Category: Sex Offenses

Arrested for Child Pornography in California I have been getting a lot of calls in the past few years from clients who were arrested for possession or distribution of child pornography.  This includes still photographs and videos.  These are very tough cases, and they can be brutal if picked up by the fed’s.  Recent advances in technology have made it much easier for law enforcement to find potential offenders.  Cooperation between internet companies and law enforcement has made locating computers even easier for the cops. Simply put, assume that your internet provider is “policing” every online move you make.  Assume …

For many years we have been hearing about harsh sentences handed down in federal courts for non-violent drug offenses. Even after the Federal Sentencing Guidelines became discretionary instead of mandatory, sentencing for federal drug crimes has been very harsh compared to state court sentences for similar offenses. Mandatory minimum sentences have remained in place in the federal system, even after doing away with the mandatory sentencing guidelines. Most people are not aware that sentencing can be even more disproportionate in other areas of the law. Specifically, crimes involving human trafficking have become the crime du jour of late. Rightfully so, selling, …

I have been working in and around the criminal justice system for well over 25 years. I started out working for a small state police agency, I worked for a local prosecutor, and I sat as a volunteer judge and have been practicing law for just short of 20 years now. Working in the criminal justice system, we see a lot of really bad stuff. This has an effect over time of making us someone hardened to the serious conduct that we deal with and the real world effects that the conduct has on its victims. I often find myself …

Yes, I know…We are all innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But I couldn’t help myself, which is about the same thing Ryan McClain likely told police when he was arrested for indecent exposure in Long Beach, California. City police stepped up patrols in the area of Cherry Avenue and Third Street after receiving multiple complaints of a man masturbating outside an apartment house. Subsequent investigation led to the suspects name and identifying information and ultimately gave rise (no pun intended) to an arrest warrant. McClain likely could not escape pursuing police officers as he had …

A 7 year veteran Washington DC police officer was arrested yesterday after a report was filed that he took naked pictures of a 15 year old girl. Earlier in the month he girl had been reported as a runaway by her mother. The police officer who took the report was the same man who was arrested, Marc Washington. Washington’s arrest was made after DC police indicated they found other photographs of allegedly under age females on his telephone. Police also interviewed the 15 year olds mother. Mom said officer Washington also took her call when she phoned the station to tell …

Five Los Angeles County men were arrested yesterday after an intensive investigation by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies described four of the men as distributing hard core child pornography and the 5th man was in possession of illegal child pornography. The men vary in age from 19 to 72 and live throughout Los Angeles County. LA Sheriff’s detective John Howard said the six week investigation by the County Cyber Crimes Task Force discovered that the men were not doing this for financial gain and were seemingly not in contact or otherwise related to each other. The men were described as offering to share …

A veteran Los Angeles County employee is facing a long stint in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to have sex with two minor children and possession of child pornography. Authorities in Alabama set up an elaborate sting operation whereby Mark Rainwater contacted people posing as the parents of two minor children for the purpose of setting up a sexual liason with the two kids. When Rainwater flew out to Alabama he was in for quite a shock when authorities greated him and his suitcase full of sex toys with a pair of matching hardened steel bracelets. Rainwater, who …

A San Fernando Valley Doctor was arrested yesterday for allegedly sexually battering a patient he treated in 2007. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed two criminal charges against Dr. Pez Abrahams regarding the 6 year old incident. At the time of the incident Dr. Abrahams was performing work for the federal immigration authorities. Some time after the incident the California Medical Board investigated Dr. Abrahams and ultimately revoked his license to practice in 2011, about 5 years after the incident. Dr. Abrahams was placed on probation and continued to practice medicine from his office in Winnetka, California until yesterday …

Arturo Gutierrez III was arrested in Seal Beach yesterday after allegedly trying to meet an under age female for sexual purposes. Art is a well known young criminal defense attorney in Ventura County and the son of the Honorable Arturo Gutierrez II, a retired Ventura County Judge and former veteran deputy public defender in Ventura County. It is alleged that Art Junior was caught up in a police task force who were investigating the online chat of a juvenile female in Orange County. She was said to have been communicating with several different men and the task force took over …

