#Santa Clara District Attorney

[santaclaralocalnews]

A recent complaint to the Santa Clara District Attorney has gotten the attention of the former chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), who believes the filers are out of bounds in submitting the claim to the DA. Ann Ravel, former chair of the FPPC, has challenged a recent complaint that points fingers at 49ers president Al Guido, claiming he had a conflict of interest when he signed contracts for the FIFA World Cup. Read complete news at svvoice.com.

[beardedmrbean]

YON, France (AP) — A French court ruled on Monday that the American man accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, “So I raped you,” can be extradited to the United States.

Ian Cleary, 31, of Saratoga, California, was detained in April in the city of Metz in northeastern France after a three-year search. He has been held in custody pending extradition proceedings since his arrest.

The Court of Appeal in Metz said that Cleary can be extradited. When asked if he wished to be extradited or not, in line with French law, Cleary refused, prosecutors said in a statement Monday. His refusal may delay the extradition process, but it won't stop it.

The ruling is final. Cleary's case is now the responsibility of the French Justice Ministry, which must prepare and submit the extradition order for the French prime minister. While he awaits the prime minister's signature, Cleary remains detained in France.

Justice Ministry officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cleary had been the subject of an international search since authorities in Pennsylvania issued a 2021 felony warrant in the case weeks after an Associated Press story detailed the reluctance of local prosecutors to pursue campus sex crimes.

The arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg College student at a party, sneaking into her dorm and sexually assaulting her while she texted friends for help. He was a 20-year-old Gettysburg student at the time, but didn't return to campus.

The Gettysburg accuser, Shannon Keeler, had a rape exam done the same day she was assaulted in 2013. She gathered witnesses and evidence and spent years urging officials to file charges. She went to authorities again in 2021 after discovering the Facebook messages that seemed to come from Cleary’s account.

“So I raped you,” the sender had written in a string of messages.

“I’ll never do it to anyone ever again.”

“I need to hear your voice.”

“I’ll pray for you.”

The AP doesn't typically identify sexual assault victims without their permission, which Keeler has granted. The accuser’s lawyer in Pennsylvania, reached on Monday, declined to comment on the development.

According to the June 2021 warrant, police verified that the Facebook account used to send the messages belonged to Ian Cleary. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett, who filed it, declined to comment on developments when reached Monday.

After leaving Gettysburg, Cleary earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Santa Clara University, near his family home in California, worked for Tesla, and then moved to France for several years, according to his website, which describes his self-published medieval fiction.

Keeler, originally from Moorestown, New Jersey, stayed on to graduate from Gettysburg and help lead the women’s lacrosse team to a national title.

By 2023, two years after the warrant was filed, Keeler and her lawyers wondered how he was avoiding capture in the age of digital tracking. The U.S. Marshals Service thought he was likely overseas and on the move, even as he was the subject of an Interpol alert called a red notice.

Across the U.S., very few campus rapes are prosecuted, both because victims fear going to police and prosecutors hesitate to bring cases that can be hard to win, the AP investigation found.

Keeler, when the warrant was issued, said she was grateful, but knew it only happened “because I went public with my story, which no survivor should have to do in order to obtain justice.”

[midnightfunk]

The victim was crossing the street in the 1200 block of Somerset Drive around 11:08 p.m. on Oct. 2 when he saw the suspect, later identified as 66-year-old Mark Waters, exit a home and "quickly approach him" while holding a handgun, according to San Jose police and the Santa Clara County district attorney's office. The victim tried to run away, but as his back was turned, Waters fired his weapon, striking the young man in the leg, prosecutors said.

[coochiequeens]

If “sex work” is empowering then why did women need to be rescued?

SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose police said on Thursday that four women had been rescued from two separate brothels operating in the city. 

Detectives said the women were forced into performing as sex workers, and are now in safe hands. And the alleged masterminds are behind bars.

