Man faces drug charges after fatal Fullerton fight

FULLERTON – A 35-year-old man police suspect of getting into a fatal fight with another man in Fullerton is facing drug-possession charges as authorities await the results of a medical examiner’s report before determining whether to charge him in the death.

Jacob Leroy Bach has been charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, police said. Orange County Sheriff’s Department records show he was released from the James A. Musick facility after posting bond.

Officers responding to reports of a person down in a commercial building in the 1100 block of East Elm Avenue near Raymond Avenue about 6:30 a.m. July 3 found two men bleeding. Both men were taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange.

One of the men, who authorities identified as Steven Pratt, 44, died at the hospital.

The other man, who authorities have identified as Bach, was treated for his injuries and arrested on suspicion of drug possession upon his release from the hospital, Sgt. Jeff Stuart said.

Fullerton detectives have presented their case to the District Attorney’s Office, Stuart said, but prosecutors are awaiting the results of the medical examiner’s report before deciding whether to charge Bach in Pratt’s death.

Police believe Pratt and Bach got into a fight but have not identified what led to the confrontation. They do not believe weapons were involved.

The commercial space where the two were found includes rented studios where bands often gather to practice or perform, which is why police believe that they were in the area. The OC Weekly has reported that both men were members of a Fullerton-based band.

Source: www.ocregister.com

By SEAN EMERY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

If you are charged with a crime, contact an experienced Orange County Bail Bondsman to assist you in any bail situtation.

 

CORONA: Doctor pleads guilty to Rx fraud

KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHE

A Corona doctor given “the chance of a lifetime” in 2011 when she was sentenced to only a year in jail and five years probation for 274 felonies related to prescription fraud could be headed back to jail for a much longer time.

Lisa Michele Barden pleaded guilty Tuesday, July 10, to using the name of another person to obtain goods or services without permission — she impersonated another doctor to phone in a prescription in May. That action violated her probation, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Helios J. Hernandez ruled.

Hernandez did not sentence Barden, 42. Instead, he asked that a probation report be written and that attorneys return to court Aug. 24.

District attorney spokesman John Hall said his office would ask Hernandez to impose the suspended sentence of seven years, eight months that Barden received in the first case.

“The defendant was given a chance — the chance of a lifetime,” Deputy District Attorney Sara Stockwell wrote in a memo for Tuesday’s hearing, noting the suspended sentence.

Barden’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jason Kralovic, declined to comment outside court Tuesday. Inside court, he asked Hernandez to have Barden evaluated for participation in a drug-treatment program.

Authorities believe that Barden, a gynecologist, obtained more than 30,000 Vicodin painkillers for her personal use over the course of 22 months, using the identities of nine patients and the stolen prescription pads of five doctors before being arrested in 2007.

Hall said his office does not believe Barden sold any of the pills.

Barden pleaded guilty to 274 felony charges of identity theft, burglary, forging a prescription and possession of a controlled substance. She was convicted of felony worker’s compensation fraud and a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report.

Barden was serving the balance of her 360-day sentence on weekends when she committed the same crime: She called in a prescription for Coreg (for heart failure), Ultram (a painkiller) and Soma (a muscle relaxant) for her husband, Darrell Degner, using the name of Dr. Robyn Jacoby, Stockwell wrote.

Barden paid for the prescription in person at Main Street Pharmacy in Corona with a check in her name. Pharmacist Amie Padilla became suspicious and called Jacoby. Barden was arrested during a probation check.

Degner told police he destroyed the pills when he learned what his wife had done.

Barden’s one-year sentences for most of the crimes ran concurrently instead of consecutively because the crimes were largely part of the same act, Presiding Judge Sherrill A. Ellsworth had explained previously.

The state has revoked Barden’s license to practice medicine. Barden remains in custody. Bail is $100,000.

BY BRIAN ROKOS

Source: www.pe.com

If you are charged with a crime, contact an experienced Orange County Bail Bondsman to assist you in any bail situtation.

 

Boyfriend accused of killing in front of kids

SANTA ANA – The Orange County grand jury has indicted an Anaheim man in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend in front of their three children.

Samuel Oscar Montes, 20, was charged Monday with three felony counts of child abuse and endangerment, one count each of murder and possession of a controlled substance with a sentencing enhancement allegation for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted of all counts, he faces a possible 50 years to life in state prison. Montes is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is expected to be arraigned on the indictment Friday.

Prosecutors had already charged Montes in the Aug. 27 death of Nicole Gutierrez, 20. An indictment eliminates the need for a preliminary hearing to test the evidence and speeds the case along to a court trial.

Montes is accused of engaging in an argument with his girlfriend, which escalated into a fight about a gun in the house, in front of their three children, ages 3, 1 and 1 month.

While fighting, Montes took hold of the gun, which went off, hitting Gutierrez once in the head, prosecutors said. The defendant then fled the scene, according to a district attorney’s news release.

A neighbor who heard the gunshot called 911. Anaheim police officers arrived to find Gutierrez dead.

 

Man who killed 2 teens after carnival seeks parole

SANTA ANA – A former Santa Ana gang member convicted of murder for the drive-by shootings of two teens returning home from a church carnival in 1987 is scheduled to go before a parole board Tuesday morning.

