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sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:50 pmMap: Garnet Fire evacuations in Sierra Nevada recreation area
On the eve of Labor Day weekend, a wildfire has prompted the closure of a popular recreational area in the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno.
The forest’s managers said public access to areas including Courtright and Wishon reservoirs will be closed starting Thursday, Aug. 28, because of the Garnet Fire.
Those reservoirs fall within the evacuation area declared by Fresno County’s sheriff on Sunday, the day the fire was reported. Despite that order, people said this week on social media that when they called to cancel camping reservations at Wishon Reservoir, staffers told them that they would not get a full refund because the Forest Service had not declared an evacuation.
A statement Wednesday from Sierra National Forest said its partial closure is set to expire Sept. 16. “Wherever practical, identifiable sections will be ‘carved out’ and taken off the order as soon as possible,” it said.
The map above shows Fresno County’s evacuation area in red and the approximate fire perimeter as a black line. Updates and details, including evacuation warning zones, can be found at the county’s emergency website.
Garnet, one of a spate of California wildfires thought to have been sparked by lightning over the weekend, had burned 13,934 acres (22 square miles) by Thursday, the national forest’s fire managers said. It is California’s fifth-largest fire of the summer.
The evacuation order covers almost 300 square miles of the national forest in Fresno County, extending to the east shore of Pine Flat Lake.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:46 pmCalifornia legislator’s response to redistricting? Split the state in two
Secession.
That word has come up time and again in California politics.
And the latest person to pitch the idea is Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, who on Wednesday, Aug. 27, floated the idea — however unlikely — of having the Golden State’s 35 more rural or conservative inland counties break away from its generally more liberal coastal communities to form its own state.
Gallagher’s proposed map would split California in two, with the inland counties becoming the nation’s 51st state.
The new state — whose name is yet to be determined — would encompass most of Northern California as well as the Sierra Nevada, Central Valley and Inland Empire, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
RELATED: California Supreme Court again rejects Republicans’ efforts to stop mid-cycle redistricting
It would be made up of more than 10 million Californians, placing it among the top 10 most populous states in the nation, Gallagher said.
Although breaking off 35 of California’s 58 counties would mean that over half the state’s counties would secede, the approximately 10.5 million people who would be residents of the new state represent just a bit over a quarter of California’s current total population.
Gallagher’s so-called “two-state solution” is a long-shot proposal that comes amid California Democrats’ attempt to pass new partisan congressional maps to favor their own party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections — a response to similar gerrymandering efforts by Texas Republicans. The proposed new congressional maps, if approved by California voters in a special November election, would apply only to the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.
Despite Democrats’ insistence that California would revert to having an independent redistricting commission draw nonpartisan maps again following the next Census count, Gallagher said Democrats’ redistricting effort, if successful, would silence rural voices and rig the political system permanently.
“If we’re going to be talking about maps, here’s another map that maybe we should be talking about,” Gallagher said. “Because it’s very frustrating to be completely ignored, to have your people ignored time and time again.”
He said Californians who live in rural or inland places often feel that their voices and interests are dismissed by politicians in Sacramento and that their needs go unmet.
Gallagher also said he has heard from people in coastal counties who have expressed interest in joining the new state, should one be created, including those in Orange County and the Antelope Valley region of L.A. County.
The joint resolution that Gallagher introduced, calling for a 51st state, is coauthored by several other Republicans in the statehouse, including Southern California Assemblymembers Leticia Castillo, Tom Lackey and Kate Sanchez.
But the idea of a new state forming may remain just that — an idea.
For the inland counties to establish their own statehood, the idea would have to be approved by both houses of the state legislature. Congress would also have to vote for the formation of a new state.
Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed the Republican effort, calling it a “stunt that will go nowhere.”
“A person who seeks to split California does not deserve to hold office in the Golden State,” the Democratic governor said.
Nick Miller, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ office, also criticized the idea.
“Assembly Republicans say they oppose gerrymandering but just drew this joke of a map, a true James Gallamander,” Miller said.
Throughout California’s history, there have been at least 220 attempts or proposals to split up the state, according to the California State Library.
This included in 2011, when Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, a Republican, proposed having 13 conservative or inland counties — including Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino — form a new state.
And just three years ago, San Bernardino County asked voters if they wanted elected officials to study options for ensuring the county gets its fair share of government funding, “up to and including secession from the state.” Voters approved the idea, but when a study came back, the report showed that the county was receiving more than its fair share of state and federal funding and that seceding from California was both unnecessary and unlikely.
Gallagher said he expects the formation of a new state to be a long and involved process, but he wants to start those conversations now.
And, he insisted, what he’s proposing isn’t a stunt.
For some, the Assembly minority leader’s use of the phrase “two-state solution” brought to mind the situation in Gaza between Palestine and Israel.
During Thursday’s press conference, Gallagher also invoked the phrase “let my people go,” a command given by God to the Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. He urged the governor to support a secession plan so that, as Gallagher described it, Californians in districts like his who believe they’re not well represented in Sacramento can get a state government that they feel would work better for them.
“Gavin, let my people go,” Gallagher said. “We would like a better way forward. And we can no longer abide a government that gives us no voice.”
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:45 pmDA says missing California 7-month-old baby died from suspected ongoing physical abuse
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced Wednesday, Aug. 27, that a 7-month-old infant whose parents have been charged with his death is believed to have suffered prolonged physical abuse before he died.
“The filing in this case reflects our belief that Baby Emmanuel was the victim of child abuse over time, and that, eventually, because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Hestrin said during a news conference at the District Attorney’s Office in Riverside.
Emmanuel’s mother, Rebecca Haro, reported him abducted from a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. Investigators now believe the boy is dead, but his remains have not been located.
Hestrin also told a throng of reporters during the conference that investigators have some ideas of where Emmanuel’s remains are, but he declined to reveal specifics.
“We have a pretty strong indication of where the remains of Baby Emmanuel are, so that investigation is ongoing at this time,” said Hestrin, who also declined to elaborate on why investigators believe the boy had suffered prolonged physical abuse.
Rebecca Haro, 41, and Emmanuel’s father, Jake Haro, 32, both of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26, with murder and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. They both appeared in court Tuesday at the Riverside County Hall of Justice for an arraignment, but did not enter pleas. They will next appear in court on Sept. 4.
Rebecca Haro told San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators on Aug. 14 that she was changing her son’s diaper outside the Big 5 store when she was assaulted and knocked unconscious by an unknown man. When she awoke, she told investigators, her child was gone.
But within 24 hours, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, detectives found inconsistencies in Haro’s statements, prompting a massive joint investigation involving his department, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office’s High Tech Crimes Unit. Investigators have collectively spent hundreds of hours over the last two weeks gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses and following up on leads.
Rebecca Haro ultimately stopped cooperating with investigators and declined to answer further questions. San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators later said her account was a lie — and the couple were arrested on Aug. 22.
During a jailhouse interview with the Southern California News Group on Sunday, Aug. 24, Rebecca Haro maintained that her son had been kidnapped.
The day before the Haros were arrested, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies were sent to the 23000 block of Cottonwood Avenue in Moreno Valley on a report of child abuse made by Jake Haro, Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco said. He declined to elaborate on Haro’s allegations and the location of where deputies responded.
However, in a jailhouse interview Wednesday at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, Jake Haro said his and Rebecca Haro’s 2-year-old daughter, McKenzie, was removed from their custody by Riverside County Children’s Services prior to their arrest. He said their daughter was “fine” and there was “not a bruise on her” when she was removed from their home.
But when he subsequently visited McKenzie at the county children’s services office, at 23119 Cottonwood Ave. in Moreno Valley, he said, “She looked like she got hit by a truck that then reversed and ran over her again.”
Bianco said Haro’s allegations were determined to be unfounded, and “possibly a deliberate attempt to distance himself from future abuse allegations.” Asked if he was referring to possibly future child abuse allegations against the Haros involving their 2-year-old daughter, Bianco declined to answer.
On Sunday, Haro, wearing a red jail jumpsuit, was accompanied by investigators as they looked for Emmanuel’s body in a brushy area off of the 60 Freeway near Gilman Springs Road in the Riverside County Badlands. It was unclear if Haro led investigators to that location or they wound up there based on other leads.
Dicus did, however, say during the news conference that investigators have been receiving “some level of cooperation with the suspects,” but it wasn’t clear if that cooperation was related to the Badlands area search.
Hestrin said Emmanuel’s suspected death was preventable. He cited Jake Haro’s 2023 guilty plea to charges of abusing his 10-week-old daughter by a previous marriage in 2018, leaving her permanently bedridden with cerebral palsy. Hestrin said his office pushed for mandatory prison time, but the judge instead cut Haro a “big break” and he received a suspended four-year sentence and 180 days of work release.
“It was an outrageous error in judgment by this judge, and I don’t have any problem saying that,” Hestrin said. “Mr. Haro should have been in prison at the time that this crime happened, and if that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today, and that’s a shame and it’s an outrage.”
Hestrin said the girl’s extensive injuries — fractured ribs that were either fresh or in various stages of healing, a partial bone fracture of the skull, a brain hemorrhage and a healing leg fracture — were presented to the judge.
“This is severe abuse for an infant,” Hestrin said. “Someone who does that to a child belongs in prison, period.”
Hestrin said his office is not interested in any plea agreements in the Haro case.
“We’re interested in a trial and getting justice,” he said.
Staff writer Brian Rokos contributed to this report.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:40 pmCrime ring stole more than $10 million from dozens of Home Depot stores across Southern California,
An organized crime ring stole more than $10 million worth of merchandise during hundreds of thefts at Home Depot stores across Southern California, authorities said in announcing the arrests of 14 alleged members of the ring.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced the filing of a 48-count criminal complaint against the14-member crew, which is alleged to have been part of the “largest organized retail theft case uncovered in Home Depot’s history,” Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said at a Tuesday press conference.
Members of the operation stole more than 600 separate times from 71 Home Depot stores across Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. The months long multi-agency effort dubbed “Operation Kill Switch” resulted in the arrest of all 14 members, with nine having been charged so far, according to Fryhoff.
David Ahl, a San Fernando Valley resident who ran a wholesale business, is the alleged mastermind behind the operation.
“His crew of thieves known as boosters would steal merchandise from the Home Depot stores, sometimes hitting every Home Depot in Ventura County in a single day,” Fryhoff said. “Then the boosters would deliver the stolen items in trash bags or Home Depot boxes to his business or to his home where he’d pay them in cash.”
Stolen items would allegedly be resold at a reduced price to contractors or others in the electrical business, a tactic known as fencing. Ahl is in custody, faces 48 felony counts, and could serve a maximum sentence of 32 years in state prison.
RELATED: ‘We are all eating’: Inside California’s secret industry that props up mass shoplifting
Omid Abrishamkar, Ahl’s brother-in-law, allegedly resold stolen goods on Amazon and Ebay, authorities said. Abrishamkar faces 11 felony counts and a maximum sentence of 16 years and eight months in state prison.
Ahl’s ex-wife, Lorena Solis, and her boyfriend, Enrique Neira Moreno, allegedly ran an identical fencing operation of their own. They each face eight counts of conspiracy and could serve up to seven years and eight months in state prison.
The main boosters allegedly stole goods from Home Depots across the region, with each trip accounting for between $6,000 to $10,000 in stolen merchandise, authorities said. Jose Banuelos Guerrero, Edwin Rivera, and Eber Bonilla Lopez are linked to over 600 thefts at 71 different Home Depots, and face felonies.
