Penny's Blog

LOS ANGELES — A business practice among some high-volume bail bond companies has cost counties millions and placed public safety in jeopardy, according to a published report.
In an effort to increase their market share, some bail bond companies have loosened or done away with requirements for collateral when posting bail for criminal defendants, according to a review of records by the Los Angeles Times. The practice attracts more customers but provides less incentive for defendants to return to court and often leaves counties short millions of dollars in bail forfeitures, the paper reported Sunday.

The California Department of Insurance, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley and others statewide are investigating alleged corruption that could lead to charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and unlawful business practices.

State officials have no comprehensive records of bail forfeitures. But Los Angeles County hasn’t been able to collect at least $9.1 million in bail forfeitures in a two-year period ending in August 2003, according to the paper.

Of that amount, $5.9 million was attributed to bail bonds associated with Capital Bonding Corp., a Pennsylvania-based company.

Capital’s president, Vincent Smith, recently stepped down at the insistence of the firm’s bail bond insurer. Harco National Insurance Co. of Illinois took over Capital’s operations last month after realizing that it could be liable for millions of dollars in delinquent bail in California and other states, Harco’s attorneys said.

Jeff Stanley of San Jose-based Bad Boys Bail Bonds, the state’s second-largest bail bond company, said his company and others have been unfairly targeted by officials because of the complaints of smaller firms that have lost market share.

Cooley filed perjury and forgery charges July 9 against one of Bad Boys’ employees, Cindy Abreu, accusing the paralegal of filing false affidavits in court to delay payment of forfeitures. Abreu pleaded not guilty July 16 and declined to comment. She faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted.

Bail bondsmen in California traditionally have required defendants to pledge collateral, such as a home, to secure the full bail — but that’s not required under state law. The firms under investigation often skip it and sometimes discount the cash commission the defendant must pay, Cooley said.

Cooley estimates that uncollected bail forfeitures have cost Los Angeles County $30 million over the last three years. Statewide, unpaid forfeitures may total $100 million to $150 million over the same period, said Steve Krimel, a bail expert and attorney who represents a small bail firm that is losing out to high-volume competitors.

COLUMBIA – Police say a man posing as a police officer is calling local businesses asking them to wire money to California for a fake bail bond.

Officers took a report from a manager at Buckingham’s restaurant last week who said she received a call from a man calling himself “Officer Potter.” The man told her a friend had been arrested for DWI and needed money for bail. Claiming the Columbia Police Department had adopted a new policy, the man instructed the manager to wire money via Money Gram to California.

Columbia Police warn that this incident is similar to one reported in January where a manager at Steak N Shake received a phone call requesting bond. In that incident the caller claimed to be from the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

In both incidents, the caller identified himself as “Officer Potter.”

The couple that managed to sneak into last week’s White House state dinner will be the subject of a congressional hearing on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Secret Service is conducting its own investigation to determine whether their behavior merits criminal charges. What laws, if any, might the Salahis have broken?
One that prohibits trespassing on federal property and one that forbids lying to the Secret Service. Title 18, § 1036 of the U.S. Code forbids “Entry by false pretenses to any real property, vessel, or aircraft of the United States or secure area of any airport or seaport.” That would include the White House grounds. In other words, if they lied their way into the party—or withheld information that should have been disclosed—they might have broken the law. Another statute, § 1001, is a broad prohibition on lying to the federal government, which of course includes the Secret Service. That law can be used to prosecute anyone who “knowingly and willfully … falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact” or “makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” to the government. That could include lying about your arrest record on a government job application, claiming a fake deduction on your taxes, or telling someone you’re on the White House invite list when you’re not.

Just because the couple showed up uninvited doesn’t mean they broke the law. The prosecutor—most likely the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia—would have to prove that the couple intended to deceive. (The couple insists that they were invited.) The trespassing statute requires that they entered under “false pretenses,” which means making intentionally false statements or having an “intent to defraud.” The statute that prohibits lying to the feds requires that they do so “knowingly and willfully.” So the prosecutor has to show that the couple did not merely drift past lax security. The Salahis must have deliberately fibbed their way into the party. That could mean saying they’re on the list when they knew they were not—a false statement—or, if there was a requirement that they show an invitation, declining to do so—hence “concealing” or “covering up” important information. If the couple honestly thought they’d been invited, even if they weren’t, it would be hard to show willful deceit.

