When the DA declines to prosecute bad cops, the only justice families can get is financial
Former police officer Kevin Michael Sianez pleaded guilty Thursday to 17 felony counts of grand theft by false pretense, 11 felony counts of fraudulently using an access card, two felony counts of identity theft, four felony counts of possession of a firearm by a felon stemming from a 1998 convictio ... More >>
The 'Rally for Talley' held outside the steps of Anaheim City Hall last week was the latest public display of support for former city attorney Cristina Talley. Since then, there's been a raging debate on the blogopshere as to the circumstances surrounding her sudden, forced resignation during the Ja ... More >>
Last fall, we reported how frequent Calvary Chapel critic Alex Grenier--son of Bob Grenier, pastor at Calvary Chapel Visalia--was being sued by his father for libel and defamation. Alex has long maintained on his blog that his father physically abused him, and has made other explosive claims, claims ... More >>
Trial began last week for a 29-year-old Placentia man facing a murder count for allegedly raging on methamphetamine, Diazepam, Nordiazepam, Alprazolam, Hydroxyalprazolam, Oxazepam, Temazepam, amphetamine, Morphine, and 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahyrocannabinol (THCA) before causing a car crash ... More >>
Two ex-administrators are the latest to be convicted in the massive medical insurance billing fraud case involving the since-closed Unity Surgical Outpatient Center of Buena Park. Dee Francis, 63, was sentenced to six years in state prison after pleading guilty the various counts Friday, while his f ... More >>
An attorney, an accountant, and two medical center administrators walk into a bar . . . oops, that should be behind bars--for their roles in the nation's largest medical fraud prosecution. Four people who should have known better Thursday became the latest Unity Surgical Outpatient Center muckity-mu ... More >>
Charles Anthony Murphy Jr. was found guilty today of murdering a father and daughter, trying to murder the man's wife and conspiring to murder the parents in a grisly 2007 case that included the bodies of the dead being set afire in an abandoned van. The Mission Hills 27-year-old could get life in s ... More >>
When Luis Alberto Pineda was found guilty last month of sodomy, oral sex, sexual penetration and/or attempted sex acts with 10 boys and a girl he met through coaching soccer or teaching martial arts in North County, we noted he could get 255 years in state prison.We undershot. An incensed Orange Co ... More >>
A struggling Tustin-based pharmaceuticals company got more bad news this week when a federal judge in Orange County granted class action status to a pending securities fraud lawsuit. In an 18-page ruling issued this week, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter agreed that the plaintiffs, who ... More >>
Vitaliy Krasnoperov was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the 2007 murders of an Anaheim Hills man and his daughter and the attempted murder of her mother.The bodies of the deceased were set aflame in an attempt to cover-up the crimes, and H ... More >>
A group of medical marijuana patients has filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim alleging that the city's cooperation with the federal government's crackdown on dispensaries violates state law. According to the lawsuit, the law in question, the California Disabled Person's Act, (CDPA), "prohibi ... More >>
The Rancho Santiago Community College District official indicted in May for allegedly stealing $100,000 in federal grants intended for low income students recently received more bad news when the district filed a seven-page civil lawsuit against her.Anna Catalan cheated by systematically stealing st ... More >>
When we Gazed our Navel on MySpace rapist Jason Ara Erpinar and his unicorn-follicle horn being tried the first time in August 2011, we received comments from his pals claiming there is no way the Yorba Linda 23-year-old sexually assaulted three woman, that we were out to get him and that his victim ... More >>
It wasn't too many years ago when Joseph G. Cavallo was one of Orange County's most well-connected criminal defense lawyers. Cavallo's close, power-hungry pals included Sheriff Mike Carona as well as assistant sheriff George Jaramillo and Don Haidl.But that dream team began to collapse after Cavallo ... More >>
From his wheelchair at the defense table, 83-year-old William Leo McDougall of Laguna Woods pleaded guilty to murdering his convalescent home roommate because he believed the 94-year-old man was singing in Vietnamese.As part of a plea deal with the court, McDougall is expected to be sentenced Oct. 2 ... More >>