"I think it’s surprising for folks to think human trafficking can occur in the 10th largest city in the United States. But it can happen anytime, anywhere," said Steve Aponte of the San Jose Police Dept.

Investigators said their trafficking task force raided two brothels on Tuesday. One was located inside a neighborhood of high-priced townhomes and apartments in the 90 block of Bassett Street, in the city’s Ryland Park neighborhood.

"I saw a lot of police cars. I saw a gentleman, they had him arrested right here," said neighbor Monica Burrell. "I’m totally shocked because if you look at this neighborhood, you’d never expect anything like that going on here."

A second brothel was shut down in the 500 block of Winterberry Way, in West San Jose.

Two men are charged with collaborating to run the brothels. One of the men was arrested for an unrelated, outstanding warrant for sex trafficking.

Investigators say neighbor’s complaints led to their investigation, and subsequent arrests.

"I think that this crime has always existed. And fortunately, there’s more coordinated efforts to identify and address sex trafficking," said Perla Flores of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking.

She said the four women rescued from the brothels are victims of sex trafficking, and will require help for several years in order to heal.

"Shelter, food. Perhaps there’s medical attention that’s necessary. Perhaps there’s urgent legal issues. Maybe the individual needs an emergency protective order," Flores said.

SEE ALSO: San Jose prep school security guard accused of sexually assaulting 15-year-old student

Investigators said while they’ve been able to shut down two brothels, others could crop up, if there’s not a vigilant effort by all stakeholders to eradicate this crime.

"If it is suspicious and in the neighborhood, we hope folks will call it in," said Aponte.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office will file formal charges.

Investigators said catching two alleged brothel operators could lead to the arrests of suspects in other crimes.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter @JesseKTVU and Instagram @jessegontv

[rapidprime]

The Rise and Fall of Charles Todd Hill: A Cautionary Tale in Real Estate

In a sobering revelation, former HGTV star Charles Todd Hill, recognized for his role in the reality competition show Flip It to Win It, has been sentenced to four years in Santa Clara County Jail. Hill's story, captured in various Charles Todd Hill HGTV pictures, serves as a stark illustration of greed, deception, and the perilous undercurrents within the real estate industry. We explore the trajectory of his career, the fraudulent schemes that led to his downfall, and the resulting repercussions.

Charles Todd Hill's Initial Fame

Charles Todd Hill emerged in the public eye in 2014 as one of the standout personalities on Flip It to Win It. The show, featuring teams competing to renovate and sell abandoned properties for substantial profit, quickly became popular. Hill's charm and his adeptness in transforming dilapidated houses into lucrative ventures made him a favorite among viewers. However, behind this façade of success, a series of unethical practices and financial deceptions were unfolding, ultimately leading to his undoing.

The Investigation and Indictment

In November 2019, the Santa Clara District Attorney's office initiated a comprehensive investigation into Hill's professional dealings. The findings revealed a complex network of fraudulent activities spanning several years. Hill was found to have grossly mismanaged project budgets, laundered earnings, and amassed a fortune through deceptive means. His fraudulent activities left a trail of victims, including investors, homeowners, and fellow property flippers.

One of the most striking cases involved an investor who entrusted Hill with $250,000 to renovate a property. Instead of fulfilling his contractual obligations, Hill left the investor with a charred, uninhabitable structure, having diverted the funds for personal use. This case epitomizes Hill's blatant disregard for ethical business practices and his exploitation of clients' trust for personal gain.

Hill's most audacious scheme was a Ponzi-like operation. He fabricated balance sheets and used fraudulent information to secure loans, promising investors high returns. In reality, he diverted the investments to fund his lavish lifestyle. This scheme not only defrauded investors but also undermined the integrity of the financial institutions involved.

The Lavish Lifestyle Funded by Fraud

The ill-gotten gains from Hill's fraudulent schemes financed a life of opulence. He indulged in luxury cars, extravagant vacations, and resided in a high-end apartment in San Francisco. The Santa Clara District Attorney's office estimated that Hill owed nearly $10 million in restitution to his victims. His conspicuous consumption, funded by deceit, starkly contrasts with the financial ruin experienced by those who trusted him.

The Legal Repercussions

In September 2023, Charles Todd Hill pleaded guilty to grand theft, with aggravated white-collar crime enhancements. The court sentenced him to four years in jail and mandated restitution payments totaling $9,402,678.43. Hill's once-glamorous career in house flipping has been replaced by the harsh reality of incarceration.

Lessons from Hill's Downfall

The story of Charles Todd Hill serves as a poignant reminder of the dangers lurking within the lucrative world of real estate. It highlights the critical importance of honesty and integrity in business practices. As District Attorney Jeff Rosen remarked, "Some see the huge amount of money as a business opportunity; others, unfortunately, see it as a criminal opportunity." Hill's case underscores the fact that unethical practices, regardless of short-term gains, ultimately lead to significant legal and moral consequences.

Conclusion

Charles Todd Hill's rise and fall is a cautionary tale for those in the real estate industry and beyond. It illustrates how unchecked greed and deception can lead to devastating outcomes, both for the perpetrator and their victims. As the real estate market continues to thrive, Hill's story, documented in Charles Todd Hill HGTV pictures, serves as a stark reminder of the value of ethical conduct and the potential repercussions of straying from it.

[robinsonranch]

Cameras were rolling when a chopper killed an actor and two kids. Was A-list director to blame?

BY CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD | STAFF WRITER

June 12, 2024 3am Front page top article

Los Angeles Times

In the last seconds of his life, the 53-year-old actor Vic Morrow was struggling through knee-deep water with a child in each arm. The location, 35 miles north of downtown L.A., was Indian Dunes, which set designers had repurposed as a wartime Vietnamese village.

Morrow, who performed as a surly delinquent in “Blackboard Jungle,” a tough soldier in the TV drama “Combat!” and a volatile baseball coach in “The Bad News Bears,” was on this day playing a bigot dreamed up by writer-director John Landis for a segment of “Twilight Zone: The Movie.”

Landis, 31, stood in waders nearby while his cameras rolled. Brash and exuberant, he had a reputation as a gleeful impresario of envelope-pushing stunts. He liked to brag about all the cars he had demolished filming “The Blues Brothers” a few years earlier.

For this shot, he had dropped Morrow’s character into the Vietnam War to enact what was intended as a redemption scene, the heroic rescue of two children from a village as it erupted in flames.

“I’ll keep you safe, kids,” Morrow was supposed to say.

The children in his arms — My-Ca Dinh Le, 7, and Renee Chen, 6 — had never acted before. They were not supposed to be on this movie set, at 2:20 a.m. on July 23, 1982. Their parents were receiving a few hundred dollars for their work. The director knew their presence at this hour violated labor laws, but he did not want to use dummies.

About 24 feet above Morrow and the children hovered three tons of noisy metal, a combat-style Huey UH-1B helicopter. As a special effects man fired gasoline-and-sawdust mortars skyward, Morrow stumbled in the water, righted himself and slogged on.

The effects man was not looking up when he shot off the fireball that engulfed the tail rotor, sending the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. The machine plummeted, crushing and killing Renee. The main rotor blade, 44 feet long, decapitated Morrow and My-Ca. In the footage shown over and over on TV, a curtain of water mercifully blocked the fatal split-second from the camera’s view.

At Morrow’s funeral, Landis struggled to speak and invoked art.

“Tragedy strikes in an instant, but film is immortal,” the director said. “Perhaps we can take some solace in the knowledge that through his work in stage, television and film, Vic lives forever.”

One of Morrow’s friends, Rick Jason, gave a reporter his opinion of the disaster. “It’s just an outlandish freak, and I don’t think you can draw a conclusion from it.”