The typical punishment for trespassing under § 1036 is a fine and/or jail time for up to six months. (If you’re trespassing in order to commit a terrorist attack, that goes up to eight years.) Lying to the government can get you a fine and up to five years. If prosecutors can prove that one crime led to another—that the Salahis trespassed onto government property specifically so they could commit a felony offense by lying to the government, which in some cases can be a felony—the combined offense could yield a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

When Buford O. Furrow Jr. confessed to shooting several Jewish children, he reportedly told law-enforcement officials that he wanted to send “a wake up call to America to kill Jews.” He has been charged with six “hate crimes,” which makes him eligible for the death penalty under California law. What is a hate crime?

Hate crime” does not mean what it seems to. If you kill your mother-in-law because you hate her, that is not a hate crime. Hate crimes are crimes motivated by racial, religious, gender, or other prejudice. Hate crime laws generally impose tougher punishments when crimes such as rape, arson, assault, intimidation, and damage of property are motivated by bias. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have hate crime laws. The definition of a hate crime varies. Twenty-one states include mental and physical disability in their lists. Twenty-two states include sexual orientation. Three states and the District of Columbia impose tougher penalties for crimes based on political affiliation.

Some states require that bias-motivation be a substantial factor in a crime; others require it to be the sole factor. The federal Hate Crimes Sentence Enhancement Act of 1994 increases maximum sentences for crimes committed because the victim was engaged in activities such as attending public school. In 1996 Congress made it a federal crime to burn a house of worship. If passed, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 would increase the federal role in prosecuting hate crimes.

Some scholars believe hate crime laws are unwise or even unconstitutional. They argue that criminals should be punished for their crimes, not for their motives, and that making a particular belief–even a repugnant one–a factor in sentencing violates the First Amendment. But the Supreme Court unanimously rejected this argument in 1993.

Backers of a California initiative to legalize marijuana said they would submit far more signatures Thursday than needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot.
Volunteers intended to submit about 700,000 signatures collected across all 58 California counties, campaign spokesman Dan Newman said. The initiative needs about 434,000 signatures from registered voters to make the ballot.

“I think it’s cool. Like the governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) said, ‘Lets have a debate.’ So let’s have a debate,” said Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project.

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults. It also would allow limited growing on private property and permit local governments to decide whether to legalize and tax pot sales.

Standing in the way will be a coalition of religious and law enforcement groups that argue marijuana is harmful and an immoral approach to fixing the state’s financial problems.

“We’re going to talk about blood money, about trying to raise taxes on the backs of our youth,” said Bishop Ron Allen, a pastor and head of the International Faith Based Coalition, an anti-drug religious group.

Potential revenue from legal pot sales would encourage young people to use the drug, Allen said.

The ballot measure would require jail time for anyone who sells or gives marijuana to children. It also forbids smoking pot in front of minors.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors is expected to meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss the public release of an investigative report into alleged sexual harassment by District Attorney Michael A. Ramos.
The investigation kicked off in August after Cheryl Ristow, an investigative technician at the District Attorney’s Office, filed a formal complaint with the human resources department alleging sexual harassment and workplace retaliation after an article mentioning the alleged affair between Ramos and Ristow appeared in a local newspaper.

Ramos has denied the allegations since they first surfaced in May, chalking them up to a well-organized and well-funded smear campaign by his political adversaries.

On Jan. 15, the county announced that Ramos had been cleared in the investigation and had not retaliated against Ristow. The report did not address whether or not Ramos and Ristow carried on a 17-month affair, as Ristow, a Redlands resident, alleges.

That question “is irrelevant to whether or not (Ramos) or individuals at his request or suggestion retaliated against Ristow,” according to a memo released by the county summarizing the results of the investigation.

The county commissioned a Santa Monica law firm to conduct an independent investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, and is paying the firm $140,000.

On Tuesday, the board will likely discuss the potential release of the 200-page report to the public and any redactions that need to be made in order to protect the privacy of certain individuals named in the report, county spokesman David Wert said.
“The only reason the report hasn’t been released already is because of privacy for all the people who were interviewed and mentioned in the report,” Wert said. “It takes time for the attorneys to go through it and evaluate everything that might constitute a privacy violation.”

The report could be released to the public as early as Tuesday, said Wert.

“But then again, I don’t know what stage they’re in in the review process,” he said.

joe.nelson@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-386-3874

Law enforcement officials throughout the region and across the state are bracing for a possible spike in crime as thousands of state and county prisoners are returned to the streets under a new law aimed at cutting government expenses.
More than 130 non-violent San Bernardino County jail inmates have been turned loose early since Monday and more than 1,000 others could soon join them on the outside.

