November 18, 2009 (La Mesa) – A 54-year-old woman was punched in the face yesterday at 5:51 p.m. while watching another woman yell at a young child outside the Target Store in Grossmont Center, La Mesa Police report. The victim was in the parking lot when she stopped to observe the incident. According to police, she was about to walk away when she was assaulted. The victim was transported by ambulance to Grossmont Hospital for treatment.

Police seek the public’s help to identify the suspect, shown on a surveillance camera.  She wore a black jacket with fur hood, dark pants, mult-colored shirt, and white boots.

November 17, 2009 - Today the Santee traffic deputies along with area school resource officers and the Santee COPPS Unit will be conducting a juvenile driver enforcement detail. Special attention will be given to all drivers near schools. Drivers will be stopped and cited for all traffic violations including use of cell phones and texting while driving. Juvenile drivers will be cited if they are not in compliance with provisional license restrictions.

By Miriam Raftery
 

November 1, 2009 (Washington D.C.) – Last week, President Barack Obama signed a defense budget bill which contains language to broaden the definition of hate crimes to include attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, or disability—adding to protections already in place for attacks based on race, religion or national origin. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act also creates a new federal crime for attacking U.S. military personnel because of their service.

News of the signing was hailed locally by Estela de los Rios, who led efforts to organize a Hate Crimes Conference recently in El Cajon. “I rejoice and embrace this grand victory,” de los Rios told East County Magazine. “Passing this bill will only strengthen and support the civil rights of all.”

October 22, 2009 (La Mesa) An armed man robbed the Susie’s Hallmark store at 5648 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa on October 22 at approximately 1:58 p.m. The man shopped in the store for several minutes, waiting for all customers to leave. Once all the customers were gone, the suspect displayed a k handgun to the store clerks and demanded money from the register.

October 23, 2009 (San Diego) -- William D. Gore, Sheriff, San Diego County, has announced that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (representing the cities of Vista, San Marcos, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Poway, Santee, Lemon Grove and Imperial Beach) is set to commence a year-long anti-DUI program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on our roadways. New enforcement measures to combat impaired driving are coming as a result of a recent $ 602,600 grant awarded by the Office of Traffic Safety to The San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

October 20, 2009 – San Diego Police have evacuated the Postal Annex at 6549 Mission Gorge Road after discovery of a suspicious device. “We have secured the Annex . Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) is on site and evaluating,” Detective Gary Hassen told East County Magazine at 2:45 p.m. today.
The Postal Annex opened a package and found “wiring connected to a PVC pipe with foam around it at 12:45 p.m.,” Hassen told East County Magazine.

October 14, 2009 (San Diego's East County)-- Animal Control Officers rescued a Muscovy duck that had been shot five times with a crossbow this morning at Chollas Lake in East San Diego, near Highway 94.

The duck, with the arrows still in its body, was transported to the County’s Animal Shelter on Gaines Street. One of the arrows penetrated the bird’s head so a special avian veterinarian will be examining the duck to see if the animal’s life can be saved.

CRIMESTOPPER REWARD OFFER

October 10, 2009 (San Diego)--San Diego County Crime Stoppers, in conjunction with the San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit, family and friends of Guillermo Esparza, are asking for the public’s assistance to help identify and locate the person(s) responsible for his murder. On Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 5:00 p.m., Family and friends will hold a candlelight vigil at the scene of the crime, 7300 Paradise Valley Road, San Diego, near the Paradise Valley Road intersection. 

Victim’s Mother Accuses Sheriff of “Dropping the Ball” on Investigation, Considers Lawsuit

By Miriam Raftery

Update October 2013:  Jerry Arnold has contacted ECM to advise that charges against him were reduced to distrubing the peace with loud music, for which he paid a fine.  Arnold also shared his side of the story.  "I was executor of the estate. I hadn't been around for nine years. I told the kids they couldn't have a party, but they had it anyway...When police got here, I was breaking up the party.  My son who had the party, I threw him out of the house...To say that I was contributing to minors' drinking couldn't be farther from the truth." Arnold told ECM he knew nothng about the assault on Chris Jones, which did not occur on the property.  He insists that he is not prejudiced and that three of his close family members have black partners or spouses.  He added that when he asked all party guests to leave and did not single out those who were black.  Johnson claims he was innocent of all charges but could not afford an attorney, so accepted the plea bargain offer.

