Eastern District of California Blog

Guilty Verdict on Charge of Threatening to Assault a Federal Judge

After a four-day trial, a Fresno jury returned a guilty verdict Friday on a charge of threatening to assault a federal judge in United States v. Shults, 1:17-CR-0136-LJO.

Fresno Court Sentences Man to Two Years Imprisonment in Cockfighting Case

In case no. 1:17-CR-0242-LJO, Judge O'Neill sentenced the defendant today to two years in prison for his role in a large rooster fighting enterprise.  Fresno Bee, 12/17/18

Former Kings Executive Takes Plea Deal For Embezzling Millions From Team Sponsors

A top former executive with the Sacramento Kings has agreed to plead guilty in an audacious scheme in which he siphoned off $13.4 million from two of the team’s top sponsors and spent it on beachfront homes in Southern California.

Jeffrey R. David, the former chief revenue officer for the team, agreed Wednesday morning to a plea agreement in a deal that will recoup all of the money diverted from the Golden 1 Credit Union and Kaiser Permanente, his lawyer told The Bee.

David, 44, is expected to enter his guilty plea in a Sacramento federal courtroom in January. Prosecutors plan to argue for sentence of 8 1/2 years, while his attorneys are expected to argue that he should serve no more than two years in prison.

Sacramento Kings, 12/12/18

 

 

Sacramento Federal Gun Case Dropped Because of Allegations Against Corrupt ATF Agent from Baltimore

Federal prosecutors in Sacramento have spent years targeting suspects selling rifles and automatic weapons illegally, and on Sept. 19 they filed a criminal complaint against four men charging them with conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to transfer a machine gun.

The case stemmed from an undercover operation in which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent more than $138,000 to buy 45 firearms and devices used to build “ghost guns,” untraceable assault-style rifles, according to an affidavit from ATF Special Agent Matthew C. Ryckman.

Then, three weeks later, prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Kendall J. Newman to dismiss the charges and close the case “in the interests of justice.”

No further explanation was given, and the case, which has become known to Sacramento-area lawyers as “the Caldwell case” because of the names of two defendants, was ordered closed

Now, federal sources confirm the case was dropped because of allegations against Ryckman in a corruption probe into activities of officers in the Baltimore Police Department, where Ryckman, 32, spent eight years as a patrol officer, SWAT team member and detective.

Sacramento Bee, 12/7/18

EDCA Lawsuit Alleges Nevada City Jailers Broke His Leg, Then Ignored Injury

Excerpt from yesterday's Sacramento Bee:

The Grass Valley police report says [Christopher Joshua] Howie was taken to jail and “became violent and uncooperative,” then had to be “taken to the ground,” restrained and escorted to a sobering cell.

Howie’s version of events is decidedly different.

He says he was walked into the booking area of the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility with his hands cuffed behind his back and was complying with officers’ orders when one pushed his head into a wall twice, then placed all of his weight atop Howie and forced him to the floor.

“This all happened in just a few seconds,” Howie wrote in a claim against Nevada County filed May 29. “As I went down, I felt my leg breaking.”

Then, despite repeatedly asking for medical attention, Howie says he was placed in a cell, left overnight and told the next morning he was being released.

 

“I asked to be transported to an emergency medical facility to obtain treatment for my leg because I could not walk,” Howie wrote. “At first, my transport by ambulance was authorized by the deputies, but this was countermanded.

“I was rolled out the back door of the jail in a wheelchair and was given no further assistance.”

* * *

Last week, attorney Patrick Dwyer filed a lawsuit in Sacramento federal court on Howie’s behalf against Nevada County, Sheriff Keith Royal and the Correctional Medical Group Cos. Inc. that provides medical care in the jail.

Royal’s office did not respond to a request for comment; the medical firm, now known as Wellpath, declined to comment on pending litigation.

The suit, which is accompanied by a video from jail security cameras, alleges that jail staffers ignored obvious signs of Howie’s injury and engaged in a “cover up” to mask the fact that Howie was injured shortly after arriving at the jail.

He was seen by jail staffers several times after his leg was broken, the lawsuit says, with one nurse making notations on jail records an hour and 40 minutes after his injury that he was “awake and alert,” “appears well” and that his gait was “steady.”

Sac Bee, 12/6/18