Los Angeles County Criminal Lawyer Blog

Only in Los Angeles.

Two men accused of stealing from a person's house recently asked a man walking his dog for help getting their U-Haul truck out of the mud. Turns out, the man was the victim of a burglary and he alleges his stuff was in the back of the truck, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Charges of burglary in Valencia and throughout Los Angeles County can be punishable by years in prison, if the suspects are convicted.

Valencia criminal defense lawyers have seen many people, those convicted of juveniles charges in particular, be dogged for years by the consequences of a criminal record. It can be a blemish that is difficult to overcome later in life.

The same can be said for adults, too. People make mistakes, but many times the police and prosecutors are unforgiving. They are unwilling to lower the charges in a favorable plea deal and they want fines and fees as well as probation or jail time. It can become costly on top of humiliating.

So, the only option is to fight. An aggressive criminal defense lawyer will be able to look at all of the evidence objectively and be able to find holes in the prosecution's theory, in the police statements and in what witnesses said. Examining physical evidence, as well as DNA or fingerprint analysis, may also benefit the defendant.

In this case, a man was walking his dog and noticed a hole had been cut in his fence, this was right around the time a couple of guys in a U-Haul truck asked for his help getting out of the dirt next to his home.

When he noticed the truck was allegedly loaded with his property -- including tools and sports memorabilia -- he ran home and called police. According to a statement by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the man started taking pictures of the men throwing his belongings out of the truck and into the bushes nearby.

When deputies arrived, they arrested a 29-year-old man and a 32-year-old man. They are facing charges of suspicion of burglary, grand theft and receiving stolen property. Because of an outstanding warrant for a drunken driving arrest, the 29-year-old is being held on $200,000 bail. The older suspect is in custody on $50,000 bail.

The two men told authorities that the property was from an estate sale in Orange County and that they got stock while looking for a friend's home in the area. Both men are from Tehachapi.

The defendants now face serious charges and possibly an uphill battle. The fact that they were caught red-handed by the alleged victim, who took photos of them, doesn't bode well for their case. But, there may be facts not reported by the newspaper and not released by police that may shed more light on the situation. What is typically reported first is usually less than half of the real story. Only a jury trial will hear all the facts.

Continue reading "Alleged Burglars in Palmdale Thwarted After Asking Victim For Help" »

The Los Angeles Times reports that a 44-year-old Los Angeles Police Department sergeant has been charged with burglary after allegedly breaking into a person's home.

Now, deputies in San Bernardino County are reviewing their open cases to see if he could be a suspect in other burglaries, the newspaper reports.

It is a common strategy for police departments to investigate a person it believes has committed one crime and try to link them to others in the area. We have seen this practice in other alleged burglary in Los Angeles cases as well as in other alleged crimes.

Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys who have years of experience in handling a significant number of burglary cases are prepared to defend suspects facing these charges. A defendant must not be linked to other crimes that he or she had nothing to do with.

Under California Penal Code 458, burglary is defined as entering a dwelling with the intent to commit grand larceny, petit larceny or another felony. Under the law, a person found guilty of burglary can face punishment of up to at least six years in prison.

According to the newspaper, the sergeant broke into a woman's house and was confronted by her, spraying him with a hefty dose of pepper spray, which is designed to ward off bears. After returning from a walk with her dogs, she saw the man, screamed and ran away. The man allegedly followed her, when she turned and unloaded the pepper spray on him.

"He was pursuing me," the woman told KLTA. "I'm really, really scared."

When the 18-year police veteran crashed his car nearby after stumbling off, police allegedly found jewelry, cameras and camera equipment inside his vehicle that belonged to the woman. They say he reeked of pepper spray.

Now that he has been arrested, police are looking into whether other local, unsolved crimes could have been his handiwork. The officer has been released on bail, and the woman said she is living at an undisclosed location to avoid the officer.

Unfairly or not, detectives in property crimes will look at suspects they arrest and try to determine whether the person is tied to other crimes. Even if they don't have recovered stolen property, they may try to say that the "means and motive" and vague descriptions of the suspects are similar enough to warrant an arrest. This is where an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer should be contacted.

In situations like these, a lawyer must be able to dig into the evidence the state intends to use at trial and be able to use that to get prosecutors to drop or reduce charges. Seeing through the detectives' case can save the defendant from dealing with enhanced penalties and more charges than are warranted.

Continue reading "LAPD Sergeant Faces Burglary Charges, Is Investigated For Others" »

Ventura police recently arrested six teens and young adults they say are connected to 300 to 500 residential burglaries, the Ventura County Star reported.

That is a daunting number of crimes these suspects are accused of committing. But juvenile suspects, with the right Ventura County Juvenile Attorney, can work to get the best resolution for their case, which could mean keeping the case in the juvenile justice system rather than the adult criminal justice system. Penalties for juveniles are designed to rehabilitate rather than punish. But the wrong attorney might not properly fight juvenile charges in Los Angeles.

According to the news reports, the six defendants -- ages 17 to 21 -- would break into homes between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., knocking on a door or ringing a doorbell to see if someone was home. If they were home, the suspects would make up a name and say they were looking for a friend. If the residents weren't home, they would enter through an unlocked window, sliding door or dog door.

