California Criminal Attorney Blog

Former Oakland Raider and USC quarterback Todd Marinovich was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court on his drug diversion case in Newport Beach. Marinovich was placed on probation for a 2007 arrest and conviction where he was caught skateboarding in an unauthorized area, then fled from police. Police subsequently found speed, spoon and syringe.

If the court finds Marinovich violated probation, he could be sent to prison for a maximum 3 years. Being a USC alum, former prosecutor and now criminal defense attorney, I find it hard to believe that Marinovich is the type of person that needs to be behind bars. Drug and alcohol addictions are better treated with formal drug programs, not incarceration. This is especially true for the offender who has no violent or non-drug related convictions.

Orange County, give the guy as many breaks as he needs to achieve sobriety. We are in a financial crisis and we shouldn’t overload our jails and prisons with non-violent drug offenders.

What is going on in Orange County with all the arrests and convictions of law enforcement officers???? The current arrest comes from Riverside County where OCSD deputy Wilbert Dale Garcia, 49 was arrested.

According to the OC Register, Garcia was arrested Friday during a traffic stop in Murrieta. It is unknown if Deputy Garcia was a resident of Riverside County or if he was simply just arrested there. "He was arrested following an investigation," said Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Matt Diaz in a phone interview. "He was a 19-year veteran of law enforcement."

Garcia was arrested on one count of PC288.5, continuous sexual abuse and two counts of PC 288 lewd act with a child under 14.

Garcia is in custody on a $250,000 arrest warrant. If convicted, Garcia faces more than 16 years behind bars and registration as a sex offender pursuant to PC 290. The OCSD is conducting an investigation and has placed Garcia on administrative leave.

Rancho Santa Margarita resident Craig Stevens was charged with Penal Code Section 281(a) bigamy, Penal Code Section 261(a)(5) rape by artifice, two counts of Penal Code Section 487- Grand Theft and two counts of Penal Code Section 12022.6(a)(2), white collar crime enhancements of theft over $100,000.00.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Stevens is already serving a prison sentence for stalking and embezzlement. Here is what happens. Stevens marries a woman, persuades her to use a $147,000 inheritance to pay off his restitution in his previous case (where he stole from a Costa Mesa employer). Then, while still married, he marries another woman and takes $47,000 from her saying he needed it for his daughter’s college education.

The rape count stems from a penal code section that makes it a crime to entice someone to have intercourse under false pretenses….the fact that wife number 2 didn’t know he was already married and had she known, she wouldn’t have had sex with him.

Stevens faces an additional 11 years in state prison consecutive to the time he is already serving in Soledad State Prison.

Oscar Omar Guerca, 30 of Santa Ana plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit and run with injury and fleeing the scene of an accident. He was sentenced by Commissioner Leininger to 16 years in state prison for the crash that killed Marco Antonio Aguilar, 33.

Guerca was travelling down the 55 freeway near Chapman Ave when he approached a Caltrans crew. Caltrans had placed warning for motorists to slow down for the work crew but Guerca failed to heed those warnings.

Aguilar, who had slowed to approximately 15 mph for the freeway work crew was killed instantly when he was struck from behind by Guerca. Guerca’s vehicle was determined to be going 96 mph at the time of impact and witnesses say he didn’t slow or swerve before making contact with Aguilar. Once Guerca struck Aguilar, he fled the scene on foot.

Aguilar was a married father of two and was returning home to his family when he was killed. Police determined Guerca’s blood alcohol level to be .13 two hours after the crash.

Mohsen Youssefinejad, of Lake Forest, California was sentenced to four years in state prison for smuggling opium into Orange County.
Youssefinejad, was convicted by a jury of two felonies, which included bringing into Orange County 14 pounds of opium, concealed in picture the frames.
Youssenfinejad was receiving crates containing picture frames from out of the country. Customs officials intercepted the shipments, discovered the opium and contacted law enforcement officers. Law enforcement set up on Youssenfinejad’s business in Lake Forest to see if he would sign for the packages and when he did, he was arrested.
Judge Daniel McNerney sentenced Youssenfinejad to 4 years in prison while Deputy District Attorney Nikki Chambers asked the judge to sentence him to the maximum, 6 years and 8 months.