Category: California

LONG BEACH – Criminals who come to Long Beach should beware of, and remember to smile for, the cameras. That’s 400 cameras citywide, both publicly and privately owned, that have been linked to the Long Beach Police Department’s communications center as part of a new program that combines law enforcement data with real-time video feeds from parks, beaches, business corridors, the Police Department helicopters and other sources throughout the city. Full Article

A movie filmed partly at Oceanside’s El Camino High School has been pulled at the last minute from the Oceanside International Film Festival, a week after organizers learned the man who made the movie is a registered sex offender. “Music High” – produced, written and directed by Mark Charles Maine of San Diego – was yanked from the lineup Wednesday, a day before the festival was scheduled to start, said festival director Dmitiry Demidov. Full Article More on this story: August 3: Film festival troubled over whether to show sex…

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday morning, following a day of deliberations, a jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of a Lakeport man who was accused of stabbing his neighbor to death because he wrongly believed the man was a child molester.  Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, was found guilty of first-degree murder, burglary and several special allegations for the stabbing death of Michael Dodele. The jury found him not guilty of a charge of elder abuse. Full Article

When Orange County’s Board of Supervisors last year banned registered sex offenders from county parks, they included a waiver process in the ordinance so that exceptions could be made. If a sex offender worked on an asphalt crew that was paving a road in a county park, for example, he or she could apply for a waiver, Supervisor Shawn Nelson said at the time. The supervisors assigned the sheriff’s department to decide which waiver applications ought to be granted. That was in April 2011. Full Article *** Letter by OC…

A movie filmed partly at Oceanside’s El Camino High School will be screened as planned at the Oceanside International Film Festival next week, despite concerns that the San Diego man who made it is a registered sex offender. Full Article

A movie filmed partly in Oceanside and featuring some local residents could be pulled from the Oceanside International Film Festival set for later this month, after organizers learned it was produced, written and directed by a registered sex offender. Full Article

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KTLA) — Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante pleaded not guilty on Thursday to sexual assault charges involving multiple former female co-workers. Bustamante, 47, a married father of three, is currently free on $100,000 bail. A pre-trial hearing date has been scheduled for Aug. 30. He is charged with more than 12 felonies in connection with the alleged sexual assault of seven women while he was the director of Orange County Public Works. Full Article For more background on this story, see here.

A man who allegedly followed a 13-year-old girl and her 7-year-old sister into a park bathroom and fondled one of them was charged Monday with multiple counts of committing lewd acts on a child, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Frank Zsemlye, 27, allegedly followed the girls into the women’s restroom at Modjeska Park in Anaheim on July 19 and pulled the 13-year-old girl into a stall. He is accused of then covering her mouth as he groped various parts of her body over her clothes, according to…

In the small community of Oakdale, the word of a sex predator on its streets spread fast. “Everybody was on edge. It was all over town, on Facebook, saying watch your kids cause it is a small town. We’re only 18,000 people,” said resident Stan Johnson. A 16-year-old girl at Oakdale High reported being taken at knifepoint and raped. It was the first alleged sex crime in Oakdale in more than a decade. Full Article