Sgt. Thomas Budds drew a conclusion. The veteran L.A. County sheriff’s detective believed it was criminal recklessness. He arrived before dawn that day, stepping carefully around the toppled chopper, its big blade sideways in the mud of the Santa Clara River.

He examined the charred remains of the mocked-up village. He examined the three bodies and ordered the river drained, so that remaining body parts could be located. The permeating reek of gasoline would haunt his memory.

Budds, the sole detective on the case, conducted hundreds of interviews in the following months. He spoke to camera operators and assistants, makeup artists and hairstylists. In Budds’ mind, a picture formed of an arrogant, overbearing director who was cavalier about risk and whose subordinates were fearful of second-guessing him.

He had the impression of a director who believed himself in competition for spectacular spectacle with Steven Spielberg, who was co-producing the “Twilight Zone” movie but would not be implicated in the case.

Budds assembled his evidence in two binders and brought them to the district attorney’s office to recommend charges. Pivotal in his decision, Budds told The Times in a recent interview, was the account of cameraman Steve Lydecker, who said Landis ignored his warning about the dangers of the special effects.

“We may lose the helicopter,” the cameraman recalled Landis joking.

There were other signs of recklessness during the filming, Budds thought. At 9:30 p.m. the night before the crash, the two children had been placed in a hut, unaccompanied, near big drums of gasoline.

“All you needed was a spark, and those kids would have been killed.”

At 11:30 p.m., in a precursor to the fatal flight, a fireball singed the face of a production manager riding in the helicopter.

“The explosions were too big. They were put on notice at that point. If the 11:30 event hadn’t happened, I would never have pursued the case.”

Budds added: “It’s like they had a swimming pool and someone almost drowned. You’d think they’d put a fence up.”

Between the fatal crash in summer 1982 and the beginning of his trial in summer 1986, John Landis remained an in-demand artist. He directed the hit screwball comedy “Trading Places” and Michael Jackson’s comic-horror “Thriller” video. “Twilight Zone: The Movie” came out, with the helicopter scene omitted.

Then, Landis took his seat in a downtown L.A. courtroom as the first Hollywood director to face criminal charges for a death on set. The possible penalty was six years in prison. He and four others — his production manager, his associate producer, his special effects coordinator and the helicopter pilot — faced charges of involuntary manslaughter.

The prosecutor, the fiery and theatrical Lea D’Agostino, bragged that she had never lost a case. She liked her nickname, the Dragon Lady, because it connoted toughness.

She called Landis a “tyrannical dictator,” a reckless director who ignored common sense and sacrificed safety for realism in service of “a lousy motion picture.”

Sitting at the government table beside Sgt. Budds, D’Agostino was confident she could hold her own as the lone prosecutor against a seven-man team of aggressive defense attorneys. Among them was James Neal, the barrel-chested legend who had prosecuted the Watergate conspirators and Jimmy Hoffa, and who insisted to the “Twilight Zone” jurors:

“Not one of these gentlemen intended to hurt anyone. Not one of these gentlemen thought the scene as planned and rehearsed was dangerous. Not one of these gentlemen is guilty of criminal negligence.” He called the crash “unforeseen” and “unforeseeable.” If the helicopter had crashed a few feet away, he pointed out, Landis himself would be dead.

He and other defense attorneys directed blame to the effects man, James Camomile, who had been given immunity for his testimony and admitted that he had not looked up when he shot off the fatal fireball.

The most wrenching words came from the parents of the dead children, who said they had been misled about the danger.

“Did [associate producer George Folsey Jr.] or Mr. Landis or anyone else on that motion picture tell you that your daughter Renee was going to be filmed with explosives in close proximity to her?” the prosecutor asked.

“No,” testified Mark Chen, who had lost his only child.

“Did either Mr. Landis or Mr. Folsey or anyone else on that set, Mr. Chen, tell you that your daughter Renee was going to be filmed with a helicopter approximately 24 feet over her head?”

“No.”

He had agreed to let Renee do the picture, he said, so that “she would have a lot of memories” when she grew up.

My-Ca Le’s father, Daniel Le, who had been on the Indian Dunes set, said he heard someone ordering the helicopter to descend as the special effects went off: “Lower, lower.”

Having lived through the Vietnam War as a child, he said he was so startled by the on-set explosions that he dropped to the ground.

Jurors piled into a bus for a trip to the crash site, and to the Academy theater in Beverly Hills, where they watched the crash from six angles. (“A glamorous setting for a grim task,” one reporter called it.) Celebrities occasionally visited the courtroom, including Dan Aykroyd, a “Blues Brothers” and “Trading Places” star.

When defense attorneys presented their case, co-defendant Dorcey Wingo, who had piloted the downed chopper, stunned the courtroom when he seemed to suggest that Morrow bore some responsibility for the tragedy.

Five seconds had elapsed between the helicopter’s loss of control and the crash. “It distresses me to the max that he never looked up,” Wingo testified, which the prosecutor derided as “blaming the dead man.”

Landis took the stand in his own defense and quickly conceded that he had flouted the rules in hiring the children.

“We decided to break the law. We decided wrongly to violate the labor code.” Landis called it “a technical violation.”

The director denied joking to the cameraman that they might lose the helicopter. He denied that the parents were in the dark about the nature of the scene (he had told them personally, he said). He denied ever being warned that the filming of the fatal scene was dangerous. He denied any recollection of having ordered the helicopter to go “lower, lower.” At times, the director appeared to choke up.

“Would you like some Kleenex, sir?” D’Agostino mocked him.

Talking to reporters, she called it a calculated performance worthy of an Oscar.

“The whole world is lying, according to John Landis, except John Landis,” she said. “I find that somewhat incredible, and I’m assuming that the jurors will, too.”

She was badly mistaken about the jurors. After 10 months of trial and nine days of deliberations, all five defendants were acquitted on May 29, 1987. The jury forewoman echoed the defense’s main point, saying: “You don’t prosecute people for unforeseeable accidents.”

Landis, who declined to be interviewed for this story, told a reporter afterward that the prosecutor was “grotesque” and her case “completely dishonest.” “I feel that accident very strongly,” he said, adding that he was grateful for the jurors’ wisdom and comparing the outcome to a Frank Capra movie.

A year after his acquittal, jurors received invitations — along with their families — to a special preview screening of Landis’ new movie, the Eddie Murphy comedy “Coming to America.” Harland Braun, the acerbic attorney who represented one of the director’s co-defendants at trial, did not like how it looked.

“I wonder if he invited the parents of the children, because they were part of the case, too.”

The dejected prosecutor said she hoped, at least, that the case would deter future filmmakers from taking unnecessary risks. She believed the jury had been starstruck, a conclusion echoed nearly 40 years later by Budds, now 78. He thought it was unseemly, the way jurors embraced Landis and his wife after the verdict.

“They just identified with the whole Hollywood scene, and I think they missed the whole point about the responsibility to protect children,” Budds said. “It’s one thing if Vic Morrow chose to be under the helicopter, but to put little kids in that situation, it’s just unconscionable.”

In the aftermath of the deaths, the Directors Guild of America reprimanded Landis and tightened safety procedures.

“I think it made people more conscious of safety concerns on film sets,” Stephen Farber, co-author with Marc Green of “Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego, and the Twilight Zone Case,” said in a recent interview. The book argues that whatever the legal outcome, Landis bore moral responsibility for the tragedy.

“It was a wake-up call for many filmmakers of that period. I think they all were very much chastened by this case,” Farber said.

The length of the trial ensured that the terrible footage was constantly on the nightly news. It replayed endlessly, Morrow struggling through the water with a child under each arm, stumbling, righting himself, carrying them to the spot where they would all die behind the curtain of water.

On-set deaths, when they do occur, rarely dominate the news, with some exceptions, including the prop-gun deaths of Brandon Lee on “The Crow” in 1993 and Halyna Hutchins on “Rust” in 2021. There were at least 43 fatalities on sets in the U.S. between 1990 and 2016, many of them behind-the-scenes crew members who died without public notice, according to an Associated Press investigation.

The rise of computer-generated imagery makes it possible to achieve effects without actual explosions, so that now “you wouldn’t really have to blow up a whole village,” Farber said. But memories are short, and “I’m not convinced that something like this could not happen again.”

At Universal Studios, where Landis was sometimes spotted walking to his office in the 1990s, tram guides were forbidden from mentioning his name.

In the decades after the trial, when Landis gave interviews, he spoke in a booming, jovial voice and conveyed the impression of a man whose outsized self-confidence remained undimmed.

Did he escape accountability? Farber thinks the case ultimately hurt Landis’ viability as a big-time director. It made him easier not to hire, when he stopped creating hits.

Strangers made a point to remind the director of that night at Indian Dunes. Drew McWeeny, a screenwriter, once found himself on a TV set with Landis in Vancouver, where a local Teamster was reading “Outrageous Conduct” in conspicuous view of the director.

“Teamsters are on sets where they’re asked to do things they know they’re not supposed to do and told to take one for the team,” McWeeny said. “I think that for a lot of crew guys, Landis is the ultimate symbol of that.”

By McWeeny’s account, a frustrated Landis yelled at the Teamster, who was unimpressed and instead proffered the book with a question: Can you sign it?

[boricuacherry-blog]

Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Scores Worse Than Shein In Ethical Practices

US popstar Rihanna is facing backlash after Legal Rights Observatory filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) of India against the brand.

Her company launched in 2017, Fenty Beauty, was recently reported for allegedly sourcing mica from mines in Jharkhand which employ child labour. Fenty Beauty's connection to "blood mica" became a major topic of discussion.

Priya Kulkarni from the United States wrote, "Fenty Beauty Brand is under the lens in India for using mica from mines hiring child labour."

It was also brought attention to that it was in violation of the California act, which stipulates audits for companies to ensure that there is no child labour or slavery involved in merchandise.

Taking to Twitter, Poonam from London wrote, "So glad I no longer use #FentyBeauty...of the products I have used...it's COMPLETE trash. I will NEVER support makeup brands for using mica or exploiting child slave labour...So much for being 'vegan' and 'cruelty-free' #ashy #basicbitchmakeup #boycottFenty."

Now, another controversy has been brought to light over her Savage X Fenty line reportedly scoring 'worse than Shein' in ethical practices. This is after some buyers were complaining that the clothing material was flimsy and ripped after limited use.

Ask where a Savage X Fenty product comes from and this is what its country of origin label will tell you: "Imported."

Contacted to explain, one Savage X Fenty customer service officer gave the following reply. "I know SXF items are not made in the US," they stated. "Only assembled and processed." Another replied, "I do not know. I am very sorry."

SXF is among the lowest-ranking companies on Remake's 2022 Fashion Accountability Report, scoring a meager four points out of a possible 150, demonstrating an utter lack of transparency and accountability in all of the assessment categories. For context, the average score of the 58 companies analyzed in the report was 14, with even ultra-fast fashion brand Shein outranking SXF. Remake's scoreboard for the brand concludes that the company "blatantly disregards industry standards when it comes to social and environmental disclosures, merely noting on its website that products are 'imported.'"

The company doesn't report on its carbon emissions or indicate any carbon reduction targets. Most of its products use oil-based synthetic materials, and the brand has set no clear targets to move away from these materials. Alarmingly, SXF lacks even a Supplier Code of Conduct to define guidelines for assessing factories' compliance with international labour standards, especially in regard to workers' health and safety. This disconnect is striking; we see a brand profiting from using feminism and inclusivity as core elements of its marketing and branding, while at the same time neglecting to put in basic safeguards to protect workers in its supply chain, 80% of whom are women.

