San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Escondido AVID teacher arrested for having a sexual relationship with a student.

Valley High School teacher in Escondido was arrested Friday for allegedly having inappropriate contact with a minor in his classroom. 35-year old Mario Humerez of San Marcos was arrested by Detectives from the Escondido Police Department Family Protection Unit at a local Starbucks in the 400 Block of North Escondido Boulevard. Police lead Humerez to believe that he was meeting the victim but was instead met by authorities where they proceeded to arrest him.

The now 19- year old victim prompted the investigation on Humerez. The relationship between Humerez and the then 16-year old female student began in September 2007 and lasted 16 months. The victim currently attends college in South and recently reported the incidents to the police when she came home to visit. The victim told police of two sexual encounters she had with Humerez. Both encounters occurred in Humerez’s classroom and one of them happened with other students in the classroom while the students were watching a movie.

According to the authorities Humerez and the victim did not engage in sexual intercourse. The accused was booked on the charges of one count of suspicion of oral copulation of a minor and one count of sexual penetration of a minor. The Escondido teacher is a favorite among students at Valley High School, many of his students describing him as “super cool, good to have around, super helpful, almost a best friend and inspiring”.

Teacher Accused Of Sexual Acts With Student In Classroom, 10news.com, June 17, 2011

Teacher accused of molesting student, fox5sandiego.com, June 17, 2011

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San Diego County authorities conducted a countywide sex offender sweep.

14 people were arrested during the San Diego countywide sex offender sweep where local authorities were to check on the status of registered sex offenders. Hundreds of San Diego law enforcement officers contacted over 800 registered sex offenders across San Diego County to verify whether or not they were complying with the terms of their release. Of the 800 sixty-one were under strict investigation resulting in 14 arrests. “Operation Watchdog” was the term used to call this sex offender sweep. This operation was conducted early Wednesday morning. The “Operation Watchdog” task force commander David Collazo said that the operation was handled by 300 members of the San Diego Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task.

According to Collazo, most of the sex offenders that were investigated were following the terms of their release and were complying with the law by living at their registered addresses. Collazo said “We want offenders in San Diego to know they are being actively watched. Our goal was to verify they are complying with registration laws and to identify any illegal activity they might be engaged in”. Collazo also said that because most of the sex offenders were complying with the laws that “that’s a good indicator that offenders in this community know we take the registration laws very seriously”.

14 people were arrested on top of the sixty one that are under investigation. Authorities found various probation and parole violations among the ones arrested. One apprehended for being suspected in a homicide. The search turned up illegal substances such as marijuana and drug paraphernalia as well as pornography. Legal things that sex offenders are not permitted to be in possession of had also came up during the sweep. Things such as laptop computers, smart phones, alcohol, children’s clothing and toys, and digital media had turned up.

14 Arrested In Countywide Sex Offender Sweep, 10news.com, June 23, 2011

Cops make surprise visits to hundreds of sex offenders, fox5sandiego.com, June 23, 2011

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San Diego resident was arrested Monday for allegedly killing his ex-wife who planned to then commit suicide after the murder.

Tim Danielson e-mailed his sister-in-law explaining his depression, confessing to the murder of his ex-wife, and how he was going to kill himself. Police responded and found Danielson alive in a room of the 10300 block of New Bedford Court in Lakeside around 4:45 a.m. Danielson was reported to be alive in a room where he was attempting to kill himself with a portable generator with carbon monoxide. San Diego Sheriff’s Homicide Unit’s Lt. Larry Nesbit reported that the victim had suffered trauma but did not disclose the actual cause of her death. Danielson has lived in his home in Lakeside for the last 20 years and is a chemical engineer.

Danielson’s neighbors were shocked to hear of his arrest as well as what he is suspected of what he did. 19- year old Genevieve Overland who was a neighbor of Danielson reported “when I came home to this I was like, ‘What of earth?’ It was just baffling. I would never think he would do such a thing. He’s a really nice guy. He would sit in his garage and he would always talk to us and wave to neighbors”.

Danielson had apparently met his ex-wife Chinese resident Ming Qi. They were married in 2006 after the alleged San Diego Criminal had flown to China to meet her. They were soon divorced in 2008. Qi was said to have moved back to Danielson’s Lakeside home after the divorce due to financial problems. Danielson is being charged with one count of murder and is currently still at UCSD hospital in which he is being treated of injuries but remains under surveillance.

Arrest Made In Apparent Murder, Attempted Suicide, 10news.com, June 14, 2011

Lakeside man accused of killing wife ID'd, fox5sandiego.com, June 14, 2011

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San Diego man accused of cheating at the Sycuan Casino.

30 year-old Jesus Angel Salazar was arrested Thursday night at Sycuan Casino in the Dehesa area and was put on an unpaid leave the next day following his arrest. He allegedly was padding his bets at the East County gaming house. According to Bernard Gonzalez, who is part of the Chula Vista Police Department, the accused was booked on suspicion of a misdemeanor illegal gambling charge. Salazar was playing a game of blackjack when he was caught for stealthily adding chips to a winning wager after a round of play is complete.

