Recent Blog Posts in March 2010

The Orange County Sheriff's deputy who crashed into a planter in front of Supervisor Bill Campbell's home last December has been charged with DUI and is scheduled to be arraigned next month.

According to reports, the off-duty deputy consumed several alcoholic beverages at a friend's house then lost control of his vehicle while driving home.  His blood alcohol level is alleged to have been 0.13 percent almost two hours after the accident.  He was also found to be in possession of Xanax for which he did not have a prescription.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office has charged the deputy with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than 0.08 percent and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.  The deputy has returned to full duty pending a personnel investigation.       

In a February 2010 decision, the California Court of Appeals ruled a defendant cannot be convicted of stealing and receiving the same property.

In the case at issue, Defendant 1 and Defendant 2 were charged with grand theft and receiving stolen property after allegedly stealing a purse containing a credit card as well as a cell phone and, subsequently, using a stolen credit card to purchase items from three different stores.

Defendant 2 pled guilty to the crimes and maintained she was the one who actually made the purchases.  Nonetheless, Defendant 1 was convicted at trial of felony receiving stolen property and misdemeanor petty theft.

The Court of Appeals affirmed Defendant 1’s receiving stolen property conviction, however, overturned the theft conviction.  In its decision, the Court reasoned there was a stronger case against Defendant 1 with regard to the charge of receiving stolen property versus the theft and, as the property was not properly differentiated within each charge, she could not be convicted of both counts.      

A man found guilty of stalking and raping an Orange County woman he met via an online dating service was recently sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison.

The 54-year-old Oregon man, who initially began communicating with the woman online in 2003, came to Orange County in 2007 to meet her for the first time.  According to prosecutors, after dinner, the man lured the woman inside a hotel by promising her flowers and then sexually assaulted her. 

The victim did not report the rape for the next year and a half during which time the man stalked her through phone calls, emails and unexpected visits to her residence.  It was after the man was arrested and charged with stalking that the victim reported the rape.

At sentencing, the man continued to deny the charges claiming he was suffering from a delusional disorder.            

Another Orange County Deputy Sheriff was arrested earlier this month for suspicion of felony driving under the influence causing injury after crashing into an elderly couple’s vehicle and sending it into a tree in Laguna Niguel.        

According to reports, the deputy, a 13-veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, was also involved in an accident with a Lexus in Dana Point just 33 minutes before.  The deputies responding to this crash, however, simply took a report and sent both drivers on their way. 

An investigation is pending, though, it has been revealed a concerned citizen called 911 that night to report his erratic driving and was following the deputy’s car until police arrived.

This is the second high-profile DUI arrest for an Orange County deputy in less than a year.  The harbormaster was arrested for a DUI and reassigned in April 2009 after crashing an unmarked sheriff’s car into the back of a vehicle at a stoplight.  Her blood alcohol level was said to have been nearly twice the legal limit.         

A 20-year-old San Juan Capistrano man was recently arrested for suspicion of DUI in relation to an accident which killed his passenger.

According to reports, the man lost control of his vehicle on PCH in Dana Point and crashed into a palm tree.  The impact instantly killed his passenger, a 24-year-old man from Lake Elsinore.  The man, meanwhile, was transported to the hospital and remains in intensive care. 

Update:

Suzanne Amelia Carlson, the 27-year-old Mission Viejo woman on trial in the  Orange County Superior Court on charges related to a 2007  DUI crash which killed her passenger, was convicted of second degree murder.  Her sentencing, at which she will face 15 years to life in prison, has been set for June 2010.

A Murrieta roofing contractor pled guilty in the Orange County Superior Court to 16 felony counts involving perjury, filing false documents and making false statements in connection with workers’ compensation fraud. 

According to prosecutors, the defendant failed to provide adequate workers’ compensation  insurance for his employees and denied that one employee, who fell from a roof, worked for him which resulted in denial of benefits to that injured worker.

While the charges carried a possible maximum sentence of over 21 years in state prison, as a part of the plea bargain, the defendant is expected to receive three years.     

Update:

The 22-year-old college student from Costa Mesa previously arrested in connection with a fatal  DUI accident on Valentine’s Day has been charged in the  Orange County Superior Court with 2 ^nd degree murder, felony as well as  misdemeanor  hit-and-run and possession of cocaine.   

The man, who has a prior driving under the influence conviction from 2006, is alleged to have struck a Toyota Tundra after running a red light, killing the 20-year-old female passenger and injuring the driver.  He is said to have then  fled the scene and was later apprehended hiding in a nearby neighborhood.

According to reports, the man’s blood alcohol level was determined to be 0.17 percent. A small amount of  cocaine was also found in his pocket.   

Prosecutors announced the prior drunken driving conviction factored into their decision to file a charge of murder, rather than vehicular manslaughter, as he was aware of the danger yet chose to drive anyway.