October 9, 2009 (Deerhorn Valley) – The San Diego County District Attorney (D.A.) has filed three counts of misdemeanor charges in the case of an African-American teenager severely beaten by a group of white men last April at a party in Deerhorn Valley, near Jamul.  The home was in probate; the representative of the estate, Jerry Arnold Jr., was charged with allowing minors to drink; his son and a juvenile were charged with vandalizing  the victim's car.

Denise Brown, mother of the victim, is outraged that no charges of assault or hate crimes were filed. “The Sheriff dropped the ball on this investigation, big-time,” Brown told East County Magazine following a hate crimes summit in El Cajon last week. “Those men beat my son. They smashed the car windows. They tried to burn the vehicle with him inside. There were boot prints and hand prints all over the car, but the Sheriff’s Department had it towed and never even took prints.”

October 2, 2009 (Santee)—San Diego County Sheriff William Gore today announced the arrest of two male juveniles accused of making false bomb threats at West Hills High School.

September 30, 2009 (La Mesa)--At approximately 1:50 PM on September 28, 2009 a man called La Mesa P.D. from the Kaiser Hospital in San Diego to report that he had been robbed walking home from a local bar early Sunday morning.  Assailants beat the man and reportedly left him unconscious.  La Mesa Police contacted the male victim at the Kaiser Hospital on Zion Ave.  A reward is offered for information leading to arrest and conviction of his attackers.

September 24, 2009 (Boulevard) –On Monday, CAL FIRE Battalion Chief and acting Boulevard Fire Chief John Francois informed Boulevard Fire Board members that a paroled arsonist had been living in the community.  The arsonist is now back in custody for violating his parole terms.

“Several suspicious fires are still under investigation,” Donna Tisdale, Chair of the Boulevard Planning Group informed East County Magazine. Tisdale expressed shock that community members were kept in the dark about a potentially dangerous arsonist in their midst at the height of fire season—and she is now calling for reforms in the law to require that neighbors be notified if an arsonist is turned loose in their neighborhood.

PUBLIC'S HELP SOUGHT TO IDENTIFY OTHER POSSIBLE VICTIMS

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Leon Thompson

In an exclusive interview, San Diego's new top law enforcement offer shares his goals with East County Magazine--including priorities and new initiatives for East County. 

Appointed to replace retiring Sheriff William Kolender, Bill Gore brings 42 years of law enforcement expertise to the job. As Assistant Director of the FBI in Washington D.C., he earned a Meritorious Executive Service Award from the President. He’s led efforts to bring down organized crime rings including the Triads and Yakuza, helped break up the infamous Arellano-Felix Drug Cartel, and intervened to halt airplane hijackings as a S.W.A.T. team member. (Read his harrowing account here.) In San Diego, he established the Joint Terrorism Task Force and developed the nation’s first regional computer forensic lab—which has since been replicated nationwide. After leaving the FBI, he served as Chief Investigator/Special Assistant to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. As Undersheriff, second in command under Sheriff Kolender, he revised use-of-force policies, implemented a mobile ID system and improved public transparency.

Now as Sheriff, he’s set his sights on his most ambitious goal yet: to make San Diego the safest urban county in America. 

September 8, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)--William D. Gore, Sheriff, San Diego County, today announced a manhunt initiated by the San Diego Fugitive Task Force to locate Richard Dean Neff. Neff is suspected of a murder which occurred in La Mesa early yesterday morning. Neff, a transient and known drug user, according to the Sheriff's special bulletin,  is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous.