San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

In San Diego Superior Courts, a 17-year-old male is accused of fatally stabbing one teen girl and wounding another. The incident occurred at San Diego’s Old Town Transit Center, where Daniel Padilla claims he was attacked by his two stabbing victims on September 17.

Rochelle Luz Quintana, 17, was stabbed once in the chest and died. Sara Chavez, also 17, sustained stab wounds in her abdomen and survived. According to several witnesses, Quintana and Chavez attacked Padilla in retaliation for Padilla flashing a gang sign to Chavez’s half sister and her boyfriend. Chavez said in a police interview that she threw the first punch.

Padilla, who is being held in Juvenile Hall instead of $1.5 million bail, is charged with murder and attempted murder. A hearing will determine if there is enough evidence to try Padilla, who has been charged as an adult.

Teen accused in stabbing says victims attacked him, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 23, 2009

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In San Diego, three people are charged with running a child prostitution ring. All three pleaded guilty to sex-crime charges last Tuesday. Their plea included one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of children and another count of coercion and enticement of a minor into prostitution.

According to federal prosecutors, the three defendants recruited children to work as prostitutes and posted inappropriate photos of the children on Craigslist to lure male customers. Two of the dependents admitted driving children to and from hotels in the Sports Arena and Mission Valley neighborhoods.

The court will sentence two of those charged with child sex trafficking on March 30. The other defendant will receive sentencing on April 13. The minimum mandatory sentence for the coercion charge is 10 years in jail, and the conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Three plead guilty to running child-sex ring, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 20, 2009

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According to Linda Foley, co-executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, identity theft against children is underreported. "If it happens to a child by a family member, we're not going to hear about until they reach 18, 19 years old, and start to apply for credit themselves,” she says.

Because credit issuers do not have a way to verify the age of someone applying for a credit card, it’s relatively easy for a family member who has wrecked their own credit to apply for a fraudulent credit card in a child’s name. The crime may go undetected until the child turns 18 and starts applying for credit themselves.

The Federal Trade Commission collects data on identify theft and said that 3 percent of its identity theft complaints in 2003 relating to identity theft victims under 18. Between 2005 and 2007, that number had risen to 5 percent.

Children are easy targets for identity thieves, including family members, Dallas Morning News, January 19, 2009

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In La Mesa, California, private investigators hired by Grossmont Union High School District are blaming high school employees for failing to report suspicions of child abuse as required by California state law. Four former teachers at Helix High School have been convicted of sex crimes against students since 2006.

According to the investigation, school employees did not report suspected child abuse and school administrators did not take proper preventative measures after the first case of sexual abuse. The report states that students did not feel their complaints would be taken seriously by school officials based on the reaction to the first incident of sexual abuse.

Officials from the school denied these findings and said they plan to issue a detailed response.

San Diego high school faulted after abuse cases, Associated Press, January 17, 2009

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According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the FBI has released statistics showing less crime in the San Diego area and across the country. The FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report showed a 3.5 percent decrease in violent crime nationwide during the first half of 2008 compared to the same time frame the previous year. It also showed a 2.5 percent decrease in property crime during that same period.

Here in San Diego, the area has seen a 10 percent decline in property crime and 2.8 percent decline in violent crime, including manslaughter, murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. Burglary, motor-vehicle theft, and larceny-theft are included in property crimes.

The Carlsbad Police Department said that when taking into account the city’s increase in population, the city noted a 9 percent decrease in FBI index crimes. Oceanside saw a 16 percent drop in violent crime and a 3.5 percent drop in property crime. Chula Vista saw a 7 percent drop in violent crime and a 14 percent drop in property crime. Escondido saw a 24.5 percent drop in violent crime and a 4 percent drop in property crime.

Uniform Crime Reports, FBI.gov

FBI: Crime down nationwide, including San Diego, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 13, 2009

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According to an article in The Californian, 20 people in San Diego County were charged with rape by intoxication last year, which is an increase over the 11 people who were charged in 2007. That same year, nine of the 11 defendants were convicted of a felony in those rape by intoxication cases.

Rape by intoxication is an especially difficult crime to prove in court, because the victim’s memory of the event may be limited. In some cases the defendant may have also been drunk; however, drunkenness is not a legal defense for committing rape. Rape by intoxication is a sex crime, so those convicted of the crime are required to register as a sex offender for the rest of their life.

In San Diego, local authorities and community organizations have teamed up to create a program called PRICE: Preventing Rape by Intoxication through Community Education. The program is aimed at teaching people between 18 and 25 to drink responsibly and not leave intoxicated friends by themselves.

REGION: Rape by intoxication hard to prove, The Californian, December 29, 2008

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On Sunday in San Diego, a man was stabbed to death in what San Diego police believe to be a gang attack. They have identified the stabbing victim as 24-year-old Francisco Nava.

Originally, the stabbing was reported to police as a shooting. The incident occurred around 2:45pm in Mountain Wood on Olivewood Terrace near Logan Avenue. Police officers arrived at the scene to find a man lying near the sidewalk, according to homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney. The man had stab wounds and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:15pm.

Detectives say that Nava and his friends were on Olivewood Terrace and were challenged by several members of a gang. One of the gang members confronted Nava and stabbed him, according to witnesses. The stabbing suspect has not been identified.

Public Safety: Man stabbed to death in apparent gang attack, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 12, 2009

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Word on the street is that Amy Winehouse, famous for her “Rehab” song, will appeal the October 2007 drug charges against her and her husband. Winehouse and her hubby, Blake Fielder-Civil, were arrested in Bergen, Norway after they were found in possession of marijuana. They both paid a fine of $429 for the seven grams of marijuana but later alleged that the police made some mistakes.

Winehouse’s defense attorney has said that paying the $429 could be interpreted as a guilty plea and may create issues for Winehouse if she tries to enter the United States.

According to The Times of London, a police prosecutor has stated publicly that Winehouse must appear in court on January 12 to appeal the drug charges or her appeal will most likely fail.

Winehouse may appeal drug charges, UPI.com, January 1, 2009

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A San Diego Court has charged a 60-year-old man with engaging in deceitful practices, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit grand theft. The man has pleaded not guilty.

According to prosecutors, Larry Smith posed as a mortgage foreclosure consultant and offered “land patents” to those who had defaulted on their mortgages. He reportedly told victims that the patents would avoid foreclosure because the banks would own the home instead of the land underneath it.

A district attorney said that investigators have found 17 homeowners who may have fallen prey to Smith’s scheme. A San Diego Superior Court Judge set the suspect’s bail at $3 million. Prosecutors say Smith faces a potential sentence of 37 years to life if convicted of all counts.

Smith’s criminal record includes convictions for robbery, assault, and second-degree murder as far back as the late 1960’s.

Man pleads not guilty to charges of grand theft, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 1, 2009

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San Diego police are searching for the man they believe was behind a Redwood Village home invasion and rape that happened on October 18. According to Monica Munoz of the San Diego Police Department, Tommy Nguyen, a 32-year-old Vietnamese construction worker, is suspected in this case and in similar crimes that occurred in Riverside and Orange counties. His two alleged accomplices were arrested at the scene of the crimes.

Munoz said Nguyen should be considered armed and dangerous.

According to prosecutors and police, the suspects were robbing a residence in the 5900 block of Hughes Street when the inhabitants arrived home. The suspects allegedly doused the male victims with lighter fluid and threatened to kill them if they didn’t their attackers $20,000. They also allegedly took the wife into a bedroom and raped her, according to a Deputy District Attorney.

Police Search For Man Involved In Home Invasion, 10News.com, December 26, 2008

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