OnStar Helps Prevent Auto Theft
New technology is expected to help California police put the brakes on auto theft. Beginning with 2009 models, GM cars and trucks equipped with OnStar technology will have a new feature called Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. When an owner reports their vehicle as stolen, OnStar will send a signal to the vehicle that will alert police […]
Tips on On How to Avoid Being Another CSI Drug Arrest
CSI star Gary Dourdan was busted by police for possession of a variety of narcotics, including heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Drug charges can be serious, and can lead to fines, license suspensions, jail time and even count as a strike under California’s three strike rules.
Dourdan was apparently found asleep in his car around 5:21 am […]
Teachers Face License Suspension for Sex Crimes
Closing what Senator Jack Scott (D-Pasadena) called a loophole, the California Senate last week voted unanimously to automatically suspend a teacher’s license if their license had been revoked in another state for sexual misconduct. Previously teachers were allowed to remain in the classroom while the California Teacher Credentialing Commission investigated, a process that can take […]
Hall of Famer Guilty of Statutory Rape?
Roger Clemens, potential Hall of Fame pitcher (even with steroid allegations) was accused of having an affair with country music singer Mindy McReady. Besides the fact that Clemens is married and a father, there is nothing illegal about that, except for the fact that McReady was allegedly 15-years-old when the relationship began.
The alleged relationship began […]
Expungement Can Clear Your Public Record
If you are falsely convicted of a crime and later exonerated, as in the case of James Ochoa who was chronicled in yesterday’s post, you will want to make sure your criminal record is expunged. Expungement is the legal process of erasing all eligible felony and misdemeanor charges from the public record. In California, many […]
The Stress of Convictions Can Lead to Mistakes
A Buena Park man was recently awarded over $30,000 for being convicted of a serious crime he didn’t commit. James Ochoa was convicted of a felony, car-jacking, by very controversial methods, and spent 10-months in jail. It was only on appeal that he was able to deal with the false conviction and become reunited with his wife and […]
Child + Cigarette + Car = Crime
California is the third state to make it a crime to smoke in your car when a minor is a passenger. Championed by Senator Jenny Oropeza, a cancer survivor, the law was passed as a cancer-prevention measure to protect children from second-hand smoke. It went into effect on January 1, 2008. “The long-term health benefits […]
Sex Offenders Living at Day Care Homes
It’s every working parent’s worst nightmare. You leave your child with a person you trust to cherish and care for them as you would only to find they may have sexually abused your child. That’s the horror some California parents faced who sent their children to several different Los Angeles area day care homes.
Last week […]
“Black Widows” Found Guilty
Los Angeles has recently seen one of the most remarkable and horrendous murder cases ever. Dubbed the “Black Widow” case, two women, one 75-years-old (Olga Rutterschmidt) and one 77-years-old (Helen Golay), were charged with killing homeless people and collecting insurance policies they took out on these people.
So far the couple have been found guilty of killing […]
Celebrities and Shoplifing: What Models, Actresses and Petty Thieves Have in Common
Theft and petty crime are a major issue in America. Over the last decade, NASA by itself has lost $94 million in office items that disappeared! Even celebrities have been caught in petty theft, with both Winona Ryder and Bai Ling getting arrested for taking things which were not necessarily theirs.
In 2002, Winona Ryder was charged […]