Trials

[UPDATED:] Julian Sermano CONVICTED of Murdering Critic of His Singing

UPDATE: Julian Sermano was convicted of murder today (details below . . .) ​A 58-year-old San Juan Capistrano man was convicted today of stabbing another man to death in a park after arguing over who was a better singer. A jury in Santa Ana found Julian Sermano guilty of one felony count of second ... More >>

OC's Judicial Vaudeville Act Wins Recognition Again

Judicial Vaudeville ​Orange County has employed notorious judges but none have been more arrogant than Robert Fitzgerald. Over past decades Fitzgerald has used his courtroom for an one-man show where he simultaneously plays defense lawyer, prosecutor, jury and judge. We recently learned that he's ... More >>

Tanya Jaime Nelson Gets Death

Courtesy of Orange County District Attorney's OfficeTanya Nelson​A North Carolina woman received the death penalty today for murdering a Westminster fortune teller and her college-student daughter, whose heads and hands were covered in white paint.

Mitchell Basil Zogob, Insurance Broker Fraudster, Brokers 10 Years in Can

​A San Juan Capistrano insurance broker this week brokered a 10-year deal behind state prison bars after pleading guilty to grand theft and insurance fraud in a $4.6 million scheme involving false certificates of insurance being issued to four companies.Mitchell Basil Zogob, 51, worked as an insu ... More >>

Prosecuting a Prosecutor

[Moxley Confidential] A domestic-violence case pits federal, state and local prosecutors against one another

[UPDATED:] DA Sues Toyota

UPDATE: The Orange County District Attorney's Office this morning stepped up pressure on Toyota, unveiling a consumer complaint hotline, an online complaint form and access to its first civil complaint against the automaker (details after the jump) . . . Courtesy of Elizabeth JamesThis is where Eliz ... More >>

Dr. George Steven Kooshian Gets Prison, Restitution for AIDS Dosing, Billing Scam

Kooshian on the move.​Nine and a half years after the Weekly's R. Scott Moxley broke the story about well-known AIDS doctor George Steven Kooshian having injected patients with saline and vitamins instead of the expensive drugs they were billed for, the 59-year-old was sentenced Monday to 15 month ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Trabuco Canyon's Lila Rizk Guilty in Massive Real Estate Fraud

UPDATE: At her sentencing in a Los Angeles federal court today, Trabuco Canyon's Lila Rizk received a three-year prison term for her role in a massive mortgage fraud scheme that caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to federally insured banks.​A federal jury on Aug. ... More >>

Sentencing Postponed for Longtime TBN Pastor Steve Galiher, Who Pleaded Guilty to Two Felony DUIs

Fugitive Home Remodeler is Really in Trouble Now

​Nasir Kamaruddin Shamsi is in so much trouble.Now, if authorities could only find him.According to the Orange County District Attorney's office, the 48-year-old Placentia home contractor allegedly:* Developed a plan to kidnap an Orange man whose home Shamsi was hired to remodel; * Got two of his ... More >>

$3.6 Million Fraud Plot Used Several Mortgages on Same House

Not the home in question but an amazing facsimile.​A married couple from Fountain Valley and a Newport Coast mortgage broker are scheduled to be arraigned in a Santa Ana courthouse this morning for their alleged roles in a $3.6 million fraud scheme that involved several mortgages being taken out o ... More >>

Justices Reject Convictions Against Man Who Allegedly Shot At Cops

A dog of a case?​The Orange County District Attorney's Office twice has won convictions against Ernest Benefiel related to highly questionable allegations he assaulted police officers in a bizarre 2004 Fullerton incident, and now a state appeals court for the second time has rejected the prosecuti ... More >>

'Tis the Season to Bone Nonprofits, Fa La La La La, La La La La

​Above is the logo on boxes like those stolen this past Thanksgiving weekend from the United Labor Agency of Orange County in Garden Grove, where 20,000 pounds of food, more than $25,000 worth of donated toys and other items for the benefit of underprivileged families were taken. Total estimated l ... More >>

Murder Trial Tied to Spat Over Girl, Vandalized Car Begins Today

​The trial begins in a Santa Ana courtroom this morning for a 21-year-old Santa Ana man who allegedly murdered a Lake Forest man over a dispute involving a friend's girlfriend. Luis Rivera, 22, had told people in his Lake Forest neighborhood that Edgar Calvillo, Santos Escamilla, 21, of Santa Ana, ... More >>

Hello, Special Place in Hell? I'd Like to Make a Reservation

FreeFoto.com Welcome. ​The Orange County District Attorney's office shot over the release after the jump about a former caretaker for developmentally disabled adults facing arraignment Thursday for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from her clients by writing checks from their account ... More >>

Accountant Gets 4 Years for Stealing $500,000 From Trust Fund to Pay for Doll Collection

​A Laguna Hills accountant hired to manage a brother and sister's trust fund has been sentenced to four years in state prison for stealing more than a half million dollars to pay for a doll collection.  Margot Jean Strawn, 58, had pleaded guilty to two felony counts ... More >>

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 spe ... More >>

Crime Time: Rapers! Robbers! Wife Killer! Bad Cops! And a Real Bozo!

It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--a day late and many dollars short of paying off the creditors who won't stop calling! Top photos courtesy of Huntington Beach Police Department A BOZO NO-NO: Here's the original suspect description Crime Time received for the Oct. ... More >>

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Week: "Stupid Asians!"

So far, this column has focused on stories with headlines and subject matters--gangs in Santa Ana, white people voting more often than Latinos, Latina columnists being employed by the Register and daring to write sympathetic stories about immigrants--that are virtually guaranteed to attract racist c ... More >>

If Drunk Drivers Who Kill Face Murder Charges, Why Not Charge City Councilman With Attempted Murder?

Watch CBS Videos Online Sunday night, 60 Minutes replayed "DWI: Was It Murder?" Reporter Bob Simon interviewed a prosecutor who pursues murder charges against drunken drivers whose traffic collisions result in deaths of people in the other vehicles. Nassau County, New York, district attorney Kathlee ... More >>

Laguna Beach Settles Lawsuit Over Homeless Ordinance

Laguna Beach agreed today to settle a lawsuit over the city's treatment of disabled homeless people, according to the ACLU of Southern California.   "Under the agreement, the city's police officers will not cite, arrest or harass people under state law simply for sleeping in public places, ... More >>

DA Serves Permanent Injunction To Those Whose Cases The DA Had Dismissed

The DA's office served a re-packaged permanent gang injunction this morning to dozens of people it has concluded are active gang participants in the Orange Varrio Cypress gang, including 62 individuals whose gang injunction cases the DA had already dismissed last month and who believed they were no ... More >>

Orange's Barrio Cypress Residents Fought the DA's Gang Injunction—and Won (Sort Of)

[Moxley Confidential] Rackauckas Doesn't Blink

[Moxley Confidential] OC Jury Doesn't Quite Acquit an OC Cop. Shocker!

Ex-Owner of Santa Ana Abortion Clinic May Be Jail Bound

LifeNews.com reports the owner of a chain of women's health clinics that caters primarily to Latinas - which until recently included Clinica Medica Para La Mujer at 120 W 5th St., Santa Ana, the site of an alleged assault by a physician on a pro-life photographer we blogged about in August - is like ... More >>

Just How Did Those Gloves and That Gun End Up in Whistleblower Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons' Car?

OC Conservatives Have Something to Cheer!

On Monday, Orange County conservative activists lost the fight to block liberal law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky from becoming the first UC Irvine law school dean. But this morning must feel better. The United States Attorney's Office based in Los Angeles announced that it has won a guilty plea from Wi ... More >>

Men Get Hate Crime Charges for Vicious Beating of Illegal Immigrant Janitor

Right about now three Southern California men probably wish that they'd just gone home after drinking booze at the Angels 9-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox on August 8. Or, perhaps, James Joseph Kelly, 26, Justin Louis Mullins, 23, and Cheyne Danica Wilson, 25, wish that the final event of their even ... More >>

DA's Office Loses A Big One

For years, Brian N. Gurwitz skillfully tormented defense attorneys and their guilty clients, including Gregory Haidl (gang rape of a minor), former Superior Court Judge Ronald Kline (kiddie porn) and former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo (public corruption). Well, those days are nearly over. T ... More >>

Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: OC Judge Slaps Guv

Will a murder inmate defeat the Guv? Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino — a quiet, often-expressionless fellow who is married to a court reporter — ruled yesterday that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was wrong to deny parole to Delbert “Dale” Chrittenden. The inmate was foun ... More >>

The Gang's Not Here

Inmate says attempted-murder conviction must be reversed because cops cheated. A judge is listening

Litigating It Old-School

Former Chapman instructors invoke a Civil War-era law in their multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the university

Eight Is Enough

One man has four girlfriends and eight children, all of whom live in separate houses within four miles of each other. In Utah? No, Irvine

'Gay Panic'

Three men go wilding; the gays made them do it

Hypocrites Unite!

As everyone surely now knows, The Drudge Report has solved the Mark Foley mystery. As you know, Republicans are all about taking responsibility for one's actions. As they demonstrate here, they are indeed taking responsibility--for having an innocent "prank" about pedophilia (nice sense of humor, gu ... More >>

Baby-faced Hoodlums

Getting big in Vietnamese gangs doesnt mean you cant snitch

'Holy Crap! I Lost Louis Eugene Craft!'

Judge loses defendant in OC Jail for 494 days

From Burned Boy to Burned Investor (Allegedly)

KNBC/Channel 4 reports that 28-year-old Dave Dave--who when he was age 6 and known as David Rothenberg had 90 percent of his body burned after his father Charles Rothenberg doused him with kerosene in a Buena Park motel--is suing for fraud a man he met at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. In his la ... More >>

LA Times v the Weekly on Haidl Rape Plea

If there ever was any doubt that LA Times columnist Dana Parsons is the laziest, most misinformed journalist in the Haidl Gang Rape saga, consider his new column. In the past, he's blamed OC District Attorney Tony Rackauckas (not the rapists or their lawyers) for torturing Jane Doe, the victim. He's ... More >>

Mozart an Idiot!

OC lawsuit says two-year-old wrote Michael Jackson hits

Dirty Money

If you want to pollute in Orange County, its best to be a multinational

There Once Was a Judge From Nantucket

Judge Robert Fitzgerald doesnt know the law, but he can rhyme hold and paroled

Dr. Chaudhuri

Slapp-Happy

Anti-tower activists claim developer and friends are suing them into silence

Sexcapades!

Haidl II defense lawyer is told to sit down and shut up. But his old playbook remains: blame the filthy, trashy victim

No Justice, No Peace of Mind

Parents have dim hopes sons killer will be brought to trialeven though cops know where alleged murderer is

Six Degrees of Schwarzenegger

Quadriplegics lawsuit claims botched bounty hunt was no coincidence

Jaramillo Busted

Announcement pending on charges against ex-No. 2 man in OC Sheriffs Department