Recent Blog Posts in May 2010

23-year-old Kainat Syeda allegedly stole money from the city of Anaheim from January 2006 to April 2009, while working as a uniformed cadet in the front lobby traffic bureau window of the Anaheim Police Department.  When people paid cash for the release of their impounded vehicles, Syeda would enter a "No Sale" in the cash register and take the payment instead.  She is accused of committing the act about 1,799 times, resulting in a loss of $225,000 for the city of Anaheim.

Syeda is charged with one felony count of the misappropriation of public funds, four felony counts of falsifying and altering records maintained at a public office and 40 felony counts of Grand Theft.  She also faces sentencing enhancements and allegations for theft exceeding $100,000 and property loss over $200,000.  If convicted on all counts, she faces a maximum sentence of up to 46 years in state prison.

If you or someone you know has been charged with Grand Theft, embezzlement or misappropriation of funds contact Robert M. Bernstein for a free consultation today.

Federal prosecutors announced that they had broken up a major online international child pornography ring that at its peak had more than 1,000 members trading millions of sexually explicit images.  The investigation was kept secret for years in order to avoid tipping off suspects. 

Investigators were able to infiltrate the ring after taking over the online profile of a member who was arrested in Alabama as part of a separate case.  More than 50 people have been arrested in several states since the 2008 start of the investigation.  Prosecutors said 35 ring members have been convicted of various child pornography distribution charges. Some of them have received sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

Besides Indiana and Louisiana, suspects came from California, Alaska, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia and Florida.  The government is also working with police in several countries, including France, Germany and England, to investigate other suspects. Investigators also believe the group had members in Asia, Africa and South America.

The U.S. is working to extradite the group's alleged ringleader, Delwin Savigar, who is serving a 14-year prison term in England for sexually assaulting three underage girls.  Savigar created and ran a password-protected website from which members could access collections of sexual images - some including as many as a million files - share their fantasies about having sex with children and give advice to each other about how to build their collections and avoid getting caught.

If you are under investigation or have been charged with possession of child pornography in either state or federal court contact criminal defense attorney Robert M. Bernstein for a free consultaion.

Food Network's former Calorie Commando host, Juan-Carlos Cruz, was arrested last Thursday for hiring homeless men to murder his wife, attorney Jennifer Campbell. 

Cruz allegedly approached three homeless men in Santa Monica and offered them $1,000.00 to commit homicide for him.  Cruz gave the men ten $100.00 bills that had been ripped in half, saying he'd give the other halves of the bills when the job was finished.  Cruz also gave them a cell phone, which has texts from Cruz saying that he has backup hit men lined up if the three of them were to back out. 

The three men informed the city's homeless liaison officers of the solicitation, giving a detailed description of how, where and when the homicide was to take place.  Investigators launched a weeklong undercover operation in which one of the homeless men, nicknamed Big Dave, agreed to wear a wire while speaking with Cruz regarding the hit.  The investigation ended with Cruz's arrest in a Cheviot Hills dog park on Thursday.

Cruz has been charged with two felony counts including one count of attempted murder and one count of solicitation to commit murder.  He has plead not guilty to both counts and will be back in court on June 23 for the preliminary hearing.  His bail has been set at $2 million.

President Barack Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court last Monday to replace liberal retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. At 50, Kagan would be the court's youngest justice and give it three female members for the first time.  If confirmed by the Senate, she would become only the fourth female justice in history.

Kagan would be the first justice without judicial experience in almost 40 years. The last two were William H. Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell Jr., both of whom joined the court in 1972.  Currently, the other justices all served previously as federal appeals court judges.  Kagan was named to a federal appeals court by President Bill Clinton, but the Senate never brought that nomination to a vote. This means that Kagan has a smaller paper trail than other recent nominees since there are no prior decisions to scrutinize.

Kagan holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton, a master's degree from Oxford and a law degree from Harvard.  She was the first female dean of Harvard Law School and the first woman to serve as the top Supreme Court lawyer for any administration. Kagan has clerked for Thurgood Marshall and worked for Bill Clinton. In her current job, Kagan represents the U.S. government and defends acts of Congress before the Supreme Court and decides when to appeal lower court rulings.  

Last year on Oct. 12, Oscar-winning actor, Sean Penn, attacked a photographer on a residential street in Brentwood, California. The actor was caught on video, which showed him breaking the photographer's camera and kicking him in the legs.

Initially, Penn was charged with battery and vandalism and was facing a maximum of 18 months behind bars if convicted.  Penn's Los Angeles criminal defense attorney was able to establish a plea deal with prosecutors and end the battery case against him.  On Wednesday, May 12, 2010 the actor pleaded no contest to a vandalism charge as part of the plea deal.

Penn has been sentenced to 36 months of probation and 300 hours of community service. He will also have to undergo 36 hours of anger management classes and stay at least 100 yards away from the victim, Jordan Dawes.

If the actor successfully completes all of the terms of his sentence, he will be able to reduce his criminal charge of vandalism to disturbance of the peace, which is considered a less severe crime.

If you or someone you know has been charged with Battery or Vandalism, contact Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Robert M. Bernstein today.