Susan Kang Schroeder

California Attorney General Is Investigating Orange County Judge For Alleged Quid Pro Quo Sexual Affair

The California Attorney General's office is investigating allegations that a married Orange County Superior Court judge may have enjoyed a quid pro quo sexual affair that landed a woman a job in the District Attorney's office, OC Weekly has learned.Judge Scott Steiner, the target of the investigatio ... More >>

Sources: OC DA Investigating Costa Mesa Police Union for Possible Crimes in Jim Righeimer DUI Set-Up Last Year

Remember that weird-ass story last year involving Costa Mesa councilmember Jim Righeimer, a private dick who called 911 saying Riggy was DUI-ing after emerging from Skosh Monahan's, and Costa Mesa PD summarily forcing Riggy out of his house and giving him sobriety tests even though all he had to dri ... More >>

DA Adviser Mike Schroeder Pleads Guilty To Halloween DUI & Issues Apology

Michael J. Schroeder--former chairman of the California Republican Party, a close adviser to Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and the co-owner of a chiropractic insurance company--pleaded guilty today to DUI, according to Al Stokke, Schroeder's attorney.A California Highway Patrol off ... More >>

Tony Rackauckas Wants His Prosecutors To File More Public Corruption Cases

Hold your hat!Either Orange County flipped upside down in a cosmic miracle or a sudden gust of hurricane force wind tossed District Attorney Tony Rackauckas on his head and gave him amnesia.Rackauckas first ran for the county's top prosecutor job in 1998 while promising to shift agency resources awa ... More >>

Haidl Gang Rape's Jane Doe Gives Key Speech at OC's Victims' Rights March in Santa Ana

She was so excited last night that she didn't get much sleep, but the sexual assault victim known for a decade only as "Jane Doe" in the infamous Haidl Gang Rape case delivered a potent, uplifting speech today at the 4th annual Orange County Victims' Rights March and Rally in Santa Ana.Sharing the s ... More >>

Meet Jane Doe from the Haidl Gang Rape Trial

OC's most famous sexual-assault victim breaks her silence on the 10th anniversary of the Haidl gang rape

Exclusive: Itzcoatl Ocampo Fixated on Full Metal Jacket Before Alleged Serial Killings, Lawyer Reports

​If you want an insight into the bizarre thinking of accused Orange County serial killer Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, you have to appreciate the impact movies, especially war films, and music lyrics had on the former U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran.That's the assertion of Ocampo defense lawyer Randall ... More >>

Todd Spitzer To Give Keynote Speech At Chapman University Law Event

​If you've never had the chance to hear Todd Spitzer give a speech, you can wipe that accomplishment off your bucket list later this month.Spitzer, the former high-ranking prosecutor and Republican state Assemblyman who will soon return to his old post as a county supervisor, is scheduled to give ... More >>

World's Greatest Nazi Love Story Born in Southern California in Time for Valentine's Day

Kinky love is in the air!​On a planet bombarded with daily stories of horrific violence and cruelty, there is one true Valentine Day's tale that proves once bitter, seemingly eternal enemies can reconcile and fall into passionate, puppy love.Think: Hezbollah soldier hooking up with an Orthodox rab ... More >>

John D. Barnett Is the Attorney for the Damned

[Moxley Confidential] The veteran criminal-defense lawyer insists his cop client didn't murder Kelly Thomas

[UPDATED with Ban Approved:] Laguna Hills is Latest City to Prohibit Pervs from Parks

​UPDATE, NOV. 23, 8:28 A.M.: The Laguna Hills City Council on Tuesday night approved on first reading an ordinance banning registered sex offenders from city parks and, if homeowner associations request to join in, their private parks as well.The city will join La Habra, Westminster, Yorba Linda, ... More >>

[UPDATED with SJC Spooked:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

​UPDATE, AUG. 17, 11:17 A.M.: It's become so routine it's lost its news value: The District Attorney's office announces it's sending a rep before the latest of the 7,000 city councils in Orange County considering a ban on sex offenders in local parks modeled after the county law co-written by DA T ... More >>

[UPDATED with Early RSM Nod:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

​UPDATE, JULY 29, 9:41 A.M.: The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council voted Wednesday night to move ahead with a ban on registered sex offenders in city parks that is similar to the county law enacted in April.The council agreed that banning only those who have preyed on children would leave kids v ... More >>

Derek Salazar, OC Jail Inmate Lawsuit, Alleges Beatdown by Deputies

​A lawsuit filed yesterday by Richard P. Herman, who often represents Orange County Jail inmates alleging excessive force by deputies, claims five guards severely beat inmate Derek Salazar inside the jail. The lawsuit doesn't say when exactly the alleged beatdown took place, but medical photos att ... More >>

[UPDATED with SJC Law on Agenda:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

​UPDATE, JUNE 22, 10:09 A.M.: While expressing some concern the county pervs-in-parks ban is too broad, the San Juan Capistrano City Council did decide Tuesday night to bring a local ordinance back for a vote July 5.Among the options the city with huge swaths of open space will explore are applyin ... More >>

Irvine Befuddled DA Tony Rackauckas on Perverts-in-the-Park Debate

Larry, Sukhee & Beth: The water's safe!​Having lost his push to get a defiant Irvine City Council to adopt his proposed ordinance banning convicted sex offenders from public parks, a befuddled Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas left Tuesday night's session and immediately thought ... More >>

Always a Cover-Up at Wal-Mart. Always

Kathrine Shimaji, the whistleblower who caught Foothill Ranch Wal-Mart employees illegally dumping hazardous waste, wants to know why the Orange County district attorney's office didn't prosecute the higher-ups

Election 2010: Moxley Watches The OC Republicans

Jonathan Ho / OC WeeklyTran: Not time to concede. ​1:00 a.m.: Van Tran Remains HopefulInside the converted Garden Grove Blockbuster store, Van Tran continues to hold onto his dream of defeating Loretta Sanchez. Tran is trailing by more than 5,000 votes--and the gap seems to be getting larger. But ... More >>

Sunday News Notes: Reg Slams Loretta Sanchez

​Local news highlights include:Register against Loretta Sanchez but drags out marijuana stanceThe editorial staff of the OC Register has declared itself for congressional candidate Van Tran, a Republican; U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, a Republican; and Whitman, yep, a Republican. "From our ... More >>

Tony Rackauckas & Todd Spitzer Declare Themselves 2014 Opponents for Orange County's Top Prosecutor Job

Spitzer: Rackauckas has been "totally unethical."​Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Todd Spitzer, the high-ranking prosecutor he fired in August, conducted dueling, in-depth press conferences today.After trying to groom Spitzer as his eventual replacement for 18 months, Rackaucka ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Sunday News Notes: Todd Spitzer Out! Barney Frank In! Van Tran Confused!

Palace intrigue erupts in 401​Highlights from the local media today include: Susan Kang Schroeder Announces She'll Be DAOkay, okay. I'm kidding. So the real news isn't that dramatic, but there's nevertheless been a major development in Orange County's criminal justice system. Former state ass ... More >>

Oh No You Didn't

Haidl: Give me my way. My daddy's rich!​"Men who prey on helpless women who are too intoxicated to say 'no' are sexual predators. The public has a right to know who they are and what they've done and where they live. Again, the Haidl Three always want to have preferential treatment. That's what ma ... More >>

OC Vietnamese Gang-Related Slaying Conviction Rejected

Nguyen gets a judicial miracle​There may have been screams of joy in a California prison last night and cries of frustration inside the district attorney's office. Late yesterday afternoon, a California Court of Appeal overturned an Orange County jury's 2007 special circumstances murder convi ... More >>

Top DA Arrested

According to sources at the Orange County Sheriff's Department, David L. Brent--the veteran prosecutor who runs the district attorney's acclaimed homicide unit--was arrested with his wife on Christmas Day following a domestic dispute.No other information was available officially, except that Brent w ... More >>

Excessive Force Controversy Continues To Annoy OC Deputy Union

Deputies reject criticism​Sheriff's deputy union officials are privately continuing to lobby Tony Rackauckas in an effort to get the district attorney to flip-flop on his May 2009 assertion that several deputies gave untruthful testimony to protect another officer accused of twice usin ... More >>

Ex-Orange County Democratic Party Boss Charged in Extortion Plot

ToledanoJim Toledano, the 65-year-old former chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party and a three-time losing state assembly candidate, has been charged with two felony counts in an alleged $350,000 extortion plot, according to prosecutors.Also charged in the case is Toledano-client Michael E ... More >>

Bill Hunt in Labor? Labor in Pain?

