Below is a March 23 statement titled “Homeless Shelter Nonsense” by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Putin’s Hand Puppet) . . . with helpful annotation by yours truly. The chickens are coming home to roost after almost a decade of Liberal/Left control of our state and federal government. Those chickens have ended up in Orange County. [Where […]
Orange County
Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas Mocks Court of Appeal’s Snitch Ruling
Before letting police officers answer questions on the witness stand about possible crimes, prosecutors usually establish credibility by eliciting their work experience. Most cops impressively recall the day, month and year of every promotion, even in multidecade careers. But recently inside a Little Saigon-area courtroom, Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) deputy Cyril Foster appeared […]
The Best Concerts in OC April 6-12
Friday, Apr. 6 Thicker Than Thieves, Rebel Shakedown, Low Budget, 9 p.m., $10-$12, The Wayfarer. 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa (949) 764-0039, www.wayfarercm.com. 21+. Crowder–American Prodigal Tour, 6 p.m., $25, House of Blues Anaheim, 400 W. Disney Way, Anaheim (714) 778-2583, www.houseofblues.com/anaheim. All ages. SOB X RBE, 8 p.m., $20, The Observatory, 3503 S. […]
Ginger Root Went From Recording Music in His Car to Rocking the Stage
If you’re tuned into medicinal herbs, then you know ginger root has plenty of feel-good benefits. The same can be said for the indie soul project that shares the name. Cameron Lew, the mastermind behind Ginger Root, is completing his senior year of school as a film production major. While he is preoccupied with the […]
Homeless are Still Homeless but They Sure are Getting Mucho Attention
The only thing that could make Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles hotter would be to take every single thing away from him and stick him in Orange County. That’s how hot Orange County homeless people are right now. (Side message to Foles: Should you go through with that, keep the Super Bowl ring somewhere safe […]
Memory Den Integrate Their Love for Sci-Fi with Experimental Music
Every video game aficionado will immediately recognize Memory Den as a location in Fallout 4 in which players can retrieve memories. For OC and LA residents, they’ll recognize it as one of the most inimitable, otherworldly sounding groups to recently emerge from the area. Memory Den is an experimental band that consists of members Isles […]
Supervisor Todd Spitzer and Other Leaders Organize Active Shooter Response Forum
While announcing an active school shooter response forum it is sponsoring, the County of Orange warns parents that mature subject matter will be addressed so discretion is advised when it comes to bringing along students. Then again, it is the enlightened students of Parkland, Florida, who are teaching adults a thing or three about this […]
Three OC Sex-Industry Workers Share Their Personal Experiences—In All Their Gory, Glorious Detail
Editor’s Note: For this year’s annual sex issue, OC Weekly spoke to three sex workers in Orange County. Their stories are gritty and graphic, but they also reveal a sense of personal pride, dignity and even humor in a profession that, despite being known as the world’s oldest, remains tainted with shame, scorn and, perhaps […]
Onetime Orange County Political Operative Faces 8-Year Prison Trip
A former Orange County Republican Party operative who swindled $1.25 million pleaded guilty this week in an Arizona federal court to bank fraud, tax evasion, wire fraud and money laundering, and now faces a maximum eight-year prison sentence plus a minimum forfeiture of $650,000. You saw Frances Akhavi’s wild tale on these pages […]
The Melodic Suds of Stereo Brewing in Placentia: What The Ale!
The odds were low for a small, independent brewery from Orange County, with only a year of operation under its belt, to win a medal at last year’s Great American Beer Festival—but Placentia’s Stereo Brewing Co. did just that by taking home the gold medal in the Oatmeal Stout category for its Wall of Sound (5.6 […]
Federal Judge Rejects Prosecutors’ Circumstantial Evidence to Overturn Jury’s Guilty Verdicts
Unaware of a coming law-enforcement disaster, Assistant United States Attorney Scott D. Tenley used an August 2017 opening statement to declare he possessed all the evidence needed to convict Justin Henning for a suspected “key supervisorial and leadership role” in a “smash and grab” robbery ring that targeted more than a dozen high-end Rolex watch […]
Rehabilitation Plus Public Outcry Pushes Governor To Free Young Prison Inmate
For 24-year-old Jesus Aguirre, Christmas came two days early when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the Orange County native freed after serving less than seven years of an original 35 years to life prison term. Brown cited Aguirre’s rehabilitation, including performing good deeds while in custody and abandoning the Eastside Buena Park criminal street gang, as […]
Did OC Deputies Destroy Exculpatory Infrared Helicopter Video in Attempted Murder Case?