What's more, SFX was fined $1 million by Santa Clara County and four other California local governments for defrauding customers by automatically enrolling them in a "VIP" program with recurring monthly credit card charges without their knowledge. The lawsuit also detailed that SXF's website improperly advertised the ability to use store credit and misled customers about the store's products.

"Consumers have a right to know up front what they are paying for and how often," Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Deng said in a statement. "And businesses have a duty to be transparent about their automatic renewal charges."

The company's actions "were likely to deceive members of the public and were performed with that intent," the complaint said.

[dorka]

Nagyon tetszik, amikor valaki kepben van ES el tudja itelni a bunozoket

[recentlyheardcom]

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Los Gatos mother accused of giving minors alcohol and encouraging them to have sex pleaded not guilty in court on Monday morning following a grand jury indictment that resulted in more than 60 counts against her last week.Shannon O'Connor, 49, was arraigned in Santa Clara County Superior Court on 20 felonies and 43 misdemeanors, including accusations of giving alcohol to children as young as 14 years old to the point of throwing up.Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise, who is prosecuting the case, said "multiple children were left unconscious from alcohol intoxication, vomiting from alcohol intoxication, sexually abused unconscious. Or one with broken bones."She quietly entered the courtroom on Monday wearing a green jail uniform and took a front-row seat.Prosecutors said O'Connor engaged in this behavior over an 11-month period in 2020.Her case experienced many delays for a number of reasons, during which seven new charges were filed against O'Connor.Wise explained, "the new charges reflect felony sexual assault, felony dissuading a witness and additional child endangerment reflecting her conduct as we continue this investigation after we filed the original complaint."O'Connor's attorneys considered a plea deal that would have resulted in a 17-year sentence, but ultimately, they chose to proceed to trial.About 17 victims testified before the grand jury about how the events destroyed their lives, which ultimately led to the latest indictment.The district attorney's office's unusual decision to use a grand jury indictment to advance the case to the arraignment phase may pose challenges for the defense.Legal analyst Steven Clark said, "this was a missed opportunity for the defense team for Shannon O’Connor because they will not get a chance to cross-examine the victim and other witnesses at a preliminary hearing. They’re gonna have to relay on that grand jury transcript to give them the information they need to prepare for trial. For the prosecution, they’re saying, times up for Shannon O’Connor."O'Connor is being held at the Elmwood Women's Complex in Milpitas.She is scheduled to return to court on December 20 to confirm her counsel, and a potential trial date may be set.

[santaclaralocalnews]

With the Santa Clara Superior Courthouse in San Jose backed up with court cases, the perjury trial of Santa Clara City Council Member Anthony Becker had taken a back seat to other trials more than once. That’s not the case now. On Sept. 16, Judge Elizabeth C. Peterson assigned the trial to Judge Javier Alcala at the South County Superior Courthouse in Morgan Hill. Judge Alcala heard arguments from Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky and Deputy Public Defender Chris Montoya on Sept. 17. The meeting happened in chambers. Read complete news at svvoice.com.

[beardedmrbean]

The Eggo Company has been fined about $85,000 after being convicted for releasing toxic gas at a waffle factory in California, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced last week.

The Kellogg-owned waffle maker was convicted and sentenced on Friday for a "large release of toxic ammonia" from its San Jose factory in January 2021, the district attorney's office said.

It happened when a subcontractor damaged a pipe while on a scissor lift, the district attorney's office said. The pipe then "began leaking anhydrous ammonia, a toxic gas that can cause severe injury or death."

Eggo managers believed they had stopped the leak, and did not call 911 for more than an hour. The district attorney's office said that this delay "contributed to the emergency," which resulted in approximately 3,400 pounds of anhydrous ammonia escaping into the neighborhood surrounding the factory.

While no injures were reported, residents had to shelter in place for several hours while emergency responders worked to stop the leak, the district attorney's office said.

What has been recalled in 2022? Your complete database on all recalls, from food to cars.  

