Prosecutors on Thursday charged a former Oceanside resident with stealing a small plane from an airfield near San Diego and making an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport.
San Diego County prosecutors charged Skye Turner with felony counts of stealing an aircraft, grand theft and burglary. The 23-year-old, who is set to be arraigned this afternoon, faces up to three years in prison if convicted.
Turner was arrested Feb. 19 after landing the Cirrus SR22, which was reported stolen from Montgomery Field.
The Federal Aviation Administration says Turner had an expired student pilot license.
His father, Peter Turner of Oceanside, told NBC 7/39 last week that his son, who now lives in El Cajon, spent countless hours playing flight-simulator games on the computer and had been rejected from at least one flight school
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
San Diego cops to use video on heads
SAN DIEGO — Nine San Diego police officers will be participating in a pilot program to test head-mounted video cameras that will record their interactions with the public.
Police are expected to offer more details during a demonstration of the technology Tuesday morning.
The camera is about the size of a Bluetooth earpeice with a headband, and the recording device is the size of a large cell phone, authorities said. The technology is made by Phoenix-based Taser International.
Also testing the equipment is 18 officers from the San Jose Police Department, with Taser paying for the experiment, the department reported in December.
Police are expected to offer more details during a demonstration of the technology Tuesday morning.
The camera is about the size of a Bluetooth earpeice with a headband, and the recording device is the size of a large cell phone, authorities said. The technology is made by Phoenix-based Taser International.
Also testing the equipment is 18 officers from the San Jose Police Department, with Taser paying for the experiment, the department reported in December.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Another crooked cop
An Oceanside police sergeant accused of accepting fraudulently purchased items to update his home pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of receiving stolen property, authorities said.
Walter McWilson, a 10-year veteran of the department, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15, said Paul Levikow, a District Attorney’s Office spokesman.
McWilson appeared in Vista Superior Court.
Investigators said McWilson knowingly received $54,000 worth of items in 2006 and 2007 purchased by a Murrieta woman who was embezzling funds from the Oceanside-based construction company where she worked. Prosecutors said McWilson had a romantic relationship with the woman, an office manager for the company.
The items he received included mahogany wood flooring, Travertine tile, high-tech equipment for a home recording studio and flat-screen TVs. Authorities accused McWilson of selling one 50-inch plasma television to a neighbor and then pocketing $1,200 in cash.
McWilson, who was most recently a supervisor for the department’s Neighborhood Policing Team, was considered by his peers to be a rising star within the Police Department until he was put on administrative leave in August. He originally faced 14 felony charges of receiving stolen property, grand theft and conspiracy.
Walter McWilson, a 10-year veteran of the department, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15, said Paul Levikow, a District Attorney’s Office spokesman.
McWilson appeared in Vista Superior Court.
Investigators said McWilson knowingly received $54,000 worth of items in 2006 and 2007 purchased by a Murrieta woman who was embezzling funds from the Oceanside-based construction company where she worked. Prosecutors said McWilson had a romantic relationship with the woman, an office manager for the company.
The items he received included mahogany wood flooring, Travertine tile, high-tech equipment for a home recording studio and flat-screen TVs. Authorities accused McWilson of selling one 50-inch plasma television to a neighbor and then pocketing $1,200 in cash.
McWilson, who was most recently a supervisor for the department’s Neighborhood Policing Team, was considered by his peers to be a rising star within the Police Department until he was put on administrative leave in August. He originally faced 14 felony charges of receiving stolen property, grand theft and conspiracy.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Think cops dont get special treatment....think again
Riverside police recommended no action in its report of Chief Russ Leach's 3 a.m. hit-and-run crash, despite indicating he "had been drinking," he couldn't recall where he had crashed and that he was unaware of the extent of his car's damage.
In the six-page traffic collision report, obtained Thursday by The Press-Enterprise, officers make no mention of attempting to give the chief a field sobriety test after they found him driving on the rims of his dented, scratched city-issued black Chrysler 300.
The report was issued by Riverside police the morning of the collision. On Tuesday police handed the investigation over to the California Highway Patrol.
Leach "was unable to provide a statement" regarding his wreck Monday at Central and Hillside avenues, according to the report by Riverside police Sgt. Frank Orta. Two officers had stopped him more than three miles away, later learning he ran into a fire hydrant and light pole.
The chief "would only say that he had a flat tire and that he had driven into a field or dirt road," Orta wrote. The chief repeated that several times.
"It was evident that he was unaware that he had a collision and that his vehicle suffered major damages," Orta wrote.
In the portion of the report where officers can address a driver's sobriety, they checked a box labeled "HBD -- Impairment Unknown." HBD stands for "had been drinking."