RELATED: South Bay task force uncovers a large cache of stolen retail goods
Another group of boosters, Erlin Hernandez Lopez and Denny Gomez, allegedly stole electrical items several times a week from Home Depot stores in SoCal. They are charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit organized retail theft. Each member of the booster crews are in custody and face sentences between four to 21 years in state prison.
Fryhoff said the case remains ongoing and more arrests are likely.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:23 pmCalifornia Supreme Court again rejects Republicans’ efforts to stop mid-cycle redistricting
The California Supreme Court has once again rejected a lawsuit brought by Republican legislators seeking to squash Democrats’ attempt to redraw the state’s congressional maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The court denied the petition on Wednesday, Aug. 27 — just two days after GOP members of the state legislature asked it to block Proposition 50, a mid-decade congressional redistricting measure, from appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot. Republicans argued that the planned special election violates the state Constitution and would compromise voter representation.
State Sens. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, along with Assemblymembers Tri Ta, R-Westminster, and Kate Sanchez, R-Rancho Santa Margarita, were petitioners in the lawsuit.
In a joint statement following the court’s decision, the group said: “The Supreme Court’s abdication of its responsibility to be a checks and balance on the other branches of the government, let alone deny the opportunity to even hear the arguments being made, undermines voter confidence and sets a terrifying precedent that the governor and a willing legislature can blatantly disregard and violate the constitution at will, without the fear of any accountability or punishment.”
“We are watching in real time the destruction of law-and-order, and of our republic at the hands of a Democratic governor, Democratic super-majority legislature and Supreme Court,” they added.
The group called it a “sad preview” of things to come should Prop. 50, which Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democratic allies are pushing, pass.
The same court had rejected a similar petition that Republicans filed last week, asking a judge to intervene and halt Democrats’ attempt to enact new, partisan congressional maps in California for the next three elections.
At the time, the court’s order said the petitioners — who submitted their filing before the legislature actually voted to place Prop 50 on the ballot — “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time” under the state’s constitution.
Republicans had hoped that filing another petition this week, after a special election had officially been called, would yield a different result.
Beyond the timing issue, Mike Columbo, an attorney for the petitioners, said this week that Prop. 50 illegally lumps two issues into one measure — first by asking voters if they think California should petition Congress to pass independent redistricting nationwide, then asking voters to sign off on the recently proposed partisan congressional maps for California.
Forcing voters to vote either “yes” or “no” on both questions simultaneously violates a rule known as the “single subject rule,” Columbo said.
Newsom’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Wednesday’s court ruling.
But an X account for the governor celebrated Wednesday’s court decision, saying, “Keep em coming, (CAGOP). We’ll keep winning.”
Democrats have said the partisan congressional maps they’re proposing would counter similar gerrymandering efforts in Texas. They said they are only going this path to “neutralize” similar attempts in red states to help President Donald Trump retain GOP control of the U.S. House of Representatives following the 2026 midterm elections.
Prop. 50 will ask voters, who have final say, if they want the gerrymandered maps to be used for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 House races. Following the 2030 election, the state would revert to having a nonpartisan independent commission draw future maps, as is the current practice.
But Columbo said by proposing the gerrymandered maps and engaging in the redistricting process before voters actually granted lawmakers authority to do so, “the legislature exceeded its power under the Constitution.”
Columbo is with the Dhillon Law Group. That firm was founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher on Wednesday floated the idea — however unlikely — of splitting California into two states. His idea, a response to the redistricting efforts, is to have the Golden State’s 35 more rural or conservative inland counties break away from its generally more liberal coastal communities.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:18 pmDisneyland ends biggest hotel perk of them all
Disneyland is getting rid of its biggest perk that lets hotel visitors into the parks early to ride Space Mountain, Star Tours, Incredicoaster, Soarin’ and many other popular rides while daily visitors impatiently wait each morning for rope drop.
The Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Pixar Place Hotel will stop offering Early Entry access to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure on Jan. 5.
“There are fewer reasons for guests to stay on property now with this change,” according to Mickey Visit. “Early Entry was one of the biggest perks of staying at a Disneyland resort hotel.”
The Disney hotel perk offers hotel guests access to one of the Anaheim theme parks 30 minutes before park opening every day of their hotel stay.
The final day for Early Entry will be Jan. 4.
Starting Jan. 5, Disney hotel guests will receive one free Lightning Lane pass good for a single ride. Each guest on the hotel reservation will receive a single Lightning Lane pass per stay regardless of the length of the booking.
“The change is yet another downgrade for guests paying premium prices for a product that is increasingly less-than-premium,” according to MiceChat. “Disney will save some money in the operations budget by cutting this perk, but how much will it cost them in guest goodwill?”
Early Entry provides access at 7:30 a.m. to Disneyland on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and DCA on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Not every attraction is open during Early Entry, but many popular rides are available.
An analysis by the Disney hotel booking team found most guests weren’t taking advantage of the Early Entry perk, Disneyland officials told USA Today.
Reservation requirements also mean that hotel guests can’t always get into the park offering Early Entry on any given day.
The single Lightning Lane pass offered to hotel guests can be used throughout the day.
“While the Early Entry perk has been a major draw for the Disneyland resort hotels, there is no denying that it is not a very luxurious feeling to have to wake up so early in the morning to take advantage of this perk,” according to Mickey Visit. “This new Lightning Lane perk provides more flexibility for guests to enjoy expedited access on a more relaxed timeline.”
Disneyland had previously trimmed back the valuable Early Entry hotel perk.
Disneyland used to let hotel guests into the park an hour early during Extra Magic Hour.
Extra Magic Hour was a victim of the yearlong COVID-19 pandemic theme park closures. When the parks reopened in 2021, the hourlong perk had been reduced to 30 minutes.
Disneyland also used to offer a one-time Magic Morning perk to hotel guests staying for three nights or longer.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:14 pmReligious leader, church members arrested as police investigate 2023 disappearance of California man
Redlands Police have made three arrests and seized weapons as search warrants were executed in the investigation of the disappearance of Emilio Ghanem, who has been missing since 2023, the department announced on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
Police have not described any of those arrested as suspects in the disappearance of Ghanem, but did state in a news release the arrests and searches were made as part of the missing person investigation.
Ghanem, a 40-year-old (at the time of his disappearance) Nashville man, was last seen visiting a Starbucks in Redlands on May 25, 2023. Prior to his disappearance, he had left the His Way Spirit Led Assemblies religious organization. The organization, based in Hemet, also owns and operates a pest control business, Fullshield Inc., now known as Maxguard. Redlands Police are investigating his disappearance as a potential homicide, according to the department.
Ghanem had worked for Fullshield before leaving the church. Family members told broadcasters that he had moved to Nashville to start his own pest control business, but returned to Southern California to start a satellite office and work with some old customers, which prompted Fullshield to send him a cease and desist letter.
Ghanem was reported missing shortly after he was seen at the Redlands Boulevard Starbucks and a Nissan Frontier pickup truck he had rented was later seen on surveillance footage in Grand Terrace. Police announced in early August that the truck and other evidence had been recovered, but did not disclose where they were found.
Police Tuesday served a search warrant in the 1300 block of Christobal Lane in Colton, where they recovered several weapons and “briefly” detained a man, who was later released.
On Aug. 14, investigators served a search warrant at the Laguna Hills Lodge, a hotel in Laguna Hills, where they recovered electronic devices and took Shelly Bailey “Kat” Martin and her husband Darryl “Muzic” Martin, leaders of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies, into custody.
Darryl Martin, 57, was arrested on suspicion of violations involving weapons listed as a short-barrel rifle and a machine gun, the San Bernardino County Jail booking log shows. Court records show he has not been charged by prosecutors.
Shelly Martin, 62, was taken into custody, but released after a medical episode with no charges. The Martins also go by Pastor Muzic and Prophetess/Pastor Kathryn Martin.
On Aug. 6, police searched residences in Hemet and Anza in connection to the investigation into Ghanem’s disappearance. Two Hemet residents, Rudy Franco Moreno, 43, and Kelvin Lee Mackey, 58, were arrested on suspicion of charges related to felons possessing firearms. Moreno and Mackey have been released from custody and no charges have been filed, police said Wednesday.
Police recovered a host of illegal weapons, including converted fully automatic rifles, short-barreled rifles and “ghost guns” without serial numbers, as well as electronic devices and unspecified digital evidence in Hemet and Anza.
Moreno and Mackey are members of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies and employees of the pest control company, according to Redlands Police.
A request for comment was placed with His Way Spirit Led Assemblies.
Redlands Police are also working with the Claremont Police Department to investigate the 2019 disappearance of Ruben Moreno, another man who had been associated with the religious group.
Police ask anyone with information about Ghanem, his disappearance or whereabouts to contact the Redlands Police Detective Bureau at 909-551-4424 or missingperson_emilio@redlandspolice.org
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:10 pmIn exclusive jailhouse interview, California father of missing baby says he would tell his missing s
Jake Haro said in a jailhouse interview on Wednesday, Aug. 27, that Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin’s assertion that Haro’s missing 7-month-old son was the victim of long-term abuse was “not true at all,” but Haro declined to discuss what role, if any, he played in Emmanuel’s disappearance.
Haro, 32, and his wife, Rebecca, 41, were charged Tuesday, Aug. 26, with murder and filing a false police report, with bail set at $1 million each.
Jake Haro said little else about the case in the interview with a Southern California News Group reporter via video hookup at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
Haro would not say whether he led authorities to the Moreno Valley Badlands on Sunday, Aug. 24, where he was spotted with investigators. He did say he has been “completely cooperative” with investigators.
“I want to talk about it, but I can’t,” Haro said, referring to instructions from his attorney. “I was told, don’t do no press.”
Haro wore a red jail jumpsuit, indicating that he is in segregated housing for his protection. He said he had no contact with other inmates. Haro sometimes wiped his face with a white cloth. His eyes appeared to be red. Haro said he attended Banning High, where he played tight end and linebacker on the football team.
During the 45-minute interview, Haro said the couple cares about Emmanuel. They attempted to schedule several appointments to inoculate the boy, but one hospital was continually out of vaccines, the dad said. They eventually switched hospitals and had an Oct. 2 appointment to get Emmanuel his shots.
Rebecca Haro claimed that Emmanuel was kidnapped by a man who she said knocked her unconscious in the parking lot of a Big 5 in Yucaipa on Aug. 14, kicking off the investigation and what has become a national story.
Haro talked at length about his child-cruelty conviction in 2023, which he said prompted investigators to unfairly assume that he killed Emmanuel.
Haro said he accidentally dropped baby daughter Carolina on a sink divider while bathing her, but she appeared uninjured. However, the girl was later found to have broken bones and other serious injuries after Haro’s wife at the time, Vanessa, woke him up in the middle of the night. She is now bedridden, the district attorney said on Wednesday.
Both the husband and the wife made plea deals with the judge over the objection of the District Attorney’s Office. He received 180 days in the sheriff’s work-release program and was handed a suspended, four-year prison sentence and ordered to attend a child-abuser treatment program.
Jake Haro said Wednesday that the sentence was fair.
He said he wanted to take the case to trial, but “I pled guilty because I didn’t have the money to go to trial. … The judge said nobody would believe my side of the story. …
“Somehow, they magically convinced me to take this damn plea deal. I was sick of court. The judge knows I didn’t do it. They just railroaded me. I was the fall guy.”
Haro was hopeful on Wednesday that enough money could be raised — generally 10% of the bail — to free Rebecca, who he wed three years ago.
“Rebecca is innocent,” Haro said. “The media is killing her. She is a beautiful woman. She loves her children.”
She is being held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.
On Tuesday, after the Haros appeared in court, separated from one another, Jake Haro said he encountered her after getting off of an elevator.
“I’m trying to shout to her, ‘I love you,’ ” Haro said. ‘The deputy shoved me to the ground. He launched me, like I was a rag doll.”
Haro said he re-injured a shoulder.
The Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday declined to comment on that account.
“This investigation will be ongoing for quite some time,” Lt. Deirdre Vickers said in an email. “We are not going to comment on statements made by the suspect. Nor provide any details about the investigation.”
Haro also talked about social media posts from the public that have been highly critical of the Haros.
“God is with us,” he said. “The allegations are horrendous, so of course people are going to be riled up.”
Haro was asked what he would say to Emmanuel if he could talk to his boy.
“I love you, buddy,” Haro said.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:08 pmCalifornia man who posed as fake doctor in child exploitation case pleads guilty
A San Diego man who claimed to be a doctor in an attempt to solicit sexually explicit material from a 15-year-old Florida boy has pleaded guilty to a federal count of attempted enticement of a minor.
Eric Jacob Layton was arrested in 2023 at his University City home on allegations of posing as a doctor, sports reporter, massage therapist and youth sports modeling agent in order to obtain sexually explicit photographs from minors and arrange in-person meetings with the juveniles, officials said.
The FBI said victims who participated in youth sports were primarily targeted and that Layton presented himself as a sports massage therapist named Travis Parkin who specialized in youth athletics, as well as a sports physician named Dr. Alexis Iniesta.
Layton pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court in the Southern District of Florida in connection with attempts to solicit the Florida teen, but is also facing state charges in San Diego related to six alleged victims between the ages of 13 and 16.
He pleaded not guilty to the San Diego charges in 2023 — which include felony counts of lewd acts on a child and contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense — but it’s uncertain when that case might proceed further.
Layton is slated to be sentenced in December in the Florida case. The enticement count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, and Layton’s plea agreement states that prosecutors will seek a 13-year sentence.
According to a factual proffer statement filed in connection with his plea agreement, Layton originally reached out to the Florida boy via Instagram.
Layton claimed to be a writer for a sports publication who wanted to interview the boy, who was described in court documents as an amateur athlete.
Layton later posed as a physician — Dr. Iniesta — and asked the boy a series of questions over the phone that he claimed were necessary for the boy to participate in his sport. Many of the questions were sexually explicit in nature, according to the document, which states Layton also sought pictures of the boy’s genitals that he claimed “were required to determine the minor victim’s physical development.”
The Instagram account used to contact the boy was later found to be linked to Layton, according to the document.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 01:07 pmCamp Pendleton officer, wife sue military housing company over crash that killed 8-year-old son
A Marine Corps family whose 8-year-old son died last year after he was struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle on Camp Pendleton has sued the companies that provide housing on base to military families, alleging in the lawsuit that overgrown hedges at a residential intersection were a “substantial factor” in the crash.
Lucas Antczak was fatally injured on Oct. 26 when he was struck in a neighborhood off Vandegrift Boulevard near the San Luis Rey Gate. He died a week later, on Nov. 1, at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
William and Brooke Antczak alleged in their lawsuit filed Friday in San Diego federal court that Liberty Military Housing, a company that provides housing to military families on or near bases around the country, and two related companies “negligently designed, approved, constructed, controlled, supervised and/or maintained the landscaping” on the street corner where the crash occurred.
The lawsuit alleged that overgrown bushes and hedges on the corner of Harris Street and East Barnett Circle “blocked the vision of traffic in both directions … (and) created or increased the foreseeable risk of people, like Lucas Antczak, being seriously injured or killed. The dangerous condition was a substantial factor in causing Lucas Antczak’s death, because the landscaping made it difficult or impossible for Lucas Antczak to see an oncoming vehicle and for the vehicle to see Lucas Antczak.”
The suit also accused the driver involved in the deadly crash of motor vehicle negligence.
“We were devastated by the tragic accident that occurred in October 2024 at East Barnett Circle,” a spokesperson for Liberty Military Housing said in a statement. “Our team members have joined neighbors in the community in coming together in support of the family during this sad time. All the information currently available to Liberty indicates that the hedge did not play a role in this accident.”
The company has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court, nor has the driver, who could not be reached for comment.
According to a Defense Department website, William Antczak is a Marine Corps officer with the rank of captain as of last September. Documents contained in the lawsuit showed the family lived about a block from where the crash occurred.
Craig McClellan, one of the attorneys representing the Antczak family, said there’d been previous complaints about the hedges in question. He said they didn’t serve to block access to homes in the neighborhood nor obscure the homes from the views of passersby — they only obscured the views of drivers, McClellan said.
The suit accused Liberty Military Housing and the related companies of negligence for failure to maintain property and premises liability. It alleged that the defendants “had received sufficient and ample notice of the dangerous condition that existed” because of the overgrown hedges, and that a crash such as the one involving Lucas was foreseeable.
“Defendants knew that the subject neighborhood was inhabited by many children who rode bicycles and scooters around the neighborhood,” the lawsuit alleged. “Despite the ample and sufficient time to correct the dangerous condition before October 26, 2024, Defendants failed to do so.”
The suit also alleged that the driver “drove his vehicle at too high of a speed and/or failed to take reasonable steps to avoid a collision with Lucas Antczak, such as braking.”
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of economic and non-economic damages from the defendants.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ioplokon) wrote2025-08-28 09:43 amBringing the debates of the day to YOU.