Southern California police pursuits make live dramas for TV broadcasts starring unpaid criminal suspects racing down neighborhood streets, running red lights, ignoring stop signs and weaving through crowded highway traffic in Indianapolis 500 fashion. Late on a November 2015 evening, Jimmy Hoang Truong became the featured performer of such a show as the chased driver […]
Orange County Deputy Tells Story of Magically Ineffective Glock Bullets In Killing
Having handled excessive-force claims against police for three decades, Newport Beach-based attorney Jerry Steering says he had never seen a more outrageous case of a cop committing a public execution than the September 2013 death of Connor Zion, a 21-year-old Laguna Niguel resident. Nobody absolves Zion, a talented dancer who was in the midst of a severe epileptic […]
FBI Seeks Fugitive Southern California Doctor Who Ran $80 Million Scam
Government agents are searching for a wealthy Southern California doctor turned fugitive who fled before an Orange County federal judge could sentence him to prison after fraudulently billing insurance companies $80 million in a five-year period for breast enhancements, tummy tucks and nose jobs. Dr. David Morrow and his wife Linda sold their Beverly Hills […]
U.S. Wants Southern California Assets Tied To Disaster Relief Bribery Scandal in the Philippines
Orange County is ground zero in a legal war between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the family of Janet Lim Napoles, a Filipino businesswoman who in an eight-year period allegedly swindled more than $225 million in government funds intended for typhoon disaster relief and developmental assistance in the Philippines. Federal prosecutors based in […]
Judge Rejects Orange County Mortgage Swindler’s Request For Leniency
Orange County white collar swindler Kevin Frank Rasher hoped he’d receive a punishment of no more than 41 months in prison for defrauding 516 financially-distressed Southern California homeowners, but U.S. District Court Judge Josephine Staton didn’t believe that requested time fit the crime. Inside the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana, Staton ordered Rasher, […]
Best Buy Child Porn Case Takes Yet Another Blow in Federal Court
A nationally debated U.S. Department of Justice child-pornography case against a prominent Southern California doctor and involving Best Buy technicians working as secret government informants suffered another blow this week when a judge ruled that FBI agents deceitfully obtained a search warrant by omitting key exculpatory facts from a sworn affidavit. Over intense objections by […]
Federal Judge Poised to Punish Innocent Vietnamese for Somebody Else’s Crime
With more than $700,000 at stake, Vietnam War refugee Hung Ngo this month entered a courtroom inside the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse breathing heavily and looking confused. Three corporate lawyers and a Department of Justice attorney faced U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna while discussing mind-numbing intricacies of a legal quarrel over scrapped plans […]
Orange County Prosecutor’s Cheating Gains California State Bar Attention
Believing she cheated to win a criminal case, the California State Bar is pursuing disciplinary charges against an Orange County prosecutor, who won her government job after her wealthy businessman father contributed money to county law enforcement officials. Prosecutor Sandra Lee Nassar hid key exculpatory evidence in State of California v. Iacullo “in order to […]
Dana Rohrabacher Goes On FOX To Defend Vladimir Putin . . . Again
“Perhaps [my emphasis] the Russians had some involvement [in the 2016 U.S. presidential election],” California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told a Fox Channel 11 LA news broadcast tonight while renewing his suspicious, multi-year crusade championing Vladimir Putin, Russia’s KGB-agent-turned-president. This isn’t the first time Orange County’s senior career politician, who has collected a publicly-funded salary for 37 […]
