Subject: Orange County Sheriff's Office

• Carona Camp Claiming Victory; No runoff necessary

  Sheriff Mike "Calamity" Carona's campaign officials are claiming the two-term sheriff will easily surpass the 50 percent plus one vote requirement tonight. If true, that outcome would negate the need for a runoff in November. And the man who once promised he'd seek no more than two terms would get his third. The Carona camp says challenger Bill Hunt will finish second with about 30 percent of the vote; Ralph Martin will get under 10 percent. In recent weeks, Hunt has claimed he'd win a majority

  June 6, 2006

• Tuesday's Headlines & Surprises: Poor Mike Carona

  OC's Embarrassing Buford T. Justice: Law-enforcement helicopters and ground crews normally — blatantly — tail me. You should have seen them after I revealed that local cops had planted a handgun on a DUI suspect, after I wrote about a cop who ejaculated on a female motorist in Laguna Beach, and when I published photos of Sheriff Mike Carona warmly embracing a female Russian, uh, “interpreter” in his Moscow hotel room. Anyway, the cop harassment has increased recently, and I'd wondered w

  July 17, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Dirty Cop Sting

  Catch a crooked cop: Nope. Sorry. Not here in the USA. No way. But in Mexico, authorities want a no corruption zone for the the five-mile road from the Tijuana border south to the beach. Officials are “installing cameras to catch extortion attempts, publicizing that people can pay tickets with credit cards and transferring corrupt cops,” writes Richard Marosi of the LA Times. “They've deployed a squad of female traffic officers to offer courteous help to tourists. They've even declared th

  July 26, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines: Fishnets: yes. Hijabs: no.

  Fishnets fine, but no hijabs: Souhair Khatib, a Muslim lady who was jailed for a probation violation last November, is suing the Orange County Sheriff's Department for allegedly violating her religious rights by forcing her to remove her head scarf. Jail officials say they had her hijab removed because it could have been used to choke someone. But Khatib says she saw another jailed woman wearing fishnet stockings that were not confiscated - couldn't those have been used to choke as well? Hm? Hm

  September 5, 2007

• A Simple Challenge to Sheriff Carona

  Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona--indicted by federal prosecutors for public corruption--claims that surreptitious wires worn by co-conspirator Don Haidl, a former assistant sheriff, prove his innocence. Indeed, the sheriff's lawyer says that Carona “is so anxious to fight these charges that we have to hold him back.” If this is true and not just shameless spin, I challenge Carona to do something in his power: play the contents of the tapes in their entirety for the public now. Show us

  December 27, 2007

• Game Over? Carona resigns!

  The AP and OC Register report that Sheriff Michael Carona will announce his resignation today in order to better focus on the case against him. We were sitting here pinching ourselves when we wandered over to the OCSD blog and read this statement from Carona. Guess it ain't a dream: Over the past few weeks it has become clear to me that the interests of the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the residents of Orange County would be best served if I am not distracted from my duties while defe

  January 14, 2008

• Ex-Sheriff's Dept. Officials Create Bold, New Firm!

  Over at the Orange County Register, ace reporter Peggy Lowe writes tonight on Orange County Sheriff's Department blog news that two of indicted ex-Sheriff Mike Carona's Yes Folks (YF) quit today: assistant sheriffs Jo Ann Galisky and Steve Bishop. Somehow the third and final major YFer embarrassment, Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson, remains . . . sitting atop the massive police agency, repeatedly uttering four words: "I am the sheriff' and waiting, nervously, for guidance from Carona/GOP operativ

  February 29, 2008

• Ex-Congressional Aide Sent to Slammer

  Parents of 7th, 8th and 9th grade boys can relax a wee bit more this afternoon. Jeffrey Ray Nielsen--a onetime congressional aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and a serial pedophile--is now in custody of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Superior Court Judge David Thompson sentenced the 37-year-old Nielsen, son of former Fountain Valley Mayor Ben Nielsen, to three years in an as-yet-to-be-named California prison. Read the full story of today's hearing in next week's editio

  March 25, 2008

• Slain Deputy Faced Criminal Charges

  Sources tell OC Weekly that the Orange County Sheriff's Department deputy found dead in a car parked in Aliso Viejo yesterday had been the subject of a sex crimes investigation in the District Attorney's office and may have opted to kill himself rather than face arrest. Susan Schroeder at the DA's office said she will release a statement today.

  April 3, 2008

• District Attorney Seeks to Grab DNA Crime Lab from Sheriff

  While county supervisors struggle to pick a replacement for indicted ex-sheriff Mike Carona, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas is seeking to rob the Orange County Sheriff's Department of its nationally-recognized forensic DNA crime lab. According to a newly released county staff report for the upcoming June 3 supervisors meeting, Rackauckas wants the board to remove sheriff's control over the unit "in order to streamline processes, improve communication and maximize operational efficiencies."

