Orange County Criminal Defense Blog

Here’s a scene you might be familiar with: you’ve just exited the grocery store and you are heading home for dinner with the family. In the rush to get out of the parking lot you back into a cement barrier next to your car, scraping up the bumper and potentially denting the body of your car. Great. Now what? You weigh all the options and ultimately decide you’ll contact your insurance company and report the damage as a hit and run. Who’s going to know the difference? You’ve even gone so far as to look for any cameras lurking around the area in which you parked – all clear. So you make the call and report the damage to your insurance agent. After all, you pay a lot of money for your insurance, why no use it when you need it? Read the rest »

The request was innocent enough. Will you be able to take care of our ailing loved one? Can you oversee their twilight years and make sure they are well taken care of? Naturally, you took on the role of caretaker because you are a genuinely caring person and you wanted to make sure the person you care for maintains a relatively high quality of life. At first, everything went smoothly – bills were paid on time, medical appointments were always met and, most of all, the family was happy with the care their loved one was receiving. But, despite the quality of care you delivered, you began to sense something was wrong. The family started to question your actions and treat you with a certain degree of suspicion. Everything finally boiled over and they outright accused you of elder abuse – specifically, skimming funds from the loved one’s bank account and misusing money set aside for their care. Read the rest »

If we take a moment to consider the extent of change that has happened in contemporary society – even over the past 50 years – it is staggering. Social norms as a whole have gone through rapid fundamental shifts, leaving even some of the most progressive parts of our society scratching their collective heads. Read the rest »

Black Friday 2015 may be a bit more hectic than usual due to a new system of credit checks scheduled to roll out over the next few weeks. The system – known as Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) – is designed to ward off credit fraud by installing mini-microprocessors into every credit card. Whenever the card is used it releases a unique code to the credit company in question, giving it a truly formidable encryption.

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When it comes to check fraud there are a number of defensive strategies available to you and your legal team. Remember, it is the court system’s responsibility to prove that you are guilty of check fraud beyond a reasonable doubt, while it is your attorney’s job to help the court system recognize the reasonable doubt present in your case. Plain and simple, doubt can prevent a conviction. So when it comes to your own defense and establishing doubt, consider the following: Read the rest »

If you’ve been accused of check fraud, you’ll want to retain legal representation as soon as possible. This will ensure that every detail of your case is properly examined and that the charges being brought against you are fought every step of the way. Regardless of whether or not you may actually be guilty of the crime, hire an Orange County white collar crime attorney. Remember, innocent people are convicted every day of crimes they didn’t actually commit, and a criminal defense attorney is the only one suited to effectively represent your interests in a court of law. And above all, do not say anything unless your attorney advises you to do so. Everything you say CAN be used against you. Read the rest »

Los Angeles, CA — On Thursday, former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and former Captain William Carey surrendered themselves to the FBI after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging them with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and other crimes. The indictment follows a lengthy federal investigation into allegations of corruption and other misconduct in jails run by the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the indictment, Tanaka and Carey, who both pleaded not guilty at their arraignment that afternoon, knowingly participated in a conspiracy to hide abusive behavior towards inmates in LA jails. Among the incidents detailed in the indictment is the defendants’ alleged involvement with the effort to keep an FBI informant from communicating with his handlers by shuffling him around the jail system and falsifying records. Both Tanaka and Carey have been charged with one count each of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors have also charged Carey with two counts of making false statements after he allegedly perjured himself during the trial of a number of lower-ranking sheriff’s deputies who were convicted last year.

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Newport Beach, CA — On Friday, Superior Court Judge Greg Jones postponed the sentencing hearing of Hasti Fakhrai-Bayrooti, but also revoked her bail and ordered her to return to jail until June 10th. Fakhrai-Bayrooti’s attorney, William Weinburg had requested the postponement because he had received a probation report about his client that very morning and needed time to review it.

Fakhrai-Bayrooti, an attorney from Rancho Santa Margarita, pleaded guilty to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated on March 10th of this year and Jones had previously allowed her to remain free on bail until Friday’s sentencing hearing. However, when he ordered the defendant to jail, Jones expressed frustration with the delay, saying that if he did not grant it, it would merely give the defense grounds to appeal his sentence.

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Santa Clarita, CA — On Tuesday it was announced that three people had been arrested in Santa Clarita after allegedly setting up a phony police department for unknown ends. According to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Tonette Hayes, 59, David Henry, 46, and Brandon Kiel, 31, were arrested, booked on suspicion of multiple counts of impersonating a police officer, and released on bail on April 30th. Kiel, who was placed on administrative leave from his job with the state Department of Justice, was also charged with misusing a government id, and Henry has been charged with perjury and will appear in court on May 21.

Hayes, Henry, and Kiel first fell under suspicion in February, when they visited the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station. They told Capt. Roosevelt Johnson that they were with the Mason Fraternal Police Department and that they were planning to begin law enforcement operations in the city. The MFPD had also sent out letters to other local law enforcement stations and departments and even have a website which claims their organization is descended from the Knights Templar and identifying David Henry as the Absolute Sovereign Grandmaster. The website also says that the MFPD has jurisdiction in over 30 states and Mexico.

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Garden Grove, CA — Following a lengthy internal investigation, a local Vietnamese student association has let two of its senior officers go and reported $118,000 in embezzlement to the Garden Grove Police Department.

According to the Union of the Vietnamese Student Associations, which sponsored this year’s Tet celebration in Costa Mesa, now former President Nina Tran and Treasurer Helen Nguyen were removed from the non-profit group’s executive board on May 3rd. Their removal followed an investigation into alleged fraud and embezzlement by Tran and Nguyen between November 2012 and November 2014. This investigation began when a financial review revealed irregular purchases made by Tran with a debit card linked to the Tet Festival bank account

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