Hope is:
a gift to humanity to compensate for the world's evils
9 (69.2%)
the last of the evils, creeping tardily out of the box
4 (30.8%)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-28 09:08 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-28 08:58 am
conuly) wrote2025-08-30 06:54 amStandards for signing up with ICE are so low
( Read more... )
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-27 10:56 pmSan Mateo County executive testifies in sheriff removal hearing
County Executive Officer Mike Callagy testified for several hours Wednesday in ongoing proceedings that could lead to the removal of San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, addressing allegations he undermined Corpus’ leadership and was involved in labor and personnel matters.
Corpus faces two simultaneous efforts to oust her: one under Measure A, a voter-approved initiative passed in March granting the Board of Supervisors authority to remove a sheriff through 2028, and another stemming from a civil grand jury accusation filed in June alleging misconduct and abuse of power. If removed, she would be the first elected sheriff in California ousted by a county board.
Callagy spent much of the eigth day of the hearings on the witness stand answering questions from Corpus’ attorneys about his dealings with sheriff’s union members and whether he attempted to undermine her leadership. He acknowledged speaking with union members but denied directly intervening in personnel or labor agreements and said he agreed that double overtime spending had become a serious problem.
“We realized there were problems with the budget,” Callagy testified. “Double overtime was way out of control. It seemed like everywhere in the department — at the airport, admin, at the range. I don’t think that was the original spirit of double overtime.”
Callagy is San Mateo County’s highest-ranking non-elected official, responsible for carrying out Board of Supervisors policies, overseeing daily operations and managing a nearly $5 billion budget.
Corpus’ attorneys argued during opening statements last week that the effort to remove the sheriff stems from when she moved to limit double overtime pay after 9 hours in a work week, a decision they said was necessary because the practice added upwards of $17 million to the department’s annual budget.
On the stand, Callagy disputed those figures, placing the 2024 total closer to $14 million, including regular overtime, and said he signed no agreements without the sheriff’s approval.
Callagy also testified that deputies unhappy with Corpus brought complaints to him, which he directed them to take to Human Resources. The county later hired retired Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell to investigate leadership concerns, resulting in a 400-page report released in November 2024 that accused Corpus of retaliation, misconduct, corruption and maintaining an inappropriate relationship with her former chief of staff, Victor Aenlle — allegations both deny.
Callagy said he initially approved funding for Corpus’ transition team after she defeated incumbent Carlos Bolanos in the 2022 election, but later grew concerned after learning of her close relationship with Aenlle. He testified that former sheriff’s officials Jeff Kearnan and Dan Guiney told him about a trip to Hawaii where Aenlle and Corpus were seen on the same flight, details of which were included in the Cordell report.
Callagy said the situation raised concerns about public perception, and that he would not have approved Aenlle’s transition team contract had he known about their “relationship.” He testified that he told Corpus the arrangement would have been a conflict of interest.
He also claimed he heard the pair had taken other trips together, including to Lake Tahoe — a statement Corpus visibly rejected by shaking her head at the defense table.
Callagy said he canceled Aenlle’s contract after learning of the Hawaii trip, but Corpus still hired him as her chief of staff after taking office. The county says the position carried a salary he was unqualified for, ranging from $192,000 to nearly $250,000. Following the release of the Cordell report and the allegations against him, the Board of Supervisors eliminated the position, which had been funded through 2026.
Aenlle, who testified earlier this week, said his role was created to bring a civilian perspective and advance Corpus’ reform agenda. He also testified that his family actively campaigned for Corpus in 2022, helping her become the county’s first Latina sheriff.
Callagy also addressed a complaint filed with the Public Employment Relations Board by the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and the Organization of Sheriff’s Sergeants over training requirements, shift changes and mandatory overtime.
He said the decisions were made by the sheriff but fell to him, and colleagues described the department as “disarrayed” and “imploding.” Callagy said he felt “powerless” to intervene because the Sheriff’s Office operates independently of the board.
In addition to testifying, Callagy has filed a $10.5 million defamation claim against Corpus for accusing him of interfering in her leadership.
The county previously commissioned an investigation by Oakland-based Oppenheimer Investigations into Corpus’ allegations against Callagy and cleared him of any wrongdoing in May. At the time, the Board of Supervisors said it considered the matter closed.
During cross-examination, county attorneys asked Callagy who he voted for in the 2022 election. He paused before responding that, while he thought Bolanos was a “great” administrator, he believed it was time for change and supported electing Corpus. On redirect, Corpus’ attorneys asked if he voted for Measure A. Callagy replied, “Yes.”
Wednesday’s session included retired San Francisco Deputy Chief Peter Walsh as an expert witness, who said he was not concerned about the Sheriff’s Office’s 38 pending investigations, concerns about which had been raised by a former professional standards bureau staffer during the hearings, as long as they stayed within the typical one-year timeframe.
After the hearings, retired Judge James Emerson, who has been tasked with overseeing the proceedings, has 45 days to issue a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The board then has 30 days to vote – removal requires a four-fifths vote and takes effect immediately. Under the county charter, supervisors have 30 days to appoint a replacement or call a special election. If they fail to act within the prescribed period, the county elections office must schedule one.
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-27 09:46 pmSanta Clara man charged in Newark highway road rage shooting
NEWARK — A Santa Clara man has pleaded not guilty to charges he allegedly shot another man Aug. 12 in a road rage-related confrontation on Highway 84, according to authorities and court documents.
The suspect, Stefan Mercado, 24, was arrested after California Highway Patrol investigators were provided key information by witnesses, including one who provided images of Mercado’s vehicle and its license plate, according to court documents.
Mercado pleaded not guilty Aug. 19 to felony charges of attempted murder, assault with a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm in public. Mercado, who was arrested Aug. 14, is free on what court documents said was $600,000 bail; he was scheduled for a preliminary examination on Friday.
The shooting happened about 5:28 p.m. Aug. 12 on state Highway 84 west of Interstate 880.
The California Highway Patrol responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision. No vehicles were found, but a hospital contacted the CHP, saying a man with a gunshot wound had come to the facility. Investigators determined the man was the victim in the shooting and had driven himself to the hospital.
