Eastern District of California Blog

Guilty Verdict in Pimping Case

On Thursday, after a 6-day trial, a Sacramento jury found the defendant guilty of sex trafficking offenses in a federal pimping case in United States v. Carter, No. 2:18-CR-0255-WBS.

Voter Fraud Trial Starts Today In Sacramento

For years, President Trump has claimed that millions of noncitizens voted in the 2016 presidential election, unfairly skewing his vote as Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College.

On Monday in federal court in Sacramento, a man accused of coming to the United States from Mexico and voting illegally in elections for the past 20 years went on trial on charges of aggravated identity theft, voting by an alien and making a false statement on a passport application.

But there’s a twist.

Gustavo Araujo Lerma is an avowed Trump supporter, and evidence expected to be introduced in his trial includes letters of thanks from Trump, former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel.

The letter was addressed to Hiram Enrique Velez – the name of a deceased American citizen whose identity Lerma allegedly assumed years ago to win legal status for his wife and their two children, who were all born in Mexico, according to prosecutors.

“The evidence will show that the defendant was born in Mexico in 1955, married a woman named Maria Manriquez in 1982, and had two children with her in Mexico in the 1980s,” according to a trial brief filed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Lydon and Shea Kenny. “By the early 1990s, he began living in the United States, fraudulently using the identity of a Puerto Rican-born United States citizen named Hiram Velez.”

A June 2, 2017, letter from Trump to the defendant assures him that the president and Vice President Mike Pence “are deeply grateful for your resolve to help us make American safer, stronger and more prosperous than ever before.”

Sac Bee, 8/19/19

Stockton Couple Found Guilty In Forced Labor Case

Yesterday, a Sacramento federal jury, after an 11-day trial," found a former Stockton couple guilty of forcing their foreign-born housekeepers to work 18 hours a day on minimal food and without compensation by creating "an atmosphere of fear," according to the Stockton Record, 3/14/19.

Guilty Verdict in Sacramento Fraud and Identity Theft Case

A man was found guilty of fraud and identity theft Tuesday for his involvement in a nationwide credit card scheme targeting San Juan Unified School District students. [No. 2:14-CR-0083-GEB]

Ruslan Kirilyuk, 41, of Beverly Hills was found guilty of 24 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of failure to appear in connection with a nationwide credit card scheme involving Sacramento and Moscow operatives, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

Sacramento Bee, 2/28/19

 

Two Sacramento Guilty Verdicts Last Week

On November 14, a jury found the defendant guilty of 8 counts of preparing fraudulent tax returns in U.S. v. Bedoy, No. 2:16-CR-0166-KJM after a 6-day jury trial.  The next day, in U.S. v. Macias, No. 2:15-CR-0125-GEB, another jury convicted the defendant of cocaine trafficking charges but acquitted him of the 924(c) gun charge that carried a mandatory consecutive sentence.  [Updated 11/26/18]

Jury Convicts Stockton Man of Sex Offenses

According to a U.S. Attorney press release yesterday, a Sacramento jury convicted a Stockton man of transporting minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and transporting an adult daughter across state lines with intent to engage in incest.  No. 2:17-CR-0209-KJM.

Sacramento Jury Convicts Man of Making False Statements in Connection with Arson Fraud

In United States v. Shehadeh, No. 2:16-CR-0038-MCE, a Sacramento federal jury on Monday found the defendant guilty of three counts of mail fraud related to an arson fraud scheme. 

French Train Hero's Father Found Guilty Of Fraud In Arson Case

The father of French train hero Spencer Stone was found guilty Tuesday of mail and wire fraud in connection with a huge arson case that has included sensational allegations of national security implications, murder and threats from federal prosecutors.

Brian Stone, a disbarred attorney from Elk Grove, was found guilty of 13 counts by a jury in federal court Tuesday after a four-day trial. Stone, who is not in custody, was ordered to appear for sentencing July 12 by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.

He was one of three defendants indicted in 2016 in the arson investigation, which prosecutors said involved $1.5 million in fraudulent insurance payments following a series of arsons.

Sac Bee, 4/17/18

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article209165164.html#storylink=cpy

EDCA Civil Rights Suit Challenging Sacramento's Camping Ban Set For Trial

Civil rights attorney Mark Merin said his long-gestating legal challenge, Allen v. City of Sacramento, is tentatively scheduled to go before a jury on October 23.

The civil lawsuit originated in late 2009, after Merin allowed nearly two dozen homeless people to take up residence on a vacant piece of property he owned in a light-industrial area of the city, according to appellate court documents and a phone interview with Merin. Merin gave them his written permission, brought in portable latrines and two service providers to offer care within the confines of the fenced lot. The deal was that Merin’s 22 guests could stay until they qualified for shelter.

Police officers enforcing the city’s ban on urban camping rousted the camp’s occupants with citations and the confiscation of their gear, which included tents and bed rolls. The campers returned, only to be cited again. The third time they came back, they were arrested.

Merin filed the lawsuit on behalf of his homeless guests, one of whom the suit was named for—Matthew Raymond Allen. Allen v. City of Sacramento alleged the city violated the homeless plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to sleep and due process.

Sacramento News & Review, 10/12/17

Jury Awards $6.5 Million to Family of Mentally-Ill Man Killed by Sacramento Sheriff's Deputy

A federal jury took less than than two hours Wednesday to award $6.5 million to the family of Johnathan Rose, a schizophrenic man shot and killed in his home by a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy who’d been called by Rose’s parents to help their agitated son.

Rose’s father, Ted Rose – who had said he could feel the bullets enter his son’s body as he tried to restrain him – filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Deputy David McEntire and Sacramento County but died last week on the eve of his scheduled testimony in the case.

Sac Bee, 9/27/17; see also Sac Bee, 9/26/17