  May 30, 2008

• Sandra Hutchens' First Action as OC Sheriff Should Be...

  ...Getting her boys and girls in green off Segways. Yesterday, as I was waiting for someone to pick me up from John Wayne Airport, I saw a sheriff's deputy traipsing around in a Segway, those overhyped, useless monstrosities of technology. If I see a deputy walking around, I respect their authority. In a car, I run; in a helicopter, I hide. When they're on horseback, I stare at their beautiful equine; on bike, I might snicker. But when I saw the deputy last night, I did the only logical thing:

  June 13, 2008

• Armed and Dangerous

  November 4, 1999

• Carona Corruption Trial Quote Of The Day

  "He had no problem being corrupt. He just didn't want to be stupid about it." --Former Orange County Sheriff's Department Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl testifying this afternoon in Santa Ana about FBI indicted ex-Sheriff Mike Carona's private views on taking bribes, lying to the public and illegally financing campaigns. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 5, 2008

• Look! Up in the Sky! It's Bad News for Mike Carona?

  "He looks up in the sky and says, 'From here on out we've got to be real careful and be concerned about [FBI] surveillance.'" --Ex-Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl testifying today about Mike Carona's 2002 private reaction to speculation in the Orange County Sheriff's Department that federal agents had begun a corruption investigation into their activities. Carona now says he's innocent of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Haidl. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 12, 2008

• Mike Carona Showed Newport Beach Police Who Is Boss!

  "I, uh, also want you to know that not only isn't he getting his sheriff's badge, there won't be a mother fucker from the Orange County Sheriff's Department that'll be there. So I called all of the command staff together and I said, 'Well, you know, I can't tell people what to do on their own time, but I'm telling all you guys cause I pay you and you're at will. If any of you show up to that thing, you're done.'" --Then-Sheriff Mike Carona, who says the Bible governs his daily actions, caught o

  November 12, 2008

• Sheriff Mike Carona Loved Don Haidl

  "I'm tired of being scared. I'm tired of, you know, you know, like, like this. I'm tired of, you know, being embarrassed to hang out with my friends. You know, fuck it. I love you man and you, like, you know, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be the Sheriff of Orange County." --Knowing of federal prosecutor Brett Sagel's investigation of his activities, Sheriff Mike Carona--a man President George W. Bush appointed to a powerful national security position--talking in a secretly recorded July 15,

  November 12, 2008

• Carona Ordered "Back Door" Treatment for Gang Rapist's Father

  "They took me in the back door. They were good guys." --Millionaire Don Haidl explaining today in Sheriff Mike Carona's federal corruption trial that Carona had ordered the Dignitary Protection Unit of the Orange County Sheriff's Department to give him special, taxpayer-funded courthouse escorts during the early stages of the gang rape case against his son. Gregory Haidl and two other young men were eventually convicted of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl during a Newport Beach high schoo

  November 12, 2008

• Mike Carona Corruption Trial Quote of the Day!

  "He would be the fucking sheriff of Orange County. They'd be, uh, he'd be riding fat. All he had to do was be a white guy about it." --Then-Sheriff Mike Carona speaking to a confidante without knowing he's being recorded during an August 2007 meeting and bitching that George Jaramillo, his onetime best friend and second in command of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, could have taken over the agency if he'd obeyed Carona's wishes. All of Carona's inner circle--Jaramillo, Don Haidl and Joe

  November 14, 2008

• Sheriff Mike Carona Corruption Trial Quote of the Day! Part Two

  "The cover story was that he wasn't there to obtain a blowjob. It was to sign [legal] documents." --Prosecution witness and current Orange County Sheriff's Department employee Sandy Murphy testifying today how Mike Carona and his mistress Debra Hoffman helped devise a lie to mask the assertion that Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo had been found getting a blowjob in a county vehicle. Later, Carona and Hoffman--who are co-defendants with Carona's wife in a public corruption case--soured on

  December 9, 2008

• Former UFC Fighter Kimo Leopoldo Arrested in Tustin

  TMZ is reporting that former UFC fighter Kimo Leopoldo was arrested this afternoon in Tustin after police discovered a "small amount of what is believed to be meth" in his car.What's interesting is what led them to search his car in the first place: He was dressed in a Long Beach police jumpsuit. He's still in custody, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, and police are looking into how he got his hands on the uniform in the first place.  He is scheduled to appear in court

  February 16, 2009

• It's a Quick Read 4: weekend and Monday editions

  Orange County Register: A six-man, six-woman jury recommended death for John Fitzgerald Kennedy--no, not that John Fitzgerald Kennedy; that one is already dead, and this one is a 43-year-old career criminal with the gang moniker "Crazy John"--in the murders at sea of a Newport Beach couple. The same jury had convicted Kennedy of two counts of murder with special circumstances in the 2004 slayings of yacht owners Thomas and Jackie Hawks. "Crazy John" showed no emotion as he got the chai

  March 2, 2009

• OC Union and Democratic Activists Call County Board Shameful

  Spirited Orange County union and Democratic Party officials gathered this morning outside the county's Hall of Administration to protest the Board of Supervisors' firing of more than 200 Social Service Agency employees as one way to address massive budget woes. With a backdrop of placard-waving senior citizens, eight speakers hailed the event's theme: "Save our seniors! Not political perks!" Organizers claim that county supervisors and top managers continue to hand themselves $21 million in annu

  March 3, 2009

• See the "Supe Snoop" Footage for Yourself

  Surely by now you've heard about the latest scandal to rock the Orange County Sheriff's Department: "Supe Snoop." If you haven't heard about it, you owe it to yourself to read R. Scott Moxley's cover story on Sheriff Sandra Hutchens this week. The footage above that opens over the shoulder of county Supervisor Chris Norby is referenced in this paragraph:On Jan. 13, Hutchens sent more than 20 armed deputies to a Board of Supervisors public meeting, reasoning that protesters of her CCW policy po

  March 26, 2009

• Equal-Opportunity Psycho Crew

  August 28, 2003

• Letters

  'Dude, what were you thinking?'

  June 7, 2007

• Anthrax Schmanthrax

  November 1, 2001

• Eviction Blues

  Homeless musician vows crusade against landlords

  February 8, 2007

• Street-Fighting Men

  July 20, 2006

• Welcome Home, Mr. Haidl

  March 30, 2006

• 'Like a Machete Cutting Through Traffic'

  February 23, 2006

• The Year in Diary of a Mad County

  Worst. Year. Ever!
  

  December 29, 2005

• Diary of a Mad County

  December 15, 2005

• Noise Nazis

  September 2, 2004

• Murder, He Wrote

  November 6, 2003

• Electric Horsemen

  February 20, 2003

• The Huckster Cometh

  July 22, 1999

• OC Deputies Outraged That DA Attacked Their Honesty; Demand Top Resignation!

  Something rare happened on Friday, April 17--and it wasn't just that the Orange County Register was pretending it had broken news about a trial it's reporters hadn't attended. On that date in 6 B.C., so I'm told, the sun, Jupiter, Saturn and our moon were aligned. I won't pretend to know what astrological activities were in place yesterday, but something bizarre happened here on Earth: usually in lockstep, Orange County law enforcement bitterly split ranks.Specifically, the Orange County Distric

  April 18, 2009

• To The Very End, Mike Carona is a Shameless Hypocrite

  It's not a crime if the sheriff does itPlease, please, please don't punish me for my criminal activity!--The position ex-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona is taking with U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford, who will decide on April 27 what punishment is fitting for the former top cop's repeated illegal efforts to sabotage a federal grand jury investigating corruption at the Orange County Sheriff's Department. In other words, judge, Carona doesn't want you to follow his own official campai

  April 26, 2009

• Prosecutors Recommend Nine Years in Prison For Mike Carona

  Home Sweet Home?Ex-Sheriff Mike Carona should serve 108 months or nine years in prison for attempting to sabotage a grand jury investigation into abuse of power and bribery at the Orange County Sheriff's Department, according to a brief filed today by the U.S. Department of Justice.The recommendation, which comes from prosecutors Brett Sagel and Ken Julian, is 30 months more than what a federal probation officer recently recommended based on sentencing guidelines. Some will see this as ironical

  April 10, 2009

• LA Times: It's Good That Sheriff Sandra Hutchens Is Bucking OC Power Elite

  The opinion page staff at the Los Angeles Times today handed Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens an endorsement of sorts by hailing her policies as "overdue" change following "the political shenanigans" of sheriff-turned-felon Mike Carona. Their evidence that the sheriff is moving the Orange County Sheriff's Department in the right direction? According to the Times, "The cozy circle of the local power elite" and their "political gunslingers" are angrily squealing about her reform efforts."The

  May 26, 2009

• Crime Time: Spot This Week's Celebrity Victim!

  Hey, juvies, it's our weekly Weekly round-up of Orange County police calls . . .MONDAY, JUNE 29 The pre-vandalized Scott BorasAnyone Fitting the Description of a Major League Baseball Team Owner Spotted Outside Before the Crime? The windows of super-agent Scott Boras' Land Rover were vandalized while he was inside Bandera restaurant in Corona del Mar this evening. The vehicle reportedly sustained damage totalling $2,000--equal to about what Manny Ramirez earns every time he inhales. TUESDAY, JUN

  July 7, 2009

• Register Readers Wrongly (and Repeatedly) Convicted Elderly Hubby of Murdering Wife

  Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentR.I.P., Margot Walters​The Orange County Register reports the body of a woman found Wednesday night in Woodfield Park has been identified by the coroner as Margot Walters, who went missing in Aliso Viejo July 17. The 76-year-old, who'd exchanged words with her husband before she wandered off, died of natural causes, according to the coroner.Guess that means the Register-reading Nancy Graces who convicted hubby Egon Walters of murder here and here a

  July 31, 2009

• Crime Time: Nekkid Folks, Robber Baby, Strip-Club Stabbers, Loaded Brownie and a Flaming Bag of Poo

  Courtesy of Orange Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentWe call this collage "Robberies, Solved and Unsolved." Top left: a man hands a teller a note demanding cash at Chase Bank in Orange. Top right: Booking photo of Adam J. Bennett, 20, of Santa Ana, who is suspected of robbing $700 from a Mission Viejo Wells Fargo on July 27. Bottom left and right: Surveillance photos from armed robbery that occurred around 9:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Orange Olive Mini Market in Orange. ​It'

  August 18, 2009

• Crime Time: An Especially San Clemente/ Huntington Beach Edition

  It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--with an especially heavy emphasis on San Clemente and Huntington Beach. MONDAY, OCT. 5 He died for your remote. Who's the Patron Saint of Stupidity Again? A 50-inch Viso plasma TV was stolen out of the beer tent erected for the weekend Fall Festival at Sts. Simon & Jude Catholic Church, 20444 Magnolia St., Huntington Beach, some time before 3:30 a.m. What's more disturbing: the crime, leaving a plasma unattended in a tent overnig

  October 13, 2009

• Crime Time: F-Bombers, Tiki Takers, Beatles Fans, Creepy Molesters and Tawny Kitaen on the Loose

  FACES OF TAWNY Actress, ex-Anaheim Angel wife, car hood buffer, supposedly reformed druggie and all-around hot mess Tawny Kitaen is shown on a February 2004 Weekly sex issue cover (left); in a booking photo from her April 2002 assault on then husband Chuck Finley in Newport Beach (top right); and writhing in the famous Whitesnake video of 1987. See her latest brush with the law under Saturday, Sept. 26.​It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more Tawny Kitaen arrests

  September 29, 2009

• Did the Moon Rise for Last Time at Annual Mugs Away Event?

  Photo by Christopher VictorioIt's mighty uncrowded along the fence as folks bare their asses for passing trains Saturday.After getting the greenlight from the Laguna Niguel City Council, the Orange County Sheriff's Department beefed up its presence before Saturday's annual mooning of passing trains outside Mugs Away Saloon. The show of farce apparently worked. After last year's assfest drew 8,000 revelers, some of whom authorities claimed were too rowdy and raunchy, this year's mooning under a

  July 13, 2009

• Crime Time: Double the Fun Starring [Alleged] Skeevy Teachers, Fake Cop Robbers and Ryan Seacrest's Strange Stalker

  It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--actually the Weekly's TWO weekly round-up as an attempt is made to make up for lost vacation time.Left courtesy of E! Entertainment, right courtesy of Orange Police DepartmentRyan Seacrest (left) gets paid another visit from his No. 1 Army special forces fan, Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr.​SEACREST OUT, UZOMAH BACK IN Remember Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr., the 25-year-old Lakewood resident who pleaded guilty last month in Orange County Superior

  November 4, 2009

• Crime Time: Late Octogenarian Lesbian Sex Edition

  It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local crimes and police calls--now with more . . . um . . . you'll see. (Not that you'll want to.) TUESDAY, NOV. 10 ​ ​ Nothing to See Here Folks. . . . Seriously, You Don't Want to Look This call came in around 1:10 p.m. concerning activities near the corner of Aliso Creek Road and Enterprise in Aliso Viejo: Two women in their late 80s (!) making out in a black convertible and lifting their shirts. And that's when the heavy

  November 17, 2009

• DUI Checkpoints Set For Stanton and Villa Park

  ​Here's government-sponsored motivation for you to make it safely to Thanksgiving. The Orange County Sheriff's Department announced this morning that its "DUI Task Force" will conduct "roving patrols" in Stanton and Villa Park on Friday, November 20. Deputies will target areas that attract drunks and collisions.

  November 19, 2009

• Cops to Be Out in Force Throughout OC This Weekend, "Black Friday"

  ​Various Orange County communities are going to be crawling with extra cops this weekend as pre-Thanksgiving pushes are made to get drunks, druggies, the unlicensed and unsafe motorcyclists off the road and to ensure everyone is buckling up.R. Scott Moxley blogged earlier today about the Orange County Sheriff's Department setting up DUI checkpoints in Stanton and Villa Park on Friday. The next night, the Garden Grove Police Department conducts one from 9 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday at the i

  November 19, 2009