Police told the newspaper the group targeted homes above Poli Street as well as midtown near the beach in Clearview and Bayshore. Police said they began investigating after seeing a 40 percent increase in the number of daytime residential burglaries reported citywide. Recently, police caught three of the suspects in the act. Police said the group had been committing the burglaries since 2008.

But what it appears the story didn't say is how police linked all five suspects to these crimes or how they were able to say these five individuals committed 300 to 500 burglaries, which seems nearly impossible to actually prove.

What is important in any case, especially those involving juveniles, is not to give the police any statements if you are accused of a crime. Police are allowed to lie to suspects, so sometimes they tell them their co-defendants have already told them all the details, so it would be best if they confess, too. Sometimes officers will tell suspects they will put in a good word or talk with the district attorney about working out a deal, but most times the officers have no power or sway to help the suspects. These are tactics that officers use to get confessions.

Juveniles can be particularly susceptible to these tactics because they are scared, feel alone and worry about what the possible penalties can mean to their future. In California, nearly 15 percent of people arrested are juveniles, accounting for more than 225,000 arrests each year. According to the California Department of Justice, in 2009, 59,253 felony offenses were filed in juvenile court and 39 percent were for property offenses.

These charges are serious and they must be fought aggressively. Failure to act quickly when a juvenile is arrested could mean time spent incarcerated instead of getting therapy and training to not commit the crime in the future. It could mean the difference between keeping the charges hidden on their criminal record as a juvenile and being subjected to public record laws as an adult charged with a crime.

Continue reading "Ventura Teens Charged With Connection to 300-500 Residential Burglaries" »

The Ventura County Star reports the sheriff's department has used the state's DNA database to solve a 2009 vehicle burglary.

Ventura criminal defense attorneys know that DNA evidence is not all it's cracked up to be on TV shows like CSI. For starters, state labs are often overwhelmed and getting evidence tested can take months. And, for the most part, the technology has only been used in cases involving violence, like rape and murder.

Yet, with each passing year the number of cases increases as more and more samples are added to the system. If defendants needed another reason to fight a criminal conviction, keeping their DNA out of the state database would certainly be high on the list.

In November 2009, a Moorpark man reported his vehicle had been broken into -- the sheriff's crime lab collected a blood sample on shattered glass. That sample has reportedly been linked to a 52-year-old Moorpark man whose profile was already in the database.

He was arrested March 12 -- about 18 months after the crime -- and booked into Ventura County Jail.

Proposition 69, the "DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act" was passed in 2004 and now permits a DNA sample to be collected from all felony offenders and certain misdemeanor offenders, according to the California Department of Justice.

As of the end of 2010, more than 1.7 million samples had been entered into California's DNA database. They are also made part of the Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS), the national database of criminal DNA samples.

And many of those being flagged as previously unknown defendants in unsolved crimes find themselves facing far more serious charges than the charge for which they were convicted and ordered to submit a DNA sample.

Of those whose DNA profile has been linked to a murder, rape or robbery, 25 percent had their profile submitted to the database for a drug offense and 18 percent for property crimes. Throw in certain DUI convictions, fraud and other criminal convictions, and only 39 percent had been convicted of an underlying violent crime.

Continue reading "DNA Database Another Reason to Fight Felony Charges in Ventura County" »

Five people have been indicted by a Los Angeles grand jury this week on conspiracy, burglary and receiving stolen property charges for allegedly breaking into and burglarizing celebrities' homes.

The members of the alleged theft crew include 19 year old Nicholas Prugo, 20 year old Diane Tamayo, 28 year old Roy Lopez, Jr., 19 year old Rachel Lee and 19 year old Courtney Leigh Ames all from the Los Angles area.

It has been reported that the five defendants stole in excess of $3 million worth of jewelry, clothes and other items from the residents of such well known celebrities as Lindsay Lohan, Brian Austin-Green, Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom.

The indictment, which was handed down last Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court charged all five defendants with conspiracy to commit burglary. Additionally, Prugo is charged with seven counts of first degree residential burglary and Lee is charged with two counts of first degree residential burglary and receiving stolen property.

The indictment also charges Ames with one count of first degree residential burglary and two counts of receiving stolen property and Tamayo and Lopez with one count each of first degree burglary and receiving stolen property. All five are to return to court on August 12.

The charge of First Degree Residential Burglary which falls under California Penal Code Section 459 is what is known as a "serious strike felony." In other words this charge falls under the California Three Strikes Law under which a person who is convicted of three strike crimes in California can be sentenced to state prison for a term of 25 years to life. Generally, first degree residential burglary carries a maximum prison sentence of six years.

The charge of Receiving Stolen Property falls under California Penal Code Section 496a(a). Receiving Stolen Property is what is known as a wobbler meaning that it can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. One who is charged with misdemeanor receiving stolen property faces up to one year in county jail. One who is charged with felony receiving stolen property faces up to three years in state prison.

Cited Sources:
Lindsay Lohan at Calvin Klein Spring 2007 Fashion Show Afterparty, wikimedia.org

Continue reading "Five Indicted by Los Angeles Grand Jury for Burglarizing Celebrities' Homes " »