According to court documents, a witness said both the man shot and Mercado had been driving Teslas on the highway and “had been playing chicken” in a road-rage fashion before both vehicles stopped on the highway. Authorities said the two men did not know each other.
Another witness told the CHP that after the vehicles stopped, Mercado threw a metal object at the other Tesla, hitting its rear windshield.
The man who ended up being shot got out of his vehicle and approached Mercado’s, witnesses said. He was at the driver’s side acting in a confrontational manner when Mercado opened his door and allegedly shot him, the documents say.
Both vehicles then drove off but the first witness was able to photograph Mercado’s vehicle and its license plate, which were provided to the CHP, the documents say.
Detectives from the CHP Golden Gate Division Special Investigations Unit took over the case and were able to quickly identify Mercado as the primary suspect, authorities said. The man shot was able to identify him in a photo lineup, the documents say.
Mercado was arrested the evening of Aug. 14 by Palo Alto police officers who saw him driving in their city. After the arrest, the CHP served a search warrant at Mercado’s home, where detectives located the pistol used in the shooting, authorities said.
CHP Golden Gate Division Chief Don Goodbrand said: “Our detectives’ swift work has once again led to the arrest of a dangerous criminal who chose to endanger the public by engaging in gun violence on our freeways.”
marcicat) wrote2025-08-28 07:58 amfic rec Thursday
Ship's Unit, by i_have_loved_the_stars_too_fondly, WyvernWolf
Ship: request:governor_module_disable_code
MB: What??
MB: You don’t have a governor module. What do you need that for??
Ship: current_crew:SecUnit
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 11:31 amA life reclaimed: From incarceration to UC Berkeley
The message that Santiago Canyon College grad Charlie Nguyen has tattooed on his left wrist serves as a daily reminder of how far he’s come after bottoming out at age 16: “No one is unworthy of redemption.”
Imprisoned for nearly eight years after committing what he calls “a violent gang-related crime,” Nguyen found his own redemption through persistence, hard work and whip-smart intelligence, along with crucial assistance from Rising Scholars, an empowering SCC program that serves incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and justice-impacted students facing similar challenges.
Today, Nguyen, a grateful, focused pre-law sociology major at UC Berkeley, continues to give back to those saddled with a rough background comparable to his.
“I was born to two parents involved in gang life,” Nguyen said. “They consumed a lot of drugs, and I was literally born into drugs.”
Adopted by his maternal grandmother, who raised him in a troublesome environment, he dropped out of school at 16.
Enrolled at SCC from 2021 to 2024, Nguyen earned four associate degrees: liberal arts, humanities, sociology and psychology, the latter two transferable to a four-year university. He managed this, incredibly, while incarcerated in Orange County Juvenile Hall, thanks in large part to Rising Scholars.
“I knew Charlie would be a successful student the first time I met him,” said Albert Alvano, director of Rising Scholars and assistant professor and counselor at Santiago Canyon College’s Division of Continuing Education. “I immediately saw his curiosity, his persistence and his advocacy for himself and his classmates.”
For more than 30 years, before what was originally called “The Orange Campus” officially became known as Santiago Canyon College, faculty have taught noncredit college courses in OC jails, focusing on such topics as parenting, substance abuse and workforce preparation. Counselors began visiting the off-site classrooms in 2016, offering guidance and post-release educational assistance. Two years later, as more formerly incarcerated students started reaching out for help on the Santiago Canyon College campus, Rising Scholars (originally called Project RISE), was created.
Last year, Project RISE was renamed Rising Scholars, two years after the program became a part of the California Community Colleges’ Rising Scholars Network. Through Rising Scholars, SCC began offering college-credit classes in the three Orange County juvenile halls in the spring of 2021. Three years later, this off-site undertaking became known as the Rising Scholars Juvenile Justice Program, a nod to a grant of the same name furnished by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
Nguyen emphasized that Rising Scholars was essential to his extraordinary turnaround. “At 16, I decided that school simply wasn’t for me,” he said. “But the SCC counselors and faculty believed in me and gave me the space to be able to learn. They told me that, one, it’s possible and, two, they’re going to help me every step of the way. I found that I loved learning, and I wanted to go to college.
“I didn’t know how to navigate higher education,” Nguyen said. “That’s the biggest role that Rising Scholars has played for me. They provided me with textbooks, helped me to connect with professors and furnished all of the tools I needed to succeed. … I knew I was well on my way when I earned my first A in a real college course.”
“We make regular visits to juvenile hall, lead workshops, provide guidance — anything to meet the specific needs of our students,” Alvano said. “We also have counselors who work, primarily via Zoom, on educational planning. And in some cases, we provide laptops for our students, those deemed eligible by their probation officers.”
Alvano stressed that Rising Scholars’ ongoing success is a collective effort. “The key to this program is our group of hard-working counselors, our counseling assistant and our dedicated faculty, as well as great support from the college administrators. It’s a team effort.”
The first graduate of SCC’s Juvenile Justice Program, Nguyen is passionate about social and criminal justice, advocating for those often discounted by society. To that end, he serves as a program and outreach intern for the Boundless Freedom Project, which furnishes Buddhist- and mindfulness-based services to justice-impacted people, as well as advisory board coordinator for Cr8 Innovations, which seeks to furnish free housing to formerly incarcerated students. A future attorney, he’d like to one day focus on juvenile justice work or, more broadly, serving the public interest in some capacity.
“People believed in me before I believed in myself: my legal team, my judge in the case and the staff at Juvenile Hall,” Nguyen said. “SCC counselors and faculty were critical in helping me get off my feet. Since they saw me for more than my mistakes, I now do my best to believe in others.”