That’s in addition to 6,500 non-violent state prison inmates who are slated for early release in the next 12 months.

“Even though the prisoners that will be released may not be violent offenders, they’re still offenders and I don’t think we should be surprised to see our property crimes increase,” Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann said.

The state’s Department of Finance estimates Senate Bill 18 will save anywhere from $400 million to $500 million annually by issuing more time-served credits for good behavior and placing low-risk offenders on unsupervised parole.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Phelps said the law amending the state penal code also affects inmates in county jails.

A group of judges, prosecutors and public defenders are reviewing about 300 San Bernardino County inmates each day. In all, they’ll inspect the files of more than 1,200 inmates held in San Bernardino County jails who could be eligible for early release.

“If (inmates) are eligible, they’re recalculating their release date from one-third to half-time off for good and hard work credits,” said sheriff’s Lt. Tom Bradford, who oversees Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore. “We’re going to be releasing inmates all week.”
State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Gordon Hinkle said the new law will only apply to low-risk inmates incarcerated for non-violent crimes. The law will not apply to sex offenders, gang members, murderers or other violent criminals.

“This is a very targeted group. These are people that we expect will make it on the outside,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle says parole officer caseload ratios will fall from 70-1 to 45-1 and will allow them to “focus their efforts on violent offenders and gang members.”

Upon release, qualifying offenders will still be subject to warrantless search and seizure by local police, Hinkle said. He describes the law as the parole reform that many activists have called for to reduce prison spending and recidivism.

San Bernardino Police Chief Keith Kilmer said his administrators have kept in close contact with probation and parole officials, having regular meetings to discuss the changing law and how law enforcement will be affected.

The department’s four parole coordinators will continue to closely monitor prisoners who are released early, even those who are given “unsupervised” parole.

And while the chief said he has noticed a “slight” increase in non-violent offenders returning to San Bernardino this week, he believes that police can handle the influx of criminals returning to the area.

“I think we’re all mindful that a higher level of recidivists are going to impact public safety, including the crime decreases we’ve seen,” Kilmer said. “As long as we stay in tune with that and we’re managing our parolee populations, then I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to keep a handle on it.”

San Bernardino officials have been seeking funding to implement the Community Re-entry Education/Employment Services and Training Program, which would provide high-risk offenders with support and services that they need.

Kent Paxton, Director of Community Safety and Violence Prevention for San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris, said Cal State San Bernardino is negotiating a contract with the state corrections department that would bring a day reporting center to the city.

The center would require high-risk offenders to physically report to the center each day and participate in classes to help them successfully re-enter society.

Carolyn Eggleston, director of Cal State’s Center for the Study of Correctional Education, said such a center would work with state parole officers and local police departments.

“We had a problem before (the law took effect),” Eggleston said. “In San Bernardino, we’ve had a high rate of (parolees) coming back to our community. Having additional numbers released, it just exacerbates the problem.”

At 200,000 people, the city has about 10 percent of the county’s population, but 20 percent of the parolee population, with about 2,000. The number will grow if the state loses an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a ruling that it release about 40,000 inmates over the next two years.

Bueermann, the Redlands chief, said he plans to send more officers to training at the Parole Agent Academy in Galt and create an in-house training program to teach police the ins and outs of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The chief is also searching for federal funds that would pay for two officers to focus solely on parolee re-entry issues.

“We ignore this issue at our own community public safety peril,” Bueermann said. “This is completely unavoidable. We have to engage this issue head on. There is no dodging this.

“This increase is not only going to be the result of people coming out of prisons, but also from people that won’t be going to prison. We’re going to see more people that would have been incarcerated, in our communities

GARDEN GROVE – Six men, several of them said to be senior members of a Garden Grove street gang, were arrested this morning in a pre-dawn raid that uncovered a stash of weapons.

Over the last six months, the city has seen an outbreak of violence due to a turf war between two of the city’s gangs, Lt. Travis Whitman of the Garden Grove police said.

A Garden Grove Police gang unit officer stands near a cache of seized firearms from search warrants that were served in several locations in Garden Grove, Thursday morning, Jan 28.

One of the men was not publicly identified because he may be a juvenile. The other five, all from Garden Grove, were Edward Argueta, 26, Ysrael Garza, 28, Fernando Garza, 29, Oscar Padilla, 19, and Gregorio Pinto, 27.

