Articles Posted in Sex Crimes

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Two homeless men decided to have sex on a stranger’s lawn in broad daylight on Sunday at the 1000 block of Gavoita Drive in Laguna Beach. Police came after the homeowners called them to report the incident. The men were taken to Laguna Beach jail and charged with lewd conduct.

Lewd conduct involves sexual conduct that is done in a public place that offends someone. It is a misdemeanor offense but it will be on your criminal record. The penalties are normally jail time, fees and probation. A good defense attorney may be able to lower the charges to disturbing the peace. Whether you are in Irvine, Newport Beach or Tustin, if you get charged with lewd conduct, call an experienced criminal defense attorney to assist you.

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In 1991, the Dugard’s moved from Orange County to Lake Tahoe to escape crime. Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in front of her step-father’s eyes just weeks after moving to Tahoe. The Dugard’s thought that Jaycee had been killed since they had not heard anything about her in 18 years.

This week, Phillip Garrido went on the Berkeley campus with his two daughters to speak about his religious beliefs when security thought he looked suspicious. After doing a background search they found out he was a paroled rapist. Garrido’s parole officer did not even know he had kids and once the parole officer spoke with Garrido, Gariddo confessed to having kidnapped Jaycee 18 years ago and fathering two children with her.

After searching the Garrido home, it was discovered that Jaycee and her two children, 15 and 11, were living in the backyard. The car used for the abduction was also in the backyard. In the home was Phillip’s wife, Nancy, who was immediately arrested.

It is likely that Phillip will be charged with kidnapping and rape and Nancy will be charged with aiding and abetting. Knowing that her husband kidnapped and raped a young girl and not doing anything about it is a crime. Whether you live in Santa Ana, Newport Beach or Yorba Linda, if you get charged with kidnapping or rape, you will need an experienced defense attorney to assist you right away.

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Daniel Blas Flores was arrested last week for the alleged rape of a 7-year-old autistic girl. She was playing in the backyard of her apartment complex when, allegedly, Flores abducted the girl and took her to a neighboring apartment where she was assaulted, sodomized and raped. After she was assaulted, she was released and her parents called 911 immediately. Police found Flores, 27, hiding in his apartment and arrested him immediately.

Flores will likely be charged with assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping and rape. Since he raped a child with disabilities, this will likely be a factor that may affect and enhance sentencing. Flores will likely be facing serious jail time. He will need an experienced defense attorney to assist him with his case. Whether you live in Garden Grove, Buena Park or San Clemente, rape is a serious accusation and you will need an experienced attorney to be on your side.

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On Wednesday at a T.J. Maxx store in Brea, Steven Eugene Roman was arrested for taking pictures up the skirt of a 51-year-old woman. The store security guard recognized Roman as someone who had come into the store a few days back and thought he looked suspicious. He then realized he recognized Roman from the security video from a few days prior when another up-skirt photo was taken. The guard saw Roman put a camera under a woman’s skirt and quickly called police. When police came and looked through Roman’s pictures, they realized that he had several pictures of a similar nature. He was arrested and then released.

If Roman is charged, he will likely be charged for some sort of sex crime and disorderly conduct. Taking a picture of a person in public is allowed. Taking a picture up someone’s skirt is clearly NOT allowed. Whether you live in Lake Forest, Fountain Valley or Anaheim Hills, sex crimes are illegal and will stay on your record forever. If you get charged with a sex crime, call an experienced defense attorney to assist you.

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In Anaheim on Monday, a man entered an unlocked back door of a woman’s house, held her at knifepoint, and sexually assaulted her. He had a bandanna on his head and a cloth over his face to disguise himself. At some point, he put a pillow over her face and threatened to kill her if she called the police. After the assault was over and he was about to leave, he asked her where her purse was and then stole her cash. Police later found the suspect, Dexter Tagudin Villanueva, in his home and arrested him. He is being charged with six felony counts and if convicted on all six counts, will face 91 years to life in prison.

Back in the old days, people would never lock their doors. These days, doors have to be locked at all times. Robbers and rapists are opportunists. When they see an unlocked door or window and a woman inside that is home alone, they will act.