Patrick Che McCauley was 19 years old when he and two other gang members were arrested for the shotgun slayings of Enrique Arceo, 13, and Jesus Perez, 17, in Santa Ana on Oct. 30, 1987.

McCauley, now 44, was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced in February 1992 to 37 years to life in state prison. His minimum eligible parole date is May 1, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which will argue against McCauley’s release.

Among other reasons, the D.A. opposes McCauley’s parole for “recently accrued prison rules violations that include possession of a controlled substance for distribution, inappropriate sexual behavior, job-related theft, out of bounds, misuse of inmate telephones, possession of inmate manufactured alcohol, participation in a riot, and avoiding attendance at work,” according to a news release from the D.A.’s office.

McCauley was driving around Santa Ana looking for gang members to shoot in retaliation for an ongoing rivalry when a fellow gang member, Mario Tirado, who was sitting in the passenger seat, gunned down Arceo and Perez as they were heading home on bicycles from the church carnival, according to prosecutors.

McCauley is being held at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. The hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the prison before the Board of Parole Hearings, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche will appear at the hearing to oppose McCauley’s parole.

 

Man guilty of hate crimes against Latinos

SANTA ANA – An Irvine man was sentenced to 120 days in custody for his guilty plea to what prosecutors say was an unprovoked hate crime on two Latino men he had never met.

Arash Riazati, 33, was angry at Latinos after an altercation outside a movie theater in Los Angeles on May 28, 2010. Later he saw two Latino men – an uncle and his nephew – sitting in a car at the intersection of Jamboree Road and Barranca Parkway in Tustin, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Riazati got out of his girlfriend’s car holding a metal chain, approached the driver and swung the chain against the driver’s side rear door. Both victims were frightened by the unprovoked attack but suffered no injuries because they managed to speed out of Riazati’s reach, according to prosecutors.

An Irvine police sergeant happened to be in the area and observed the incident, prosecutors said.

On Monday, Riazati pleaded guilty to felony assault with a sentencing enhancement for committing the attack for racial reasons and misdemeanor being in possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, court records show.

Riazati was sentenced to 120 days in custody and three years probation, court records show.

He could have been sentenced to seven years in prison if convicted of the felony charges at trial.

Register staff writer Larry Welborn contributed to this report.

 

Guard arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine into jail to sell

A jailer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine into Men’s Central Jail with intent to sell it to inmates.

Remington Orr, 24, who is not a deputy but has worked for the last four years as a custody employee, was arrested late Monday as he was preparing to enter Men’s Central Jail with the drug, said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for Sheriff Lee Baca.

“Obviously, if anybody tries to do this they will be caught, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Whitmore said. “This is absolutely unacceptable as well as illegal. Nobody is above the law.”

Orr, being held in lieu of $1 million bail near the scene of his arrest, was booked on suspicion of at least three felonies including possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, transportation of controlled substance with intent to sell, and bribery, Whitmore said.

Orr’s case, the culmination of a four-week investigation, is the latest in a series of internal affairs investigations – -and prosecutions — that have targeted sheriff’s deputies and other department staff for delivering contraband behind bars, helping to fuel a lucrative drug trade behind bars.

Three sheriff’s guards have been convicted and a fourth fired in recent years for smuggling or attempting to smuggle narcotics into jail for inmates.

The the porous nature of the jails was highlighted last year when The Times reported that FBI agents conducted an undercover sting in which a deputy was accused of taking $1,500 to smuggle a cellphone to an inmate working as a federal informant. Federal authorities are investigating reports of brutality and other misconduct by deputies.

In another notable case last month, a sheriff’s deputy was arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle heroin into a courthouse jail inside a burrito.

 

Woman who hit 3 cyclists has many DUIs

A 46-year-old woman who allegedly struck three bicyclists and drove away from the scene has a history of driving under the influence in Orange and Riverside counties, court records show.

On Tuesday, Juli Ann Brown, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts including driving under the influence of alcohol/drug with injury, failure to stop at accident hit-and-run with injury or death, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, according to online court records. She also pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license and causing injury.

Seal Beach police said Brown was driving an SUV on Saturday morning when she struck three cyclists on Pacific Coast Highway, just west of Anderson Street. Brown fled and was found a short time later while heading east on Pacific Coast Highway near the intersection of 17th Street in Huntington Beach, police said.

The condition of the three victims is unknown at this point as authorities have not released further information about the crash.

Back in 2003, Orange County court records show that Brown pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and a misdemeanor charge of driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more. She served three years of informal probation.

After her March 2003 arrest in Orange County, Brown had several run-ins with the law in Riverside County:

•In February 2010, Brown was charged with one felony count of driving under the influence and one misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license, according to the Riverside Superior Court. A bench warrant was issued for Brown on Feb. 26, 2010 for failure to appear in court. That case, stemming from a Christmas 2009 arrest, remains active.

•In December 2008, Brown was convicted on a felony charge of driving under the influence and was sentenced to 180 days in county jail. She was also granted five years of formal probation.

•In August 2006, Brown was sentenced to two days in county jail and was granted three years of probation after she was convicted on a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence.

•In December 2003, Brown was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more and was sentenced to 22 days in county jail. She was granted five years of probation.

Any witnesses are asked to call Seal Beach police at 562-799-4115 or Officer Joe Garcia at 562-799-4100, ext. 1649.