Eastern District of California Blog

Family Sues Stanislaus County Over Sheriff Deputy Shooting Of Son

The family of a Keyes man who was killed in a deputy-involved shooting last year has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Stanislaus County and the Sheriff's Department.

The lawsuit filed in federal District Court in Fresno alleges that deputy Art Parra Jr. used unreasonable force when he fatally shot 32-year-old George Israel Ramirez on April 16, 2012. The Stanislaus County district attorney reached a different conclusion after investigating the shooting. Investigators found that Ramirez resisted arrest and struggled with the deputy over a Taser before the shooting.

Modesto Bee, 5/29/13

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/05/29/2738486/keyes-family-sues-county-over.html#storylink=cpy

DEA Museum: Your Tax Dollars At Work

Really? My tax dollars are funding a DEA Museum?  See "Your tax dollars at work:  The DEA Renovates Its Propaganda Museum," Atlantic, 5/30/13.  Why don't we furlough that?

Guilty Verdicts in Sacramento Foreclosure Rescue Scheme Trial

On the 16th day of trial, a jury returned guilty verdicts today in the mortgage fraud/foreclosure rescue scheme case against defendants and brothers Charles Head and Jeremy Michael Head.  Judge Mueller declined to remand the defendants. 

Sealing of Cooperation Plea Agreements

Yesterday's Sacramento Bee has Denny Walsh's take on the sealing of cooperation plea agreements in the EDCA.

Ben Drives A Minivan

Sacramento-based U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner drives a minivan.

This may seem like a strange choice for the region's top federal prosecutor, handpicked by President Barack Obama to be the scourge of financial fraudsters and marijuana growers alike, but Wagner is nothing if not practical.

Defending his office's enforcement of federal marijuana laws during a speaking engagement last week, the Eastern District of California attorney said “loosely described” dispensary operators make up 100 out of every 3,000 indictments in his office. Washington and Colorado, which recently approved recreational use of marijuana, face less federal intervention because their laws are written better, Wagner added, whereas it's a poorly regulated “free-for-all in California.”

Sacramento News & Review, 5/23/13

Former Sacramento Medical Marijuana Dispensary Owner Sentenced To Six Years Prison

A former Sacramento dispensary operator, who courted the high life as a marijuana entrepreneur with an MTV audition tape and closet full of cash, was sentenced Friday to spend six years in federal prison.

Bryan Smith, 28, was the last of six defendants to be sentenced in a case involving a south Sacramento dispensary, the R&R Wellness Collective, multiple growing houses, stolen electricity and pot distribution to Southern California.

Sac Bee Blog, 5/24/13

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/24/5446457/sacto-911-former-dispensary-operator.html#storylink=cpy

Vassallo Seeks To Withdraw Guilty Plea

Anthony Vassallo, who pleaded guilty to masterminding a $45 million Ponzi scheme out of Folsom, wants to withdraw his plea.

Vassallo was scheduled to be sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. Instead, his lawyer Mark Reichel has asked to withdraw Vassallo's guilty plea.

Reichel said Vassallo only pleaded guilty because he believed he couldn't adequately prepare for trial while stuck in the Butte County Jail in Oroville.

 Sac Bee Blog, 5/24/13

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/24/5446322/man-accused-of-running-folsom.html#storylink=cpy

Recent EDCA Sex Offense Charges

Suspect in Woodland kidnapping indicted on child porn charges.  Sac Bee Blog, 5/24/13

Grand jury indicts Sacramento woman on pimping charges.  Sac Bee Blog, 5/24/13

Elk Grove man charged with producing child pornography.  Sac Bee Blog, 5/16/13

EDCA Court Stops Home Foreclosure

A West Sacramento man is among the first in the state to use California's new Homeowner Bill of Rights to stop a bank from foreclosing on his home, and experts say the case marks a shift in a legal system that has traditionally favored lenders.

Kevin Singh, a house painter, secured a federal court order earlier this month after Bank of America allegedly engaged in a now-forbidden practice called dual tracking. The behavior, in which a bank proceeds with foreclosure while negotiating with a borrower for a loan modification, has been widely criticized as deceptive.

Experts said Singh's case was the first instance in which a judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt a foreclosure auction under the Homeowner Bill of Rights.

* * *

U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England Jr. granted the temporary restraining order on April 17, and Bolanos asked a colleague to go to the auction at a hotel in West Sacramento to "wave the TRO at the auctioneer."

The sale was stopped, and on May 1 England issued a preliminary injunction halting the foreclosure indefinitely. England noted in his order that Bank of America had not disputed Singh's claim that he never received a decision on his loan modification before the bank moved to foreclose.

"An injunction is in the public's interest as it enforces a recently enacted law designed to protect the public," the judge wrote.

Sacramento Bee, 5/23/13

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/23/5441875/west-sacramento-homeowner-uses.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/23/5441875/west-sacramento-homeowner-uses.html#storylink=cpy

80-Month Sentence In Fresno Ponzi Scheme Case

Joseph Randall Medcalf was sentenced Monday to six and a half years in federal prison for defrauding clients of more than $3.3 million. But for many of his victims, no time behind bars would have been long enough.

One by one, close to a dozen of the victims addressed U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii -- many choking with emotion -- telling him how their lives have been changed for the worst since they entrusted Medcalf with their life savings.

Medcalf, 57, defrauded the clients between May 2002 and October 2007 by encouraging them to invest in bogus investment opportunities. He used money from later investors to pay earlier investors. Then, in 2008 he fled to Panama.

Fresno Bee, 5/20/13

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/20/3307014/fresno-man-sentenced-to-prison.html#storylink=cpy