Orange County Criminal Attorney Blog

A former teacher, also a former head cheerleader for the Cincinnati Bengals football team, faces charges over an alleged sexual relationship with a student. Prosecutors in Kenton County, Kentucky indicted Sarah Jones, age 26, in late March for sexual abuse of a student and inducing a minor into sexual activities through electronic means. They also indicted her mother, Cheryl Jones, for evidence tampering for allegedly helping cover up the relationship. Cheryl Jones is a middle school principal, although she is currently suspended from that position.

Sarah Jones reportedly taught freshman-level English at Dixie Heights High School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky for about five years. She resigned on November 29, 2011 for "personal reasons." Jones' indictment alleges that the relationship with the student, whose name and age have not been released other than the fact that he was a senior, occurred between October 1 and December 31, 2011. Cheryl Jones, currently on paid administrative leave from Twenhofel Middle School, is charged with a single count of evidence tampering.

The superintendent of the school district says that Sarah Jones resigned her teaching job the same day police began openly investigating the case, and that no one had ever complained about Jones before that. Jones' attorney says that Jones' family and the family of the alleged victim are friends, and that the student denies the allegations against Jones. Students and parents alike offered praise about Jones to the media.

Both Sarah and Cheryl Jones entered pleas of not guilty on April 2. The judge set their bonds at $15,000 each, lowered from the original $50,000. They were ordered to wear electronic monitoring devices and to avoid any contact with the alleged victim. Among the supporters at the courthouse that day, according to ABC News, was the alleged victim's family. Several days later, both Sarah and Cheryl Jones reportedly asked the judge to raise the bond amounts to $50,000 again in exchange for the ability to contact the alleged victim. The original bond conditions did not include contact restrictions. The judge does not appear to have ruled on their request yet. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for June 11, with trial set for June 27.

This case presents interesting issues of evidence. The alleged victim may refuse to cooperate with prosecutors, and reportedly denies any wrongdoing by Jones. Prosecutions for alleged sex crimes frequently center on the allegations of the victim. Depending on what other evidence prosecutors have, this may make their case very difficult. The high-profile nature of the case will complicate a trial as well.

Continue reading "Former Teacher and NFL Cheerleader Charged With Sexually Abusing a Student" »

A jury convicted Santa Ana resident Jorge Miguel Gallegos of sexual assault and several other charges on Monday, April 2, 2012. Prosecutors had accused Gallegos of sexually assaulting a family member, who was a minor, in 2009. He could now face life in prison. His prosecution and trial demonstrate the unique difficulties present in defending someone facing such shocking accusations.

According to Orange County prosecutors, at about 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve in 2009, Gallegos sexually assaulted an 8 year-old female relative. This reportedly occurred in the kitchen of Gallegos' house while other relatives were sleeping in other rooms. Gallegos' wife reportedly walked into the kitchen during the assault. Prosecutors say that Gallegos then pulled the telephone cord from the wall and told his wife not to tell anyone what she witnessed. He left the house and went to a friend's residence. Gallegos' wife called 911, and police arrested Gallegos early Christmas morning.

The Orange County District Attorney charged Gallegos with at least six felony offenses. These included sexual assault, "lewd acts on a child younger than 14," and "dissuading a witness from reporting a crime." Prosecutors alleged a sentencing enhancement for "substantial sexual contact with a child." Investigators later announced that they had determined that Gallegos had assaulted the same relative once other time between September and December 20009, but that no one had reported it.

Gallegos' trial was scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 22, 2012. The jury found Gallegos guilty of six felony counts on Monday, April 2. In addition to the lewd conduct charge and the charge of interference with reporting a crime, the jury convicted him of four sexual assault-related felonies. California law defines these felony offenses very narrowly and specifically as they pertain to children. The guilty verdict included two counts of "oral copulation or sexual penetration," one count of "sexual intercourse or sodomy," and one count of "digital penetration." Gallegos' sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 11. The minimum sentence is fifty-five years to life in state prison, with a maximum of sixty-six years to life. Gallegos is 38 years old.

Continue reading "Jury Convicts Orange County Man of Christmas Eve 2009 Sexual Assault" »

Police in Roseville, California arrested a man for parole violation after he removed a GPS monitoring device eight days after he left prison. Mark Wayne Speer, as a convicted sex offender, was required to wear a monitoring device, supervised by the California Department of Parole, at all times as a condition of his release.

Police reportedly released Speer's picture to the public and asked for their help in locating him. A tip that he was staying at a Roseville hotel led police to him on February 24. They found and arrested him in a nearby garage. He was being held without bail in the Placer County Jail according to the most recent media reports.

According to the Vacaville Reporter, Speer was a resident of south Vacaville when he was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of sexual assault of a young boy and a felony probation violation. He was also reportedly arrested in August 2011 for a probation violation. He was reportedly paroled from prison several months later, in December 2011, and returned to Vacaville. Eight days after his parole, he allegedly removed the GPS tracking bracelet. This led to the police effort to locate and arrest him.

California has required people convicted of sex-related offenses to register with the state for decades. Megan's Law, passed in 1996, made information on registered sex offenders available to the general public. At first, the information was only available by calling a hotline that was not toll-free or visiting a police or sheriff station. After 2004, a new law required that all registration information be available online. The stated purpose of making this information public is to allow people to protect themselves and their children from registered sex offenders, but it claims it is not intended to further punish them.

In 2004, California began tracking paroled sex offenders and other high-risk parolees using GPS devices that they must wear at all times as a condition of parole. This was originally part of a broader effort by the state to reform the parole system, which at the time returned 70,000 former convicts to prison every year. Jessica's Law, passed as a ballot initiative in 2006, required lifetime GPS monitoring of registered sex offenders, as well as prohibiting them from coming within a certain distance of schools and parks.

Continue reading "Paroled California Sex Offender Re-Arrested After Removing Monitoring Device" »

A federal judge sentenced a Texas man to ten years in prison, followed by lifelong supervised release, for "travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct." Kenzie Nelson, a 31 year-old from the Dallas area, had pleaded guilty to a single count in October. The FBI is touting the conviction as a victory in Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in 2006 to fight the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Nelson's conviction ultimately had more to do with the act of crossing a state line than with alleged exploitation of a minor.

The story began in 2010, when a teenage girl, age 13, vanished from her home in suburban Dallas for several days, from December 15 to December 20. Witnesses first saw her in the company of two 20 year-old men. Those two men were arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a minor, but apparently they had no connection to Nelson. The girl reportedly met Nelson after the two men dropped her off at a suburban mall. Police arrested Nelson in January 2011, accusing him of transporting the girl into Dallas in order to engage her in prostitution. Local authorities in Irving, Texas charged him with aggravated sexual assault, compelling prostitution, and human trafficking.

Further investigation revealed that Nelson had allegedly transported the girl across state lines to McAlester, Oklahoma. Federal prosecutors indicted Nelson on two counts of sex trafficking of a minor in March 2011. Local police and the FBI reportedly cooperated in investigating the case and bringing the indictment. After issuance of the federal indictment, the U.S. Attorney's office took over the prosecution from the local district attorney.

Nelson pleaded guilty to a single count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct in October 2011. In his plea paperwork, he admitted to transporting the girl to Oklahoma. There, he says he paid for a motel room and the two of them engaged in sexual activity. He drove the girl back to Dallas the next day and dropped her off at a grocery store. According to news reports, a "Good Samaritan" gave her a ride to her home.

At a sentencing hearing on February 1, 2012, a woman testified that Nelson had forced her into prostitution, and had suffered injuries and received scars from him. The judge went over the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines with the 120-month sentence. Nelson will also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Continue reading "Man Gets 10-Year Sentence in "Sex Tourism" Case" »

A recent lawsuit has put the story of Douglas Perlitz back in the news. Perlitz operated a school in Cap-Haitien, Haiti for more than a decade before he was accused of abusing boys in his care. Twenty-one Haitian men claiming to be victims of Perlitz's abuse have filed federal lawsuits in recent months against Perlitz and others seeking damages. The government prosecuted Perlitz under a federal statute dealing with child trafficking. Although the most explicitly criminal conduct occurred in Haiti, federal law allows prosecution in the United States, demonstrating that U.S. criminal jurisdiction can have a very long reach.

