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 …

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr issued a temporary injunction allowing dozens of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries to stay open pending new City Laws or further court action.  The judge stated that as written, City laws violate the Constitution in several significant ways including the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause. The bad news is that the judge also allowed a quick out for the City.  By simple amendments to the current laws, the City could prevent any new dispensaries after a certain date and only allow dispensaries operating prior to that same date. My thoughts are …

DUI arrests both locally and across the state increased this year from last year. The CHP reported that the number of people arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol drugs or both increased significantly from 2009 to 2010. The number of DUI related collisions was the same as last year and happily, no fatal collisions were reported this year or last year in Ventura County. Sadly, the CHP reported there were nine people killed during Thanksgiving weekend in DUI related collisions. Let’s be smart out there. Don’t drink and drive. Use a designated driver, take a taxi or even rent a limo. …

Expect to see extra CHP cruisers on the 118 freeway for the next year. The California Highway Patrol obtained a large grant to fund extra DUI patrols on State Highway 118. These funds will go toward extra patrols, overtime and support services for the Moorpark and West Valley CHP offices to combat drunk driving. The funds were awarded because the 118 freeway is said to be one of the top five most dangerous freeways in California for DUI related injuries and deaths. CHP representatives say we should expect to see three to four times as many CHP patrol cars on the 118 …

If you are reading this then you already know the question, so what is the answer? With the average bail in Los Angeles County set at over $20,000, it will cost you or someone close to you a lot of money to secure your freedom. Bail is set by law in California and regulated by the State Department of Insurance. Bail fees are set at ten percent for most cases and can be eight percent in certain circumstances. This means that if your bail is set at $20,000, your cost to post a bail bond will be around $2,000.00. Before …

Tesitify or face discipline says LAPD Deputy Chief David Doan.  LAPD issued a new directive telling officers not to request the dismissal of traffic tickets where they had no independent recollection of the events of the ticket.  Does the Deputy Chief of LAPD really need to tell his officers that they should take notes to help aid their memory of past events?  I suppose that’s better than him telling them to simply make stuff up when they are testifying. Testimony in court is really quite simple.  Tell the truth.  If one cannot remember a past event, then they should simply …

California Senator Roderick Wright from Los Angeles County was just indicted on charges of perjury and voter fraud stemming from his Senatorial race and voter registration in 2007.  He also is alleged to have voted fraudulently in 5 subsequent elections as well. At least we know he is out there voting.  Also, it seems that his co-workers in politics have nothing but good things to say about his work as a politician. The LA Times reports he was indicted by a grand jury and is facing multiple felony charges based upon signing documents under penalty of perjury which say he lives in his senatorial district when …

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently reported that the top reason for “removing” or deporting immigrants is based upon their being detained for crimes involving “dangerous drugs”. these crimes involve the manufacturing, sale or distribution and even possession of illegal drugs. Dangerous drug crimes caused the deportation of almost 30 percent of all people deported in 2009. Next to dangerous drugs came traffic offenses which accounted for 16 percent of deportations and then came other violations like illegally entering the country of smuggling of other immigrants into the country which accounted for over 15 percent of deportations. Statistics maintained by …

Two Los Angeles area car wash owners were just sentenced to a year in the Los Angeles County Jail and will have to pay hundreds of thousands in fines after they were convicted of multiple criminal counts of theft, conspiracy, and labor code violations.  Additionally, brothers Benny and Nissan Pirian must keep their books up to date and open for inspection by local, state and federal agencies. The Pirian brothers were charged with over 170 criminal charges stemming from their treatment of car wash employees.  Evidence indicates that employees were ordered to come in early, stay late, denied breaks and rest …

Prosecutors in New York just sent a Chinese born American citizen to federal prison for 37 months for importing and selling millions of dollars worth of counterfeit Trojan brand condoms. 4.3 million counterfeit condoms were recovered in the 6 year investigation which lead to the conviction. Prosecutors indicated that condoms were tested and found to be defective and leak, burst or otherwise not be spermicidally lubricated as the authentic version should be. Court documents indicate that condoms were imported from China and packaged under several different names in the Trojan line. The products were then sold as authentic to both wholesale and …