Levi Aron, 37, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping, killing and dismembering an 8 year old boy in a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Aron admitted he kidnapped and killed 8 year old Leiby Letzky. Aron recounted that after the boy approached him and asked for directions. He promised the boy he would take him home, but instead he brought the boy to Monsey, New York, where he attended a wedding before bringing the boy back to his apartment. The two watched television before going to sleep. The next morning, Aron …

Soon to be a former deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, 46 year old Kenneth Alexander just plead no contest to orally copulating an underage girl. He is set to be sentenced on August 29 when his punishment includes formal probation, 60 days in jail and one year of sex offender counseling. And, let us not forget that Mr. Alexander will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his living days. Sex offense registration under California Penal Code Section 290 is required when one is convicted of a specifically enumerated sex offense. The offenses …

Mark Berndt, a long time Los Angeles Unified School District teacher was just arrested and charged with multiple sex offenses against his students. The allegations include that he gagged the students, blindfolded them and fed them his own semen with a spoon. Witness statements indicate that the conduct had been ongoing for over ten years. The investigation began in late 2010 after a photo technician called the police when he was asked to process some disturbing images depicting children. In January of 2011, the School District suspended Berndt and later fired him. He was arraigned yesterday after being charged with …

The Los Angeles Police Department has finally cleared up a backlog of DNA evidence which has existed for many years.  Sadly, this was not before they suffered a new backlog from current DNA samples which are adding up at the rate of about 125 per month.  The LAPD says that by the summer they should have enough staff in their lab to keep up with the current testing demand. As a result of testing over 6,000 previously untested rape kits LAPD has arrested over 300 new suspects since the project started in 2008. Under Penal Code Section 296, anyone in California …

A 61 year old Los Angeles Man was just sentenced to nine years in Federal Prison for traveling to Cambodia for the purpose of having sex with a 14 year old girl.  Michael James Dodd was also ordered to pay restitution to the victim.  A United States Attorney’s Office statement indicated that Dodd was having sex with the minor for some five months prior to his prosecution.  Dodd was buying food for the girl’s family and giving the family $200 per month in what was called a “financial arrangement” in exchange for the minor child.  Although the U.S. Attorney would not …

I have been off for a while. This is because I have not seen many newsworthy articles to write about. Today I could not help myself. I read that a man in Israel was jailed for the crime of rape by deception. When I saw the headline, I had to read on. The facts indicate that a married Palestinian man has been jailed for 18 months for having sex with an Israeli woman because he lied to her to induce her into bed. He told her that he too was Israeli and that he was not married and, of course, looking …

Michael Eugene Richardson, of Chula Vista, California was arrested Thursday for allegedly having sex with his minor niece.  His arrest comes just two days after his wife and mother-in-law were killed in what law enforcement calls a traffic related homicide. California Highway Patrol officers who investigated the traffic accident describe the vehicle’s plunging sixty feet down an embankment as suspicious because there were no skid marks found on the road above.  The cause of the accident remains to be seen.  The cause of death appears to be from the crash impact.  Richardson is said to own his own automobile repair …

Luis Mijangos, a paraplegic man from Orange County was arrested and charged with multiple counts of violating federal laws as he extorted sexually explicit images from women and girls in the Southland.  Federal authorities allege that he utilizes software to gather photos or video from the victims.  He then emails the victims and threatens to expose the photos publicly. Interestingly, instead of asking for money, he asks his victims to send him additional sexually explicit photos and video.  It appears that many of his victims did what he asked.  When authorities searched Mijangos’ home they found dozens of videos from …

San Diego, California sex offender John Albert Gardner plead guilty to killing two girls and attempting to rape another. He will be sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. I believe that Gardner was instrumental in helping police recover the body of one of his victims. For this, the prosecution agreed to spare his life and not seek the death penalty for his crimes. Gardner is set to be sentenced on June 1, of this year. I would expect to hear statements from the families of the victims at that hearing. This should be a highly emotional hearing. …