Investigator Pat Gildea of the Garden Grove police was the lead detective on the case, which resulted in a search of seven locations in Garden Grove and Anaheim.

The warrant was served at 5:30 a.m. by 65 police officers from the Garden Grove and Santa Ana police departments and the Orange County Probation Department.

Pinto and the possible minor were arrested on outstanding misdemeanor warrants; the others were arrested on weapons charges, Whitman said.

Police found 13 firearms, including four shotguns, four rifles, and five handguns. Two of the rifles were assault rifles: an antique SKS semi-automatic, which was the predecessor to the AK-47, and an M1A rifle with scope and detachable magazine.

Police also found more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, including a bandolier of shotgun shells.

Police will conduct ballistics tests on the weapons to see if they were used in any shootings, Whitman said.

GARDEN GROVE – An Orange County Superior Court judge today signed a court order against a Garden Grove street gang, prohibiting members from operating or gathering as part of a gang.

According to a news release issued by the Orange County District Attorney’s office, Judge Kazharu Makino signed a permanent injunction against the street gang, which Garden Grove police officials identified as the Hard Times street gang.

“All documented members of the gang will be subject to injunctive gang terms to prevent them from terrorizing their community and acting as a public nuisance,” the statement read. Police officers served 49 alleged members with the injunction, which will be enforced by the Garden Grove Police Department.

A gang injunction is basically a civil order that bans documented gang members from participating in specific activities, which may not necessarily be criminal. The goal of these injunctions is to deter and curb intimidating or harassing behavior. If a gang member violates the terms of the injunction, he or she could face misdemeanor charges.

The District Attorney’s office says this is the first injunction in Orange County that names the gang as the defendant, as opposed to past injunctions, which also named individual gang members. The injunction prevents gang members from standing, sitting, walking, driving, bicycling, gathering or congregating anywhere in public unless they are in school or a church. They are also banned from activities such as selling drugs, consuming alcohol in public, flashing gang signs, wearing gang clothes, fighting or trespassing, officials said.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against the Orange County District Attorney and the Orange Police Department, claiming they issued a gang injunction against individuals without offering those individuals due process to argue that they don’t belong to a gang. But in November, a federal judge denied ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction to block that gang injunction.

The District Attorney’s office this time decided to seek an injunction against the gang instead of individuals, said Susan Schroeder, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office.

“We believe that it is the best legal way to put this gang on notice,” she said.

Officials describe this street gang as “a violent, traditional, turf-oriented gang that has been active since the 1970s with approximately 190 documented members.”

The injunction was the result of escalating gang activity area east of Newhope Street, west of the Santa Ana Flood Channel, south of Chapman Avenue and north of West First Street, officials said. Between December 2005 and May 2009, officials have documented several crimes including attempted murder, murder, assault, weapons violations, burglary, drug violations, graffiti and robbery in these neighborhoods.

Several residents complained to police fearing for their own safety and that of their children, officials said. According to the DA’s statement, a mother told police she was afraid to send her children out to play while an apartment manager in the area complained that he is struggling to fill vacant units after ashooting. Residents called the incidents “violent” and “out of control.”

Former USC linebacker Rey Maualuga was arrested early this morning in Kentucky on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Now playing for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, Maualuga was booked at 3 a.m. today in the Kenton County (Ky.) Detention Center after Covington police said he was caught in a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire driving under the influence. (Booking photo, right)

Maualuga had a blood-alcohol level of .157, according to the police report. The legal limit is .08.

Maualuga appeared in Kenton County District Court via a video link (see video below) from the jail. He pleaded not guilty, despite admitting to having six alcoholic drinks, according to the police report.

Excerpts of the police report have been published by the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“Maualuga smelled of ‘intoxicants’ and told the officer that he had ‘about six Captain and Coke drinks,’ ” the report states. The officer gave Maualuga field sobriety tests, which he failed, the report states.

” ‘Subject had slurred speech, blood shot, watery eyes and he was unsteady on his feet,’ the officer wrote.”

Maualuga, 23, was also charged with careless driving. Police spokesman Spike Jones said Maualuga allegedly hit a parking meter and two parked cars. He is scheduled to next appear in court Feb. 25.

A three-year starter at USC, Maualuga registered 273 career tackles, 22.5 tackles for losses, nine sacks and five interceptions for the Trojans.