Assistant Tribal Manager for the Sycuan Tribe, Adam Day, told reporters that “the suspect was at the blackjack table. After the second or third bet, our dealer noticed he was attempting to cheat the house”. Day ordered a close look at the surveillance video by security which confirmed the dealers suspicion. The accused was then arrested by Sycuan police and was detained on misdemeanor charges of cheating at a casino.

Chief David Bejarano of the Chula Vista Police Department told reporters that “if, in fact the…allegation is sustained and is accurate, I can assure this person will not be a member of our department in the near future”. Bejarano vowed that any transgressions at the fault of members of his force would not be tolerated. Court records show that Salazar was also facing a DUI charge that occurred in April where he had a .21 blood-alcohol level which also took place at the Sycuan Casino. He was on paid leave for that incident but was allowed to return after a short time. Salazar’s bail was posted at $10,000 and was released from custody late Friday morning.

Chula Vista Police Officer Accused Of Cheating At Casino, 10news.com, June 3, 2011

Off-duty cop accused of cheating at casino, fox5sandiego.com, June 3, 2011

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San Diego sexual assault and murder of Dan Williams trial has begun.

Philong Huynh, 40, is being charged with drugging, sexually assaulting, and killing 23-year old Dan Williams, a resident of Huntington Beach. According to Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means, Huynh would scope out heterosexual men in the Gaslamp Quarter of Downtown San Diego where he would drug and sexually abuse them. Huynh would look for young men who were intoxicated and offer to take them to Tijuana where he promised he would take them to strip clubs or hotel rooms with women. The defendant would then drug and sexually assault his victims.

According to the victim’s friends and family Williams was a hard-working man and was absolutely “girl crazy”. Williams resided with his family in Huntington Beach and disappeared on January 26, 2008. The victim was last seen leaving the Hard Rock Café at about 2 a.m. after working a fashion show at the House of Blues in the Gaslamp District. It appeared that Williams was intoxicated because he was stumbling when he left the Hard Rock. His body was discovered in an alley about a block-and –a-half from Huynh’s residence three days later. DNA fluids were found in and on the victim’s body that were a match to the defendants. Williams watch keys and underwear was missing and he had a blood-alcohol level between .17 and .21 as well as had the drug benzodiazepine in his system. The cause of death was undetermined.

A 20 year-old Navy corpsman, another victim of Huynh, came forward in January 2009 and reported how an Asian man went with to explore beaches in San Diego. The victim then woke up next to the defendant without clothes on and felt as if he was drugged. He had no recollection of how he got there or what had happened. The DNA found in the Naval corpsman matched up to the DNA found in and on Williams’ body. This tied Huynh to the murder of Williams. Huynh’s Criminal Defense Attorney, Marian Gaston, claims that although Huynh had done “some very bad things, but he’s not a killer”. Gaston made a point to remind the jury that the Victim’s cause of death was “undetermined” by the medical examiner. If convicted Huynh could get life in prison without parole.

Trial Begins In Fatal Drugging, Sex Assault Case, 10news.com, June 1, 2011

Drug-rape murder trial hits a snag, fox5sandiego.com, May 31, 2011

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San Diego man accused of sexually assaulting two women and a kidnapping of one of them.

33 year old Jeremy Strutzman is the suspect in sexually assaulting 2 women at a Vista apartment complex. Strutzman was arrested on Tuesday at the Motel 6 in Oceanside shortly before 3:30 p.m. and without incident according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. A 2005 Toyota Corolla which was used in the kidnapping was also recovered. The two women that were assaulted lived in the same apartment complex and right above Strutzman and his fiancé.

According to Lt. Mike Munsey, deputies were called by a 20-year-old woman who said she was sexually assaulted in Strutzman’s apartment and that her 19-year-old friend was sexually assaulted by knifepoint where the suspect kidnapped her in the 2005 Toyota Corolla. Strutzman’s fiancée, Amy Berling, was at the motel to support him and said “He’s being accused of rape and kidnapping. I’ve known him for seven months and he’s not that kind of man”. Berling also claimed that “there were two women upstairs and they were egging him on, trying to toy with him and play with him…playing with his emotions and his machismo”.

The San Diego criminal has a record of sexual battery and is described as 6-foot-1, 192-pound American Indian. Strutzman was convicted of breaking into a woman’s residence eleven years ago and was armed. He forced her to model in lingerie and then allegedly cut off the clothes with a knife and then lay naked on top of her. He was sentenced to 10 years but got on parole in 2009. Since his release he as been in and out of prison three times.

Suspect In 2 Sex Assaults, Kidnapping Arrested, 10news.com, May 31, 2011

Sex offender wanted in rapes, kidnapping arrested, fox5sandiego.com, June 1, 2011

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