See the update at the end of this post on the ruling issued in Fazaga v. FBI.ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 13, 2:55 P.M.: It's no secret that the government has used informants to spy on Muslim-American communities. Orange County Muslims know it well.You may have read about them here at the Weekly. Former-con ... More >>
Two Newport Beach-area sisters will soon be reunited with their mother--in the state penal system anyway. Suniti Shah, 51, of Newport Coast, and Supriti Soni, 52, of Corona del Mar, pleaded guilty to their roles in a $16 million real estate scam that has already sent their 74-year-old mother, Susham ... More >>
No one was happy when Kurt Duncan Naegele was blamed for causing a 2009 car crash near Hearst Castle that injured him, two others and killed a fourth. And they weren't happy when a mistrial was declared in his vehicular manslaughter trial after the defense said it would present evidence showing a di ... More >>
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Dr. Hsui-Ying "Lisa" Tseng to stand trial for second degree murder in the deaths of three young men, one of whom was Vu Nguyen, 28, from Lake Forest. The decision came after a preliminary hearing that lasted three weeks. The osteopathic medicine doctor alle ... More >>
See update at end of this post about 40 more national convention delegates seeking to join the 123 who have filed suit and "hundreds more" possibly ready to do the same. ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 13, 12:39 P.M.: The Republican National Committee (RNC) is using violence, intimidation and ballot stuffing t ... More >>
Andrew Michael Phalen was sentenced today to a year in jail and five years of formal probation today for his role in a scam that offered home loan modification assistance to struggling mortgage holders across the country. But four of the Mission Viejo 25-year-old's cohorts are looking at much more ... More >>
[Moxley Confidential] Appelllate courts uphold the convictions of the La Habra-based Monos gang member anyway
Bradley Stewart Wagner, the veteran Anaheim police officer who targeted at least three illegal immigrants near Disneyland for violent sexual assaults while on duty, is nothing if not persistent.This week, Wagner--who managed to stall his criminal case for more than five years--sent his defense lawye ... More >>
UPDATE, MARCH 26, 4:21 P.M.: Charles Anthony Murphy Jr. is now 2-for-2 in murder trials against him ending in mistrial. His first was declared in December, and today Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals declared a second to give the defense more time to examine evidence the prosecut ... More >>
Mark Moen, the former owner and operator of Lake Forest's 215 Agenda medical marijuana dispensary, has pleaded guilty to 73 counts of money laundering, four counts of selling marijuana, two counts of possessing it with the intent to sell, and one count of possessing more than $100,000 in cash fro ... More >>
A woman is suing Disneyland and the AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County in Superior Court because she claims her back was injured by a Disney employee dressed as Darth Vader and doing battle with a bird during the 2011 AIDS Walk Orange County at the Anaheim resort. If the incident had happe ... More >>
Sex scandals are merely crumbs from the table of a lawsuit filed this week against Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, which includes allegations that founders Paul and Jan Crouch fetched a $50 million jet through a "sham loan to an alter ego corporation" and that a $100,000 motor home was pur ... More >>
A judge in Northern California has ruled Rodney Alcala, the serial killer sitting on Death Row for killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl and four women in Los Angeles County in the 1970s, can be extradited to New York to stand trial for two murders there.Alcala is currently scheduled to be ... More >>
Marwan Abdellatif, a former Douglas Nissan desk manager accused of stealing the identities of unsuspecting customers and defrauding banks in the sale of used cars, remains a fugitive from justice. But his whereabouts being unknown did not stop the Orange dealership's part owner and two other de ... More >>
Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Robison has ruled that the presumed killers of an Orange County sheriff's sergeant must be released immediately. Compelling legal twists led to Robison's ruling for Robert Duston Strong and David Michael Knick, the strongest being the lack of judicial supp ... More >>
UPDATE, NOV. 29, 12:30 P.M.: During today's arraignment hearing, where Scott Evans Dekraai pleaded not guilty to murdering eight people and critically injuring a ninth, Deputy Public Defender Scott Sanders objected to press photographers being in the courtroom, saying this kind of media coverage ... More >>
Sandra Jessee: Were those tears real today?Accused of hiring hit men to murder her husband while she shopped at Walmart and Burger King for a fake alibi, Sandra Jessee declined to take the witness stand in her first trial and saw herself and co-defendant, Thomas Aehlert, come within one vote of s ... More >>
UPDATE, NOV. 14, 5:42 P.M.: A jury today agreed Prospero Guadarrama's baby face is attached to a cold-blooded killer.Now 21, he was convicted of joining other Santa Ana street gang members as a 16-year-old in the execution-style murders of a 14- and 15-year-old while leaving a 16-year-old shot in ... More >>
The inside story of covering—and becoming part of—the county's most disturbing jailhouse murder case
Five former inmates will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison for the jailhouse killing, while the man who many say instigated it wasn't even charged
A sales rep says a major produce market client brutally raped her in her Costa Mesa office and then tossed a $100 bill at her and told her to "Buy some pills" to terminate any pregnancy that might result from his having ejaculated inside her. The bombshell allegations against Atallah "Alibaba" ... More >>
Courtesy of OCDAArmando MaciasUPDATE, SEPT. 1, 1:26 P.M.: Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno today affirmed the death sentence for gang member Armando Macias, the triggerman in a bizarre family murder plot in 2002.A jury that convicted Macias in April for his role in the slaying followed up ... More >>
UPDATE, AUG. 15, 2:33 P.M.: The "Irvine 11" trial (now with one fewer defendant) was scheduled to begin today in Santa Ana.That didn't happen.Trial has been rescheduled to Aug. 29, which is when jury selection is scheduled to begin.
[Moxley Confidential] Some defense lawyers claim the deputies made their clients do it
ChamberlainOpening statements are expected to begin this morning in the murder trial of five jail inmates accused of beating John Chamberlain to death at Orange's Theo Lacy Facility in 2006 because they believed their fellow inmate was a child molester. Garrett Eugene Aguilar, 28, of Anaheim; S ... More >>
UPDATE, JULY 29, 3:02 P.M.: 29-year-old Thanh Van Tran, who a jury found guilty last month of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Lunar New Year celebrant leaving a Garden Grove restaurant in 2009, was sentenced today to 40 years to life in state prison.Co-defendant and fellow Garden ... More >>
UPDATE, JULY 21, 3:25 P.M.: The Irvine 11 may soon become the Irvine 10.If Hakim Nasreddine Kebir completes 40 hours of community service at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa by Sept. 23, the 20-year-old will be removed from the controversial case pending in Orange County Superior Co ... More >>
OC Register media pool photoNaposki: Thinks the case against him is laughable"He's got the suit. He's got the hair. He's got the watch and the shoes. He's a master in his style . . . [He] sounds great but there's absolutely no substance . . . Maybe that works in New York."That was Matt Murphy, a ... More >>
UPDATE, JULY 1, 1:18 P.M.: After his first sentencing hearing was postponed because Allan James Waters showed up to court drunk, the former Orange County sheriff's deputy finally learned his fate today: two years and eight months in state prison.The 37-year-old Laguna Niguel resident had bee ... More >>
UPDATE, JUNE 28, 2 P.M.: Sentences totaling 13 years for convictions in two cases have been given to Kenneth Joseph Lucas II, the "kingpin" of an international "phishing" operation that used spam e-mails and bogus websites to collect personal information used to defraud American banks. The 27- ... More >>
Angelo MacDonaldYou've probably never heard of Kevin Ross Johnston, but this guy should be a witness in every murder trial.Why?Not because Johnston--a tall, natty, silver-bearded fellow with a quick, hearty laugh--has any known criminal expertise. Well, sure, there are those speeding tickets and ... More >>
The evidence at right would indicate Carla Ann Brennan is a strong contender for Friday's semi-regular Ugly Police Mugshot of the Week feature. Believe it or not, there's an uglier one coming. But Brennan deserves some kind of recognition if the charges against her are true. Most brazen alleged g ... More >>
UPDATE, JUNE 21, 2:17 P.M.: The city of Fullerton's former risk manager admitted last week to scheming with his cousin and cousin's boyfriend to signing off on phony personal-injury and property-damage claims and cashing out about $28,000 in payouts for his own use.In exchange for guilty pleas, 4 ... More >>
What truant?UPDATE, JUNE 21, 4:02 P.M.: Last month, the Orange County district attorney's office announced the first OCDA case against parents of children who have been chronically truant, despite repeated warnings from schools and police.Yesterday, charges against one of those parents disappear ... More >>
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