Perlitz founded Project Pierre Toussant (PPT) in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, in 1997 as a program to help street children. PPT provided shelter, food, and basic education for children living on the streets. Perlitz raised millions of dollars through grants and donations, and PPT grew to occupy a 10-acre compund with a school, dormitories, and a soccer field.

Allegations of abuse began to appear in 2007, when several boys spoke to teachers and other adults in and around PPT. According to CNN, no one believed them for some time, citing all the good Perlitz had done for the community. One donor and a journalist interviewed by CNN tried to get PPT employees to act, but had little success. Eventually, an American volunteer at PPT conveyed accusations of abuse of younger boys by older ones, and this brought the matter to the attention of U.S. authorities.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took on the case in 2009. After an investigation, they arrested Perlitz in September of that year. A federal grand jury in Connecticut indicted him on ten counts related to the alleged abuse. Seven counts involved traveling outside of the U.S. for the purpose of having sex with minors, and three involved sexual conduct with minors abroad. Perlitz pleaded guilty to one "traveling outside the U.S." count in August 2010. In December 2010, a judge sentenced him to just under twenty years in prison.

The federal government has prohibited transporting minors across state lines for sexual purposes since 1910, when Congress passed the Mann Act. It originally applied primarily to transportation across state lines within the U.S. In an effort to fight international sex trafficking, Congress passed the PROTECT Act in 2003, which amended the existing law to include activities conducted on foreign soil.

Continue reading "American Man Convicted for Sexual Abuse Occurring in Haiti" »

A man accused of stalking a woman over a period of seventeen years was sentenced to more than twenty-six years in prison by a Seattle court on January 24. Prosecutors said it was the longest sentence in recent memory for a stalking offense. It apparently began in 1994, when Shaun Moul, now 31 years old, was in middle school. A girl saw him having difficulty with his homework in the library and offered to help him. She described him as an "outcast" and said she just wanted to be nice. Moul began following her. Over the years, prosecutors said, he wrote her more than one hundred letters. At times he allegedly threatened to kill her and at other times threatened to kill himself. He also contacted her family members to demand contact with her.

The woman had previously obtained restraining orders against Moul. After violating a no-contact order, he received an eight-year prison sentence in 2001 and served two years. He contacted the woman's sister after his release in order to make contact with the woman again.

Prosecutors charged Moul with stalking and violation of no-contact orders. He was convicted six months ago of two felony counts of stalking and nineteen violations of no-contact orders. Prosecutors requested twenty years in prison. His sentencing hearing was held last week.

At the sentencing hearing, the target of his stalking campaign had an opportunity to address him. She told him that she had no intention of ever being with him and asked that he never contact her or her family again. Moul did not oppose a long prison sentence, saying that he did not mind being confined for the remainder of his life. The court ordered a prison term of twenty-six and one-half years, which the chief prosecutor described as the longest sentence she had ever seen for stalking. His prior prison term likely played a role in the length of the sentence.

The story paints a chilling picture of a person obsessed with someone and willing to go to great lengths to maintain contact with that person. His actions appear to have been limited to threats made through repeated letters and other attempts at contact. If his actions ever turned to overt violence, media reports do not mention it. The long-term effect of his actions on his target and her family is undeniable, but it raises the question of what exactly constitutes the crime of "stalking."

Continue reading "Seventeen Years of Stalking Leads to Twenty-six-Year Prison Sentence" »

Ali Achekzai, a 33 year-old Afghan national who once lived in Orange County, was convicted in an Orange County court on December 15, 2011 of sexually assaulting three Southern California women. The assaults occurred in Orange and San Diego Counties in 2002 and 2004. The media has described Achkezai as an "international serial rapist" because he has faced accusations and criminal charges abroad and has allegedly lived in multiple countries in Europe. His case combines serious accusations with salacious media coverage.