Most rapists threaten their victims and have a weapon nearby to force the woman to let the assault happen and not fight back. Besides just being charged with rape, Villanueva is also likely charged with assault and burglary. Whether he lives in Irvine, Fullerton or Anaheim, he will need an experienced Orange County defense attorney to assist him in the legal process.

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Thong Vinh Le was arrested last week in connection with running a brothel in Garden Grove. He had advertised massage services in a Vietnamese paper and someone got suspicious because the location was a chiropractor’s office. After an investigation, officers found out that people would go into the office, pick the woman they wanted to service them and then pay for sex. Police raided the business, where they found 11 women who they believed were victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Officers say this is the largest brothel they have seen in the area.

Le was running the brothel and acting as a “pimp” for the ladies. Besides prostitution that he will be held liable for, if these women were taken from Vietnam and forced to work in the brothel, he will be facing serious charges. If these women were not forced to work in the brothel and instead did it by choice, these women will be facing prostitution charges themselves.

Whether you live in Irvine, Lake Forest or Cerritos, prostitution is illegal in California. A person convicted of being a prostitute or soliciting a prostitute can face prison/jail time, probation, fines, counseling and community service.

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Jonathan Allen Gamond pled no contest to four counts of sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl and was sentenced to 30 years in state prison this week. Gamond, a martial arts instructor, picked up the girl in Lakewood, drove her to Seal Beach where he assaulted her, and then released her in Cerritos. The prosecution says that he may have impersonated a cop when he stopped the girl and her friend in order to gain their trust. His defense attorney denies that Gamond ever impersonated a cop and claims that he was very remorseful for the assault and decided to plead no contest to avoid putting the girl through any more pain by having to testify at trial. Gamond is only 32 years old and now faces the majority of the rest of his life in prison.

A plea of no contest means that the defendant doesn’t refute the charges, but also does not admit his guilt. He likely pled no contest because he was getting a plea bargain deal and knew that if he went to trial, a jury would likely not give him such a short sentence.

No matter if you are in Los Angeles County, Orange County or Riverside County, if you have been charged with sexual assault, you need a qualified and experienced attorney to help you. Sexual assault is a serious charge that comes with major prison time so you need the best possible defense attorney you can get.

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Denis Lyons of Seal Beach, a former Roman Catholic priest, has been arrested for an alleged molestation of a young boy that he committed in the 1990s. Lyons is being charged with four felony counts of molesting a child under the age of 14 between 1992 and 1995. He had previously been charged with child molestation but the charges were dropped because there was a statute of limitations issue, since the crime had been 20 years old. Earlier this year, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange announced a settlement with a man who said that Lyons also molested him when he was a student at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa. In 2002, Lyons was removed from the ministry and “was committed to a life of prayer and penance”. If convicted for the most recent charges, Lyons may face up to 14 years in state prison.

Lately, in the media there has been a lot of news coverage regarding Catholic priests and molestations of young boys. The media has stereotyped all priests as sexual predators, which is completely unfair. No matter what city you live in, whether Fullerton, Newport Beach or Anaheim, if you are charged with a crime as serious as molestation or rape, you need to call an experienced attorney right away to assist you. It will be interesting to see how the trial of Mr. Lyons goes.

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Over twenty years after the strangulation of an Orange County woman by her alarm clock cord, Wendell Lemond was convicted of murder. On August 5, 1985, Lemond went into the then 20-year-old, Catherine Tameny’s apartment and strangled her and tied her two year old son up with electrical tape. The motive was unclear but authorities think there might have been a sexual assault or rape before the killing. The suspect was unknown at the time, but through DNA evidence, Lemond was found to be the suspect and was arrested in July 2007. Lemond likely faces 25 years for the murder he committed.

DNA evidence has just recently began appearing in courtrooms. Over the last 20 years, the forensic science field has grown tremendously and DNA evidence has been a huge tool used to solve unsolved murder cases. It is a testament to the importance of the field that DNA collected from the body of the victim 24 years ago was able to be tested and the suspect was found, charged and convicted.

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You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t read it on CNN but New Zealand Olympic hopeful Logan Campbell decided the only way he could compete in taekwondo in 2012 was to open a brothel! It’s unclear if he has hired prostitutes yet. Officials are looking seriously at this since brothels routinely attract drug users and violence .

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