California Criminal Attorney Blog

Nicole Ethel McMillen, 41, of Irvine was arrested early Sunday morning on suspicion of lewd conduct with a minor. Authorities believe McMillen engaged in sexual activity or other sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy in her Irvine home. McMillen was booked into Orange County Jail on $50,000 bond which she has posted.

The parents of the teen contacted police after they learned of the incidents. Irvine detectives learned McMillen was a part-time volunteer for the Tustin Unified School District and are asking the public if there are any additional victims.

Depending on the charges, McMillen could face up to 8 years in state prison for a conviction of lewd act with a minor. No information on if charges have been filed and if so, any future court dates.

The sudden death of another entertainment superstar could bring a criminal investigation of the prescribing practices of physician and patient. Whitney Houston died, February 11, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. According to news reports, law enforcement obtained a search warrant to recover evidence from the scene. In addition, it is being reported that several prescription bottles were recovered.

TMZ is reporting, Whitney Houston was taking Xanax, that if coupled with alcohol could cause severe sedation. Xanax is commonly used to treat anxiety and depression.

Any physician who prescribed Xanax or any other medication found in Whitney Houston's room will very likely be contacted by Beverly Hills Detectives and The California Medical Board. As a certified criminal law specialist and California Medical Board defense attorney, I suggest any treating physician of Whitney Houston immediately contact a reputable and knowledgeable attorney immediately.

The California Medical Board and Los Angeles District Attorney's Office take prescription drug overdose cases very seriously, especially with the deaths of Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith and Heath Ledger. The public exposure of such high profile deaths almost require law enforcement to try and make California physicians responsible. So, anything said to law enforcement will be used against the physician.

Please keep in mind, there is no cause of death for Whitney Houston at this time. However, even if the cause of death is by natural causes, it does not relieve the California physician from criminal action or medical board action should prescribing practices be suspect.

The California Medical Board has prescribing guidelines that will likely be reviewed during the course of the investigation into the death of Ms. Houston.

Pilchman & Kay, is a law firm that represents California physicians in criminal court and with the California Medical Board.

A Fountain Valley high school basketball coach is charged with having a sexual relationship with a student, starting from when she was 14. John Nguyen, 21, of Fountain Valley faces one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse and a misdemeanor domestic violence battery.

The relationship came to light when Nguyen allegedly slapped the girl in his car and she reported the incident to school officials. During the course of their investigation, they discovered the sexual relationship with the student.

Nguyen was arrested in January and is out on $20,000 bail. His arraignment date is February 23rd, according to the OCDA's office.

A female Orange County Sheriff Deputy was taken into custody yesterday for allegedly having sexual activity with an inmate. The deputy had been with the department for five years and no immediate details are available.

Story developing......

Mission Viejo sheriff deputies arrested a man for allegedly stealing a bottle of liquid detergent from a grocery store and a petty theft case turned into a driving under the influence and burglary case.

Ronald Ledesma, 53 was arrested by Orange County Sheriff Deputies after Ledesma fled the grocery store, crashed into a paramedic vehicle and drove away from the scene. A witness followed Ledesma's vehicle until deputies took over.

Ledesma is expected to be charged with burglary, theft, driving under the influence and hit-and-run. Deputies suspect Ledesma was under the influence of drugs and thus, could be charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance and under the influence of a controlled substance.

A woman from Alaska was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and hit-and-run following an incident that took place in Seal Beach. Officers say Juli Brown, 46, struck the cyclists at 8:06a.m. Saturday morning and fled in her SUV. Witnesses were able to give a description of the vehicle and the direction of travel.

A short while later, Huntington Beach Police Department spotted the suspect vehicle and arrested Brown. Brown was taken to Orange County Jail where she remains.

No word on any pending court date or what Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney is representing her.

Gregory Harry pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in federal court and faces up to 20 years and $5 million fine. According to the agreement, Harry, a partner at Global Group Inc., with offices in Orange County allegedly created a false newsletter about a fake company in the oil business with huge profits. Harry and his partners new the company was a shell and worth less than $130,000.

In the plea, Harry admitted to selling shares of stock in the shell company making millions of dollars. According to earlier reports, the sale netted over $ 6 million.

Dr. Arturo Vargas, 41 a physician with Kaiser has been arrested by Montebello Police Department. Dr. Vargas is being charged with multiple felony counts of sexual abuse, including sexual penetration by a foreign object, sexual battery and sexual exploitation by a physician. No word on any pending Accusations by the California Medical Board.

A patient of Dr. Vargas' apparently went to Montebello PD last summer and reported the alleged assault. After conducting their investigation, MPD forwarded their report to the LADA's office for review and filing. An arrest warrant went out for Dr. Vargas in early January, 2012 and Dr. Vargas posted bail.

Currently, Dr. Vargas is on leave from Kaiser pending further investigation.

The owners of a toy company were sentenced to 37 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a money laundering scheme that converted pesos to dollars through their business. According to prosecutors, the owners used their business, ATC to launder money from a drug-trafficking operation from Columbia. Meichun Huang, 58 from Irvine and his sister, Ling Yu, 52 of Arcadia were sentenced last week in federal court.

During a 4 year investigation, authorities tracked more than $8 million in cash deposits to ATC all in an amount under the $10,000 reporting requirements. Once the money was deposited, it was returned after the goods made at ATC were exported and sold, thus "cleaning" the money. As part of their plea agreement, Huang and Yu were ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution and forfeit $1 million to the government.

Orange County Sheriff deputies were out investigating a home-invasion robbery in the city of Anaheim. The alleged robbery occurred around 11:30 a.m. near Brookhurst Street and Cerritos Avenue. At the moment, no further details are available.