Prosecutors charged Achekzai with multiple felony counts such as forcible rape, aggravated assault, and assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense. The first case occurred in Laguna Beach in October 2002, when Achekzai reportedly sexually assaulted a woman in a limousine while she slept. In January 2004, Achekzai reportedly met a woman at a Laguna Beach nightclub and later followed her from the club in his car. He convinced her to pull over in a fast food restaurant parking lot and then raped her in her own vehicle, as indicated by DNA evidence in the car. The last case for which he was prosecuted occurred in May 2004 in San Diego, when he raped a woman while hiking at Mount Soledad. DNA evidence from each case linked Achekzai to the assaults.

Prosecutors accused Achekzai of fleeing to Canada before he could be charged for any of the attacks. He spent years on the Orange County District Attorney's "Most Wanted" list. During this time, authorities believe he lived in England, Germany, and Austria. He also reportedly changed his name multiple times. In 2009, while he was living in Salzburg, Austrian authorities arrested him for another alleged rape. That case was later dismissed and Achekzai was released from custody. When California law enforcement learned of the arrest in Austria, they submitted DNA samples from the 2004 cases to Interpol. Interpol matched it to DNA evidence taken in Austria. Austrian authorities arrested Achekzai again on January 26, 2010 in Neukirchen am Grossvenediger, and he was extradited to California that August.

Achekzai's trial began on December 8, 2011 in Orange County Superior Court. Prosecutors had the burden of proving all elements of the alleged crimes, including Achekzai's intent to commit sexual assault and the lack of consent of the victims. Achekzai argued that the encounters were consensual, but all three of Achkezai's alleged victims, who had reportedly never met one another, testified as to his conduct. The district attorney called their descriptions of Achkezai's conduct in all three cases "eerily similar" to each other. Additional witnesses offered testimony about violence used in the incidents, including evidence that he knocked out the victim's front tooth in the Mount Soledad case. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning a guilty verdict.

Continue reading "Alleged "International Serial Rapist" Convicted in Orange County" »

After Orange County officially barred all registered sex offenders from entering county parks, county beaches, or other county recreation areas in April, district attorney Tony Rackauckas began to lobby the cities of Orange County to do the same. This process started a dialogue about whether toughening already tough laws is the best use of public resources, whether local governments can afford any further enforcement, and whether further enforcement is even necessary. Some registrants themselves have even stepped forward to speak out about treatment of registered sex offenders.

The Orange County Register recently offered an overview of California's different laws dealing with sex offenders, their critics, and their supporters. California has several laws that address registered sex offenders that passed in the wake of specific tragedies. These laws often bear the names of specific victims.

Megan's Law first passed in California in 1996 and requires that sex offender lists be available to the public. The law was amended in 2004 to make the information available online.

Jessica's Law, passed in California in 2006, prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks. It also requires lifetime GPS supervision of people on the registry.

Chelsea's Law, which originated in California and became law in 2010, provides for enhanced sentencing for certain criminal offenses when children are involved.

Although these laws have broad popular support, they have a considerable number of critics with a wide array of valid criticisms. The state's own Sex Offender Management Board, the agency charged with "decreas[ing] sexual victimization and increas[ing] community safety," complains that the system has been created piece by piece and lacks coordination. Laws tend to get passed in the wake of public outrage, with little inclination or opportunity for debate about a law's merits.

Critics further charge that the laws often apply a one-size-fits-all approach to a complex set of problems. The Register describes several cases that are unintended consequences of overzealous legislation. The most infamous of these cases involve children forced to register for life as sex offenders because of "sexting," sending images of themselves in states of undress to each other via cell phone. These people, as well as many other people who end up on the registry, do not pose so great a threat to public safety that they require lifetime monitoring, yet they occupy the same registry as serial molesters.

Continue reading "Reconsidering California's Sex Offender Laws" »

An Irvine swimming teacher, Todd Robert Sousa, pleaded guilty in late October to 13 felony counts of "lewd acts on a child" and received a 16-month state prison sentence. Sousa, 37, was charged with multiple counts related to a almost year-long relationship with a 15 year-old student. The case is the latest in a long series of high-profile cases of teachers accused of illegal sexual relationships with students. While these cases are undoubtedly tragic, they also demonstrate the inflammatory nature of alleged sexual misconduct in public discourse and the ease with which conviction in the media can affect a defendant's legal rights.