Other options include "had not been drinking," "impairment not known" and "not applicable."
Despite a witness reporting that Leach's car left the scene of the initial collision, officers did not check hit-and-run on the report, and ultimately, listed "file" as their recommendation for disposition.
Standard practice in cases to be submitted for possible charges is to indicate the report will be forwarded to the district attorney's office.
Leach, 61, remains on medical leave. He has said he was disoriented on prescription medication at the time.
More on the report's release later.
In the six-page traffic collision report, obtained Thursday by The Press-Enterprise, officers make no mention of attempting to give the chief a field sobriety test after they found him driving on the rims of his dented, scratched city-issued black Chrysler 300.
The report was issued by Riverside police the morning of the collision. On Tuesday police handed the investigation over to the California Highway Patrol.
Leach "was unable to provide a statement" regarding his wreck Monday at Central and Hillside avenues, according to the report by Riverside police Sgt. Frank Orta. Two officers had stopped him more than three miles away, later learning he ran into a fire hydrant and light pole.
The chief "would only say that he had a flat tire and that he had driven into a field or dirt road," Orta wrote. The chief repeated that several times.
"It was evident that he was unaware that he had a collision and that his vehicle suffered major damages," Orta wrote.
In the portion of the report where officers can address a driver's sobriety, they checked a box labeled "HBD -- Impairment Unknown." HBD stands for "had been drinking."
Other options include "had not been drinking," "impairment not known" and "not applicable."
Despite a witness reporting that Leach's car left the scene of the initial collision, officers did not check hit-and-run on the report, and ultimately, listed "file" as their recommendation for disposition.
Standard practice in cases to be submitted for possible charges is to indicate the report will be forwarded to the district attorney's office.
Leach, 61, remains on medical leave. He has said he was disoriented on prescription medication at the time.
More on the report's release later.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Vista judge criticizes DA's office
A veteran North County judge who last month openly criticized the District Attorney’s Office for not following rules for turning over evidence to defense lawyers is now being called biased by prosecutors who want him off the case.
A court hearing on the simmering conflict between longtime Superior Court Judge Harry M. Elias and prosecutors is scheduled for this morning in Vista, days after the District Attorney’s Office ended a months-long boycott against a judge in downtown San Diego.
The dispute with Elias, a former prosecutor who has been a judge since 1990, goes back to comments he made at a hearing in December.
Sounding more than a little perturbed, Elias said then that prosecutors in Vista were not following rules for turning over relevant material to the defense, as required, in some cases.
He implied that some judges believed it to be “deliberate and intentional” — and that the stature of the office is plummeting.
According to a hearing transcript, Elias said to prosecutors that “you need to be concerned about the reputation of the office, because it’s not good.”
“It’s clearly not good among the defense bar,” the judge continued.
He went further, saying the reputation “was not good among judicial officers, many of whom were colleagues to people you still work with.”
The December hearing was unusual in that a colleague of Elias, Superior Court Judge Dan Goldstein, who is also a former prosecutor, was present in the courtroom, as were Summer Stephan and Garland Peed, the top two supervisors of the District Attorney’s Office in Vista.
In court papers filed in preparation for today’s hearing, Deputy District Attorney Katherine Flaherty said Elias’ comments show that he can’t be impartial — and that in order to protect their rights to a fair hearing, he has to step down.
“The court’s comments in this case reflect a clear mindset of bias and prejudice against prosecutors in the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office,” Flaherty wrote. “… There can be no impartial ruling from a judge who believes that prosecutors deliberately and intentionally violate the constitutional rights of defendants by failing to provide discovery.”
Neither Flaherty nor defense lawyers Sherry Stone or Kathleen Cannon would comment on the case. Both sides will be in court this morning in front of Elias.
The filing is stirring interest in the Vista courts among defense lawyers, several of whom said they were taken aback by the harsh tone against Elias.
The filing also came as the boycott of Superior Court Judge John Einhorn in San Diego was ending. The reasons for prosecutors’ blanket boycott of Einhorn, lasting from September until Monday, were never revealed by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
Dumanis was criticized by defense lawyers and some judges, who said she was trying to bully the bench with the tactic.
At issue in the Elias matter is whether prosecutors had turned over to the defense information about a pawnshop receipt in a case dealing with the theft of two bicycles. Forensic analysts with the District Attorney’s Office were able to match six fingerprints in the case to the defendant, Kenneth Bowles, but found that one print on a receipt with his name was “inconclusive.”
Bowles’ defense lawyer said that information about the inconclusive print was omitted from a report and that such an error is critical enough to dismiss the case.
Prosecutors vigorously argue that the information was available to the defense lawyer as part of court exhibits and also came out during testimony. They also say there is no requirement to turn over information that is inconclusive.
Elias said at the hearing that he doubted that legal position. He postponed a decision to allow both sides to file briefs on the issue.
Prosecutors contend now that Elias abandoned his neutrality; bullied the prosecutor, Vanessa Du Vall; and conducted “what amounted to a ‘lynching’ ” of Du Vall.
This is not the first Vista case in recent months involving disputes about turning over information to the defense. In October, three men accused of raping a woman pleaded guilty to lesser charges after defense lawyers complained that tape recordings of the woman’s statements were not turned over until three weeks before trial.
In December, a man facing charges of mayhem and domestic violence pleaded guilty to lesser charges after Cannon received a DNA report just before trial on a knife found at the crime scene. She said the report supported her client’s defense and that it had been completed in May, but not turned over.
A court hearing on the simmering conflict between longtime Superior Court Judge Harry M. Elias and prosecutors is scheduled for this morning in Vista, days after the District Attorney’s Office ended a months-long boycott against a judge in downtown San Diego.
The dispute with Elias, a former prosecutor who has been a judge since 1990, goes back to comments he made at a hearing in December.
Sounding more than a little perturbed, Elias said then that prosecutors in Vista were not following rules for turning over relevant material to the defense, as required, in some cases.
He implied that some judges believed it to be “deliberate and intentional” — and that the stature of the office is plummeting.
According to a hearing transcript, Elias said to prosecutors that “you need to be concerned about the reputation of the office, because it’s not good.”
“It’s clearly not good among the defense bar,” the judge continued.
He went further, saying the reputation “was not good among judicial officers, many of whom were colleagues to people you still work with.”
The December hearing was unusual in that a colleague of Elias, Superior Court Judge Dan Goldstein, who is also a former prosecutor, was present in the courtroom, as were Summer Stephan and Garland Peed, the top two supervisors of the District Attorney’s Office in Vista.
In court papers filed in preparation for today’s hearing, Deputy District Attorney Katherine Flaherty said Elias’ comments show that he can’t be impartial — and that in order to protect their rights to a fair hearing, he has to step down.
“The court’s comments in this case reflect a clear mindset of bias and prejudice against prosecutors in the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office,” Flaherty wrote. “… There can be no impartial ruling from a judge who believes that prosecutors deliberately and intentionally violate the constitutional rights of defendants by failing to provide discovery.”
Neither Flaherty nor defense lawyers Sherry Stone or Kathleen Cannon would comment on the case. Both sides will be in court this morning in front of Elias.
The filing is stirring interest in the Vista courts among defense lawyers, several of whom said they were taken aback by the harsh tone against Elias.
The filing also came as the boycott of Superior Court Judge John Einhorn in San Diego was ending. The reasons for prosecutors’ blanket boycott of Einhorn, lasting from September until Monday, were never revealed by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
Dumanis was criticized by defense lawyers and some judges, who said she was trying to bully the bench with the tactic.
At issue in the Elias matter is whether prosecutors had turned over to the defense information about a pawnshop receipt in a case dealing with the theft of two bicycles. Forensic analysts with the District Attorney’s Office were able to match six fingerprints in the case to the defendant, Kenneth Bowles, but found that one print on a receipt with his name was “inconclusive.”
Bowles’ defense lawyer said that information about the inconclusive print was omitted from a report and that such an error is critical enough to dismiss the case.
Prosecutors vigorously argue that the information was available to the defense lawyer as part of court exhibits and also came out during testimony. They also say there is no requirement to turn over information that is inconclusive.
Elias said at the hearing that he doubted that legal position. He postponed a decision to allow both sides to file briefs on the issue.
Prosecutors contend now that Elias abandoned his neutrality; bullied the prosecutor, Vanessa Du Vall; and conducted “what amounted to a ‘lynching’ ” of Du Vall.
This is not the first Vista case in recent months involving disputes about turning over information to the defense. In October, three men accused of raping a woman pleaded guilty to lesser charges after defense lawyers complained that tape recordings of the woman’s statements were not turned over until three weeks before trial.
In December, a man facing charges of mayhem and domestic violence pleaded guilty to lesser charges after Cannon received a DNA report just before trial on a knife found at the crime scene. She said the report supported her client’s defense and that it had been completed in May, but not turned over.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Will CA charge Manslaughter for death to a fetus in future
California DUI charge for death of unborn child considered
A New Year's Day accident around 3AM in the San Diego area took the life of a 6-month's pregnant woman and her unborn child.
Authorities have charged the suspect, 40-year-old Joseph Antony Venegas, with gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of DUI causing injury. Arraignment for Venegas has been postponed because the driver was in medical isolation; he was only arraigned last Friday on the charges.