Quint in a past life?A tad bit of lunchtime indigestion for Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, conventional wisdom's opponents for the June 2010 sheriff's election: I spotted Bill Hunt sitting outside at a Santa Ana cafe this morning with, drum roll, Wayne J. Quint, hea ... More >>

[Moxley Confidential] Rackauckas Doesn't Blink

Is the OC Deputy Union Instigating Trouble in the DA's Office?

Photo by Beth StirnamanMike MajorDeep within the bowels of Orange County law enforcement circles today, a secret ballot vote will be announced regarding the popularity of Mike Major, the acting chief of the district attorney's bureau of investigation since March. On the surface, the non-public conte ... More >>

DA's Office Says Alleged Jail Beating of Former Kiss Guitarist Referred to Sheriff's Department

Let's Play Where Are They Now: Haidl Gang Rapists

Last year, an Orange County jury convicted three young men for the 2002 videotaped rape and molestation of an unconscious 16-year-old girl on a pool table in a Newport Beach garage. The case made national headlines not just because the drunk men laughed as they repeatedly shoved a Snapple bottle, ap ... More >>

Hard Knocks

Three years in the life of the Capistrano Unified School District

Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: My New Slogan For The Deputies!

Back the Badge, Support the Star, Empty your Wallet: Peggy Lowe at the Register watched “dozens of black-shirted deputies march through Civic Center Tuesday as the union went on a public offensive to rally support for their fight to preserve” an incredibly generous pay, perk and pension package ... More >>

Thursday's Headlines & Surprises

Speed Eating: Would you eat 42 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in 10 minutes for $1,500? Patrick “P-Rock” Beroletti, a twentysomething-year-old Chicago cook, won the Drum Corps International World Peanut Butter and Jelly Eating Championship this week at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. (Ear ... More >>

Tuesday's Headlines & Surprises

Top U.S. Secrets to Crooks, Idiots and Dopers: The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C., reports this morning that the Pentagon, the guys running the Iraq War, now want Congress to allow national security clearances for government employees who are “ex-convicts, drug addicts and mentally incompeten ... More >>

Letters

'I hold an ASS'

Rhyming Rackauckas!

This is NOT a Joke, OC people

The San Bernardino County Sun's Michael Rappaport reported today what every Orange County resident feared: The end is near. In an article about the increasing affuence of the Inland Empire, Rappaport quoted Redlands-based regional economist John Husing saying—make sure your cocktail is secur ... More >>

DA's office: Use "Extreme Caution" with LA Times reporter

The on again, off again war between the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County District Attorney's media affairs office is on again. Today, DA spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder sent an agencywide email "warning" staff about Times investigative reporter Christine Hanley. Schroeder claims that Hanley ... More >>

Can I Get a Witness?

DA refuses to press charges against whistleblowing doctor in road rage case

Black Gloves, Brown Camry, Bad Case.

The Orange County District Attorney's office has declined to prosecute a Santa Ana health care activist for a bizarre case of road rage. Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons, a mild-mannered whistleblower who had criticized patient care at Santa Ana's Western Medical Center, was arrested two weeks ago for waving ... More >>

Playing Doctor

Medical professionals try to rescue OCs infamous gang-rape suspect

OC Law Enforcement 'Poisoned'

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer questions the District Attorneys judgment, fairness

Inexpert Witness

Posted: May 14, 2004: On key question of video authenticity, prosecution stumbles

Letters

Whos Your Daddy?

Its Rebecca Schoenkopf!

She Just Toots Tonys Horn

DA defends his spokespersons promotion against charges of favoritism

Out of His Skull

What do you get when you combine paranoia, ego and almost limitless power?
Answer: DA Tony Rackauckas

ARCO settlement