Nance, 21, as passengers in the car.

Stueber is accused of losing control of his car while driving at a high rate of speed and crossing over onto the wrong side of the road. He is accused of crashing into a tree, severing his car in half.

Stueber was transported to the hospital to be treated for head trauma. Approximately two hours after the crash, he is accused of having a blood alcohol level of .09 percent.

Vandecasteele, who had been riding in the front passenger seat, was pronounced dead at the scene due to multiple traumatic injuries. Nichols and Nance, who had both been riding in the back seat, were transported to the hospital to be treated for cuts and bruises.

Deputy District Attorney Jason Baez of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.

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NATIONAL CARDIO LABS PAYS $3.6 MILLION TO SETTLE CIVIL ALLEGATIONS THAT DEFRAUDED FEDERAL HEALTH PROGRAMS

US Department of Justice

LOS ANGELES – The government has finalized a settlement of  “whistleblower” lawsuit in which an Orange County company that offered heart monitoring services will pay $3.6 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded government health care programs.

The lawsuit alleged that National Cardio Labs LLC; the company’s manager, Adrienne Stanman; and her husband Robert Parsons, a former manager, both of Laguna Niguel, defrauded Medicare, TRICARE, and health insurance carriers contracted through the federal government for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

The lawsuit alleged that National Cardio Labs knowingly submitted false health care claims to the federal health insurance programs for various cardiac and blood pressure diagnostic testing services performed between January 1998 and February 2004. During that time, National Cardio Labs was operating as an independent diagnostic testing facility that received, analyzed, and printed out data from Holter heart monitors and other medical devices. National Cardio Labs was based in Santa Ana, Alisa Viejo, and then Irvine, before it got out of the diagnostic testing business.

Stanman, Parsons and National Cardio Labs paid the United States nearly $2.3 million in late May, and agree to the agreement keeping an additional $584,000 that was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of an asset forfeiture action.  They will pay the balance of $720,000 by July 21.  United States District Judge David O. Carter finalized the settlement on May 13 when he dismissed a lawsuit that had been filed by two whistleblowers. This week, the government agreed with the whistleblowers that they will receive $1,115,614 from the settlement.

The lawsuit was originally filed in January 2004 by James Cast and Stanton Crowley pursuant to the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act. Mr. Cast was employed as a biller at National Cardio Labs, and Mr. Crowley was employed as a technician responsible for conducting diagnostic testing. The lawsuit alleged that National Cardio Labs billed for services it did not provide, including Holter and event monitoring services, physician services, 24-hour cardiac attended monitoring, electrocardiograms, and nerve conduction tests. Additionally, the company allegedly billed for services that it could not perform and for services for which it had already been paid.

The lawsuit also alleged that National Cardio Labs “unbundled” services, procedures, and supplies and rebilled them to obtain excessive reimbursement. For example, audio cassette tapes used in the Holter monitors were reimbursed by federal insurers as part of the Holter monitoring procedure, but National Cardio allegedly also billed for them a second time using a reimbursement code for medical tape.

Earlier this year, the United States Attorney’s Office resolved similar allegations with Matthew Parsons (Robert Parson’s brother), Rebecca Eaton Parsons (Matthew Parson’s wife), Cardiac Monitoring Services LLC, and Cardiac Research LLC. Those four defendants paid a total of $2,198,442 to settle the allegations against them.

As a result of both these cases the United States has recovered: $6,367,823.

A qui tam lawsuit is a civil action, commonly called a “whistleblower” lawsuit, that is filed by a private party called a relator. The lawsuit is filed under the federal False Claims Act on behalf of the United States. The action, which is initially filed under seal, must allege the submission of false claims seeking payment from the government. The U.S. Department of Justice is given an opportunity to review the allegations to decide whether to intervene and prosecute the case on behalf of the United States. The United States elected to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Mr. Cast and Mr. Crowley for the purpose of settling it.

In a related criminal case, Robert Parsons and Matthew Parsons both pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal health care fraud charges for using their respective cardiac laboratories, and the Holter monitoring technology developed by their grandfather, Bruce Del Mar, to defraud federal insurance programs, see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2006/119.html. Both were sentenced to one year in prison.

The investigation in the civil case was conducted by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Office of the Inspector General; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Investigations; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Inspector General.