Sousa and his wife owned Swim Venture, a swimming school that taught classes at pools around Orange County. According to the criminal charges filed against him in March 2011, he met the 15 year-old girl through swim classes and carried on a relationship with her between April 2010 and February 18, 2011. At some point during that time, the relationship turned sexual. On February 18, 2011, he allegedly picked up the girl and her friend and drove them to the Swim Venture office, where he gave them alcohol and took the girl to another room while her friend waited. The friend told her parents, who told the girl's parents. The girl's parents notified authorities, who charged Sousa on March 23, 2011.

Sousa faced up to thirteen years in prison if he had been convicted. He initially pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in March. He had posted $100,000 bond in February, and the judge restricted him from any contact with females aged 14 to 18 years. By pleading guilty, he has significantly reduced his potential prison sentence and avoided even greater media scrutiny.

Each state sets its own laws regarding the age at which a person can legally consent to sexual activity, commonly known as the "age of consent." California sets that age at 18 years, so sexual activity between an adult and a minor is considered "unlawful sexual intercourse," also sometimes known as "statutory rape." The California Penal Code specifically addresses sexual contact between an adult aged 21 or older and a minor under the age of 16, imposing a penalty of up to one year in county jail or four years in state prison.

Continue reading "Orange County Swimming Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex Charges" »

Police arrested former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on November 5. Sandusky faces charges of sexual abuse of multiple young boys. Two high-level administrators at Penn State, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, face charges of lying to a grand jury about their knowledge of Sandusky's alleged crimes. The ensuing scandal is putting pressure on legendary head football coach Joe Paterno to account for his own role in the situation. While the criminality of child sexual abuse is hopefully clear to everyone, this case also illustrates the potential criminal consequences for people who might know of such abuse and who fail to report it.

Sandusky served as a defensive coordinator for Penn State's football program for twenty-three years, retiring in 1999. He maintained a presence at the school even after his retirement. Pennsylvania's Attorney General is accusing Sandusky of committing multiple acts of sexual abuse of young boys, sometimes on the Penn State campus, over a period from at least 1994 to 2009. Sandusky allegedly used his position within the famed Penn State football program to lure in children.

One alleged incident involved a graduate assistant who claimed to have seen Sandusky in 2002 in a locker room shower with a young boy engaging in an apparent sex act. The graduate assistant reported this to Paterno, who passed it on to the school administration in accordance with state law. The graduate assistant now says no one from law enforcement ever questioned him about the incident until he gave grand jury testimony in December 2010. Curley, during his grand jury testimony, characterized the incident as "horsing around" and denied that the graduate assistant reported sexual abuse at the time. It is worth noting that even mere "horsing around" in the shower is hardly appropriate behavior.

Paterno faces allegations of behaving inappropriately, if not outright illegally, if he knew of any alleged abuse and failed to act. State law in Pennsylvania requires employees of the university to report allegations of child abuse. This is particularly true for the university since it is a state-run educational institution. So far, prosecutors have given no indication that they have plans for charges against Paterno. His role in the scandal, however, will probably be key to the prosecution of both Sandusky and the two administrators.

Continue reading "Sex Abuse Scandal at Penn State Ensnares More than Just the Alleged Abuser" »

Information on nearby registered sex offenders is available within Facebook now for residents of New York. The state's Division of Criminal Justice Services recently launched a Facebook app, the Sex Offender Locator Application, accessible through its website and to users of the popular social network. It provides access to the state's database of medium- to high-risk convicted and registered sex offenders, including their name and address information. While online access to state registries is nothing new, this is one of the first times a state has directly integrated with a large service like Facebook.

While the system provides useful information to the public, it also has the potential for misuse and for violations of registrant's privacy. Considering the widespread (and deliberate) stigma of being listed on a registry, along with misunderstanding of the range of offenses that can lead to mandatory registration, people facing any sort of criminal charge involving a sex offense need to understand how these registries work. Registration can apply alike to child molesters and people who committed one act of indecent exposure at Mardi Gras.

In addition to state registries available online, private companies have set up websites allowing the public to search for sex offenders. Websites often tout their ability to help families research neighborhoods and protect their children. Sites such as Family Watchdog rely on public information obtained from state registries and act as a central clearinghouse for the information. An iPhone app called Offender Locator works with the iPhone's GPS locator to generate a map of registered sex offenders in the user's vicinity. Whether this information is used for safety purposes or out of morbid curiosity is up to each individual user.

Because of the reliance on individual state registries for updates, these services cannot ensure the information's accuracy themselves, and the information is not always accurate. People may appear on the registry by accident, or new information reported by a registrant may not make it into the registry's database right away. Registrants may neglect or refuse to provide updated information, making the information in the registry incorrect. In extreme cases, vigilantes have used publicly available information to locate and harass or even murder registered sex offenders. Maine, for example, briefly shut down its online search function after the murder of two registrants by a man who located them online.

Continue reading "Sex Offender Registry Now Available Through Facebook" »

A year after Governor Schwarzenegger signed "Chelsea's Law," the law has already had a significant impact on arrests and criminal charges, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego County has used the law to impose stricter penalties on nineteen people with its enhanced sentencing provisions. A nonprofit organization established to support the law, the Chelsea's Light Foundation, compiled this data and is hoping to help law enforcement in the rest of California to collect data on the law's impact. Chelsea's Law increases penalties for certain sex crimes against children, provides for lifetime monitoring of certain parolees, and creates procedures for assessing and containing offenders at risk of repeat offenses.

The law was inspired by the case of Chelsea King, a 17 year-old resident of Poway, California, near San Diego, who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in 2010 by John Gardner. Gardner, who was already a registered sex offender, is now serving two life prison sentences for Chelsea's murder and the murder of 14 year-old Amber Dubois. Gardner had served five years of a six-year sentence, beginning in 2000, after molesting his 13 year-old neighbor. He repeatedly violated his parole after his release from prison. Republican Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher of San Diego authored the bill that would become Chelsea's Law, and the governor signed it on September 9, 2010. Chelsea's parents, Kelly and Brent King, created the Chelsea's Light Foundation in part to support the law's passage and its implementation. They have also stated that they intend to promote similar laws in other states.

Chelsea's Law contains substantial increases in possible sentences for people convicted of sex crimes against children. It allows life sentences for both first-time and repeat offenders in cases involving the kidnapping of children with the use of drugs, torture, or weapons. The law also provides for lifetime GPS monitoring, as a condition of parole, for convictions of forcible sex crimes. Previously, GPS monitoring would end if an offender left parole. Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law in September 2011 that makes small changes to the law, implementing a "containment model" meant to identify sex offenders at risk of new offenses and providing for treatment. This process includes polygraph testing and assessments by certified professionals to assess the risk of committing new crimes. Another new law signed by Governor Brown provide immunity to professionals doing risk assessments in the event offenders commit new crimes.

Continue reading "First Year of "Chelsea's Law" in California" »

Two Chicago police officers have been charged with sexual assault while on duty. Officers Juan Vasquez and Paul Clavijo have been charged with sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman while on duty.

The case began, on March 30, 2011, when Officers Vasquez and Clavijo gave the alleged victim a ride home. The alleged victim attempted to enter the patrol vehicle's back seat but Officer Clavijo put her on his lap; whereupon, he sexually assaulted her. Upon arriving at the alleged victim's residence, both officers took turns sexually assaulting her. The alleged victim finally began pounding on the walls and screaming that she was being sexually assaulted. One officer was observed fleeing naked from the scene. Responding police officers found parts of one of the officer's uniform as well as his cell phone at the location. A subsequent test revealed the alleged victim had a blood alcohol level of .38 percent.

Attorneys representing the officers said the sexual act was voluntary, at which point prosecutors indicated a person with a blood alcohol level of .38 would be incapable of giving consent.

Discussion by The Law Office of Barney B. Gibbs:

The problem with charges against police officers is the great majority are false. People who are arrested and charged with crimes often have an incentive to falsely accuse police. Also, there are a great many people who hate the police and will use any opportunity to frame a police officer. However, just because there are many false claims, does not mean these claims should be ignored. It is important society be protected from dishonest police officers. Because of their powers, they are capable of doing great harm.