To those with a similar background, Nguyen said, “There are people who can help you. You just have to reach out. If you set your mind to a goal, anything is possible.”
sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-08-28 11:17 amThe call of a native frog is heard again in Southern California thanks to help from Mexico and AI
By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press
THE SANTA ROSA PLATEAU ECOLOGICAL RESERVE — The scientist traipses to a pond wearing rubber boots but he doesn’t enter the water. Instead, Brad Hollingsworth squats next to its swampy edge and retrieves a recording device the size of a deck of cards. He then opens it up and removes a tiny memory card containing 18 hours of sound.
Back at his office at the San Diego Natural History Museum, the herpetologist — an expert in reptiles and amphibians — uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data on the card. Within three minutes, he knows a host of animals visit the pond — where native red-legged frogs were reintroduced after largely disappearing in Southern California. There were owl hoots, woodpecker pecks, coyote howls and tree frog ribbits. But no croaking from the invasive bullfrog, which has decimated the native red-legged frog population over the past century.
It was another good day in his efforts to increase the population of the red-legged frog and restore an ecosystem spanning the U.S.-Mexico border. The efforts come as the Trump administration builds more walls along the border, raising concerns about the impact on wildlife.
The decline of the red-legged frog
At 2 to 5 inches long (5 to 13 centimeters), red-legged frogs are the largest native frogs in the West and once were found in abundance up and down the California coast and into Baja California in Mexico.
The species is widely believed to be the star of Mark Twain’s 1865 short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” and their crimson hind legs were eaten during the Gold Rush. But as the red-legged frog declined in numbers, the bullfrog — with its even bigger hind legs — was introduced to menus during California’s booming growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The red-legged frog population was decimated by the insatiable appetite of the bullfrogs and the disease the non-native species brought in, but also because it lost much of its habitat to drought and human development in the shape of homes, dams and more.
Hollingsworth couldn’t estimate the number of red-legged frogs that remain, but said they have disappeared from 95% of their historical range in Southern California.
Robert Fisher of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative Program searched for the frog for decades across some 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Los Angeles to the border. He found just one in 2001 and none after that.
Scientists using DNA from red-legged frogs captured in Southern California before their disappearance discovered they were more genetically similar to the population in Mexico than any still in California.
Amphibian diplomacy
In 2006, Fisher, Hollingsworth and others visited Baja where they had heard of a small population of red-legged frogs. Anny Peralta, then a student of Hollingsworth at San Diego State University, joined them. They found about 20 frogs, and Peralta was inspired to dedicate her life to their recovery.
Peralta and her husband established the nonprofit Fauna del Noroeste in Ensenada, Mexico, which aims to promote the proper management of natural resources. In 2018, they started building ponds in Mexico to boost the frog population that would later provide eggs to repopulate the species across the border.
But just as they were preparing to relocate the egg masses, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Peralta and the U.S. scientists scrambled to secure permits for the unusual cargo and a pilot to fly the two coolers of eggs closer to the border. The rest of their journey north was by road, after the eggs passed a U.S. border guard inspection.
Over the past five years, Hollingsworth and his team have searched for sounds to prove their efforts to repopulate ponds in Southern California worked.
On Jan. 30, he heard the quiet, distinct grunting of the red-legged frog’s breeding call in an audio flagged by AI.
“It felt like a big burden off my shoulder because we were thinking the project might be failing,” Hollingsworth said. “And then the next couple nights we started hearing more and more and more, and more, and more.”
Over the next two months, two males were heard belting it out on microphone 11 at one of the ponds. In March, right below the microphone, the first egg masse was found, showing they had not only hatched from the eggs brought from Mexico but had gone on to produce their own eggs in the United States.
AI’s role
Conservationists are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to monitor animals on the brink of extinction, track the breeding of reintroduced species and collect data on the impact of climate change and other threats.
Herpetologists are building on the AI-powered tools already used to analyze datasets of bird sounds, hoping that it might help build audio landscapes to identify amphibians and track their behavior and breeding patterns, said Zachary Principe of The Nature Conservancy, which is working with the museum on the red-legged frog project. The tools could also help scientists analyze tens of thousands of audio files collected at universities, museums and other institutions.
Scientists working to restore the red-legged frog population in Southern California hope to soon be provided with satellite technology that will send audio recordings to their phones in real time, so they can act immediately if any predators — in particular bullfrogs — are detected.
It could also help track the movement of the frogs, which can be difficult to find in the wild, especially because cold-blooded creatures cannot be detected using thermal imagery.
The AI analysis of the pond audio has saved time for Hollingsworth and the others, who previously had to painstakingly listen to countless hours of audio files to detect the calls of the red-legged frog — which resembles the sound of a thumb being rubbed on a balloon — over the cacophony of other animals.
“There’s tree frogs calling, there’s cows mooing, a road nearby with a motorcycle zooming back and forth,” Hollingsworth said of the ponds’ audio landscape. “There’s owls, there’s ducks splashing, just all this noise”
Building a binational frog population
The red-legged frog is the latest species to see success from binational cooperation along the near-2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border spanning California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Over the years, Mexican gray wolves have returned to their historic range in the southwestern U.S. and in Mexico, while the California Condor now soars over skies from Baja to Northern California.
Based off the latest count, scientists estimate more than 100 adult red-legged frogs are in the Southern California ponds, and tadpoles were spotted at a new site.
The team plans to continue transporting egg masses from Baja, where the population has jumped from 20 to as many as 400 adult frogs, with the hope of building thriving populations on both sides of the border. Already the sites are seeing fewer mosquitos that can carry diseases like dengue and Zika.
A restoration pond in Baja that Peralta’s organization built recently teemed with froglets, their tiny eyes bobbing on its aquatic fern-covered surface. They could, one day, lay eggs for relocation to the U.S.
“They don’t know about borders or visas or passports,” Peralta said of the frogs. “This is just their habitat and these populations need to reconnect. I think this shows that we can restore this ecosystem.”