Brown's Forensic Experts Identify Grim Sleeper Serial Killer Suspect Through Unprecedented Use of Familial DNA

LOS ANGELES - In less than two years, a new and controversial DNA searching program launched by Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has proven its worth by nabbing a man suspected of being the "Grim Sleeper" who carried out the murders of at least 10 women in the Los Angeles area over the past 25 years.

Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., 57, of Los Angeles, was arrested yesterday on multiple murder counts after the state DNA lab uncovered a DNA link between the murder-scene material and Franklin's son, Christopher Franklin. Last year, the son was convicted of a felony weapons charge, and his DNA was collected and sent to the state DNA data bank for the first time.

"In the face of a multitude of objections, we've crafted a balanced policy to respect the rights of citizens and at the same time deploy the most powerful DNA search technology available," Brown said. "Forensic scientists at our Richmond crime lab have developed unique computer software and rigorous protocols that can link a family member of a convicted offender with DNA taken from a murder or rape scene. The successful match in this case demonstrates the extreme importance of this new forensic procedure."

California became the first state to adopt a familial search program in 2008. It has been used only ten times since its inception in November 2008. The initial familial search under the new program that same month was aimed at finding the "Grim Sleeper" suspect, but it failed to find a relative in the database. A second search initiated on April 28, 2010, was successful because, in the meantime, Lonnie David Franklin's son had been convicted, his DNA analyzed and linked to the crime scenes in accord with California's unique familial search procedures.

The suspect would still be at large except for the familial search program.

Familial search works by searching the crime scene sample against convicted offenders in the state database to see if they could be related to the crime scene sample. The convicted offenders are compared to the crime scene sample by looking at how many of the DNA markers are shared and how rare the markers are.

Last month, investigators established a connection between Christopher Franklin's DNA and DNA taken from the murder scenes. After corroboration with other information, such as google mapping and where Lonnie David Franklin was living during the time the murders occurred, it was determined that Lonnie David Franklin was a viable suspect.

The Los Angeles Police Department then confirmed our finding by taking the suspect's personal DNA.

Familial DNA searches are done under rigorous guidelines established by Brown's office. They are only allowed in major violent crimes when there is a serious risk to public safety and all other investigative leads have been exhausted.

"Now we've proven how important this forensic technology is by tracking down a suspected serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles for more than two decades," Brown added.

By following rigorous protocols, scientists from the DOJ Bureau of Forensic Services were able to identify an offender in its DNA Data Bank who did not match the crime scene DNA profile of the Grim Sleeper, but shared sufficient genetic characteristics that ranked him high on a list of potential first-order male relatives, such as a father/son relationship or a brother/brother relationship.

Brown's lab conducted further testing of the DNA on the Y-chromosome of the offender and compared it to the crime scene Y-chromosome DNA profile, in order to corroborate or disprove the theory that they are close relatives. The Y-chromosome profiles matched, indicating a strong possibility that they are paternal relatives.

State agents then reviewed additional information to corroborate or disprove the theory of kinship. The information collected showed that Franklin was a viable suspect in the murders.

Finally, the Familial Search Committee, a body created to verify familial DNA search results, reviewed all available data. The Department of Justice then provided the name of the database offender to the Los Angeles Police Department as an investigative lead, asserting a reasonable probability that the offender, while not the perpetrator, is a close relative.

The Grim Sleeper

The serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" is believed to have committed at least eleven murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles since 1985. The crimes have been linked by DNA evidence, but until the familial DNA match, there was no suspect in the case.

The Grim Sleeper's eleven victims include ten women and one man between the ages of 14 and 36 years. All of the victims were strangled or shot and most were dumped in alleys in Los Angeles.

California's DNA Data Bank

At California's DNA Data Bank, formally established in 1990, offender and arrestee samples are analyzed every day at the Jan Bashinski DNA Laboratory located in Richmond, CA. Each day, local law enforcement agencies submit offender and arrestee samples in an effort to solve an unsolved case such as a burglary, sexual assault or homicide. These samples are analyzed and uploaded into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) otherwise known as the CAL-DNA Data Bank.

The state's forensics laboratory has the fourth largest DNA database in the world with more than 1.5 million convicted offender and arrestee DNA profiles and a hit rate of more than 300 hits per month. Each month the lab processes up to 25,000 and 30,000 offender/arrestee samples. Weekly, offender/arrestee sample DNA profiles are uploaded to the DNA database and searched against forensic evidence DNA profiles from crime scenes submitted by local California crime laboratories and the rest of the nation.