Charges against police officers, especially those committed on duty, must be considered among the most heinous. Not only has the officer committed a crime, he/she has also violated the trust society has in them. This loss of trust can adversely affect all police officers in the performance of their duty. Because many people believe there is a code of silence among police officers, none are to be trusted.

These two officers were put on administrative duties after they posted bail. At the very least, they should have been put on unpaid leave pending an investigation. Further, if it is proven they engaged in any sexual act on duty, with or without consent, they should be fired.

Public faith in the institution of justice is the basis of the democratic system. There was a time, not too long ago, that a majority of citizens of several large eastern cities believed their police were corrupt. The reason for this belief was that it was true! Police, by the nature of their jobs, stick together. Many would turn a blind eye to a fellow officer committing a crime, which would have involved an arrest had a citizen committed the act. Luckily, by and large, this is changing. However, police officers must be constantly vigilant in their understanding that their first duty is to justice and fairness.

A former corrections officer charged with rape and kidnapping has entered a plea of no contest to a lesser charge and will testify against his co-defendant.

Ex-Corrections Officer Jeff Jelinek, who was charged with the rape and kidnapping of a young mother in Fontana, was facing a possible life sentence. In return for his testimony against friend and co-defendant Anthony Orban, Jelinek will be sentenced to approximately 5 years in state prison. Jelinek pled no contest to assault with a deadly weapon, accessory after the fact and false imprisonment.

This case made headlines in 2010 when Jelinek and Orban, after a day spent drinking, began stalking women. Orban subsequently spotted the victim leaving work and forced her at gunpoint to a secluded location, where he raped and physically assaulted her. The sexual assault and beatings continued for nearly 2 hours. At one point, Orban sent pictures and emails to Jelinek documenting the assault. The victim was able to escape when Orban became distracted. Orban left his gun and glasses in the victim's car.

What makes this case so disturbing is that both defendants were sworn peace officers. Orban was a detective in Orange County and Jelinek was a corrections officer. Further, while getting drunk that day, both officers were carrying firearms. Police officers are human beings just like everyone else and are liable to make mistakes just like everyone else. However, the screening process used to hire these two individuals should be carefully reviewed. Both of these officers' work performance reviews should also be scanned in order to see what possible "red flags" were present. It is understandable that a peace officer can get a DUI after a night out on the town. But for two officers, from different agencies, to kidnap, rape and beat a woman leads one to believe there must have been some previous signs which may have gone unnoticed.

A 9-year-old Oregon girl was removed from her classroom by a Sheriff's deputy in order to investigate a sexual abuse allegation against her father. The little girl said she falsely incriminated her father because the deputy would not take no for an answer.

The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case which has caused considerable interest in the legal community. In a lawsuit filed by the girl's family, a California Appeals Court held that her rights had been violated by the State. The State appealed the case and it is now in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The issue presented is whether there was an unlawful search and seizure when the girl was interrogated without her mother's consent, a warrant or exigent circumstances. The State is arguing this technique is a proven method of investigation and requiring a warrant would severely interfere with law enforcement's ability to acquire evidence in child abuse cases. Conversely, the defense's argument is that a warrant should have first been obtained.

Each side of the argument has considerable support from interested third parties. This will be the first case of this kind the U.S. Supreme Court has handled in many years and is a very sensitive issue which may have far-reaching results. On one hand is the need to protect children while, on the other hand, is the need to exercise control over aggressive police interrogation methods.

Beginning with the McMartin case, there have been untold numbers of police interrogations of children which have produced inaccurate and/or false evidence. Police interrogation tactics are often unsuited to interviews with children. That is, since most officers deal primarily with adults, sometimes with career criminals who are very sophisticated, their approach to interrogations often involve aggressive and confrontational police methods. Said methods, however, are counterproductive when applied to children.

It is thus necessary to have clear guidelines and restraints on the police so children are not traumatized and false evidence is not obtained. This is why the U.S. Supreme Court should rule for the defense in this case.