21-year-old Elaina Luquis-Ortiz and her unborn child, Romeo Fransisco, were both killed and two others were injured. Venegas was not charged in the death of the fetus, which is possible though not uniformly enforced in the state of California. The decision on this matter is pending.
Luquis-Ortiz was traveling home with her husband from a New Year's Eve party when they were called to assist another driver with a flat tire. She pulled her own car behind the disabled vehicle to await further assistance. At that point, a much larger Chevrolet Tahoe struck the parked car.
Luquis-Ortis died at the scene nearly immediately upon impact. The other passengers, who she was assisting, suffered serious injuries.
A New Year's Day accident around 3AM in the San Diego area took the life of a 6-month's pregnant woman and her unborn child.
Authorities have charged the suspect, 40-year-old Joseph Antony Venegas, with gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of DUI causing injury. Arraignment for Venegas has been postponed because the driver was in medical isolation; he was only arraigned last Friday on the charges.
21-year-old Elaina Luquis-Ortiz and her unborn child, Romeo Fransisco, were both killed and two others were injured. Venegas was not charged in the death of the fetus, which is possible though not uniformly enforced in the state of California. The decision on this matter is pending.
Luquis-Ortiz was traveling home with her husband from a New Year's Eve party when they were called to assist another driver with a flat tire. She pulled her own car behind the disabled vehicle to await further assistance. At that point, a much larger Chevrolet Tahoe struck the parked car.
Luquis-Ortis died at the scene nearly immediately upon impact. The other passengers, who she was assisting, suffered serious injuries.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
NYE DUI Checkpoints
Local DUI Saturation Patrols deploying in: Escondido, Poway, National City, San Diego, San Marcos, Encinitas, Del Mar, Solana Beach, La Mesa, Oceanside, Vista, Santee, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove and Chula Vista on New Years weekend.
Holiday Weekend Mobilization - Law Enforcement Sobriety Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols Planned San Diego, CA – Law enforcement throughout the county will be combining resources and sending out a unified message this New Years Eve weekend to holiday traveler’s communities enjoying local festivities that drunk driving won’t be tolerated. If you drive drunk, we will be looking for you. If you’re over the limit, you will be arrested.
The Avoid the 14 DUI task force will be staffing a DUI checkpoint(s) in San Diego County this weekend and deploying additional local DUI Saturation Patrols on overtime countywide targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver before the celebrations begin. Funding for the Avoid Campaign is through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
From 2006 to 2007, California witnessed a big decline in the number of people killed in alcohol-involved deaths from 1597 to 1489 dead. Last April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported a significant decline in traffic deaths in California; traffic safety experts are hopeful to report a decline in alcohol impaired deaths for 2008 within several month (NTHAS Statistical data won’t be available for several months) “Police, Sheriff and CHP officers are doing more with less to remove drunk drivers from California’s streets and highways,” said Chris Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “Law enforcement everywhere is asking for the community’s help; if you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”
The enforcement campaign begins Thursday night a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint in the city of San Diego with special DUI Saturation Patrols deploying in the city of San Diego. More local DUI Saturation Patrols will be out on Saturday night in cities through out San Diego County. The California Highway Patrol is deploying 80% of all available officers New Year Eve weekend onto freeways and county roads in their jurisdiction.
Holiday Weekend Mobilization - Law Enforcement Sobriety Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols Planned San Diego, CA – Law enforcement throughout the county will be combining resources and sending out a unified message this New Years Eve weekend to holiday traveler’s communities enjoying local festivities that drunk driving won’t be tolerated. If you drive drunk, we will be looking for you. If you’re over the limit, you will be arrested.
The Avoid the 14 DUI task force will be staffing a DUI checkpoint(s) in San Diego County this weekend and deploying additional local DUI Saturation Patrols on overtime countywide targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver before the celebrations begin. Funding for the Avoid Campaign is through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
From 2006 to 2007, California witnessed a big decline in the number of people killed in alcohol-involved deaths from 1597 to 1489 dead. Last April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported a significant decline in traffic deaths in California; traffic safety experts are hopeful to report a decline in alcohol impaired deaths for 2008 within several month (NTHAS Statistical data won’t be available for several months) “Police, Sheriff and CHP officers are doing more with less to remove drunk drivers from California’s streets and highways,” said Chris Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “Law enforcement everywhere is asking for the community’s help; if you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”
The enforcement campaign begins Thursday night a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint in the city of San Diego with special DUI Saturation Patrols deploying in the city of San Diego. More local DUI Saturation Patrols will be out on Saturday night in cities through out San Diego County. The California Highway Patrol is deploying 80% of all available officers New Year Eve weekend onto freeways and county roads in their jurisdiction.
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