CPI:Inflation slowed sharply to 7.1% but stayed high in November as gas prices fell  

"Public safety and the environment are threatened with every passing minute in these cases," Santa Clara County's Deputy District Attorney Jason Bussey said in a statement. "When companies fail to immediately report a release, they face serious consequences."

USA TODAY reached out to the Kellogg Company for a statement from Eggo Tuesday morning.

What is anhydrous ammonia?

Anhydrous ammonia is a source of nitrogen fertilizer that is widely used in agriculture, as well as refrigeration and manufacturing under state and federal regulations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration notes that the substance is commonly used as a refrigerant in industrial facilities processing meat, dairy products, alcoholic beverages and more. 

Eggo, for example, uses the substance at its San Jose factory to freeze waffles, the district attorney's office said.

Could an ammonia leak be deadly?

If not handled properly, anhydrous ammonia can be dangerous. OSHA considers ammonia to be "a high health hazard" because of health and safety risks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to the toxic gas or liquid can result in injuries including burns, frostbite, lung irritation and corrosion damage to the eyes, throat, stomach and other parts of the body, depending on the type of exposure. The severity of injures ranges, but significant exposure can be fatal, the CDC says.

Criminal charges against Kellogg-owned Eggo

For the release of anhydrous ammonia at Eggo's San Jose factory, the waffle maker was "criminally charged with negligently discharging an air contaminant, failing to immediately report that release, providing inadequate training to its contractors, and failing to implement an adequate emergency action plan," the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said on Friday.

The district attorney's office added that, following the January 2021 incident, Eggo has "cooperated with regulatory authorities and is upgrading its systems and procedures to prevent future releases."

[blogynews]

Unveiling the Q&A: Silicon Valley Prosecutor Targets Shocking Crypto Scams, Including 'Pig-Butchering' Tactics

Erin West, a highly esteemed deputy district attorney hailing from Santa Clara, has made a significant impact in the realm of crypto law-enforcement. She has garnered a notable reputation for her unwavering dedication to raising awareness on fraudulent activities within the cryptocurrency domain and tirelessly providing assistance to victims in their pursuit of reclaiming their lost funds. With…

[blogynewz]

Unveiling the Q&A: Silicon Valley Prosecutor Targets Shocking Crypto Scams, Including 'Pig-Butchering' Tactics

Erin West, a highly esteemed deputy district attorney hailing from Santa Clara, has made a significant impact in the realm of crypto law-enforcement. She has garnered a notable reputation for her unwavering dedication to raising awareness on fraudulent activities within the cryptocurrency domain and tirelessly providing assistance to victims in their pursuit of reclaiming their lost funds. With…

[blogynewsz]

Unveiling the Q&A: Silicon Valley Prosecutor Targets Shocking Crypto Scams, Including 'Pig-Butchering' Tactics

Erin West, a highly esteemed deputy district attorney hailing from Santa Clara, has made a significant impact in the realm of crypto law-enforcement. She has garnered a notable reputation for her unwavering dedication to raising awareness on fraudulent activities within the cryptocurrency domain and tirelessly providing assistance to victims in their pursuit of reclaiming their lost funds. With…

[boricuacherry-blog]

Four California counties have sued Rihanna and her Savage X Fenty line for defrauding customers. The company is ordered to pay $1 million in penalties as part of a consumer protection lawsuit settlement with four counties that include Santa Clara and Santa Cruz, who joined San Diego and Los Angeles in filing the lawsuit against the singer.

They claim Rihanna failed to properly disclose automatic charges to customers, as well as registering them as VIP members, incurring monthly charges unbeknownst to customers when they purchased items on the website.

The lawsuit, filed in August 2022, also alleged that Savage X Fenty's website did not ask for consent for the automatically renewing charges, improperly advertised the ability to use store credit and misled customers about the store's products.

"Consumers have a right to know up front what they are paying for and how often," Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Deng said in a statement. "Businesses have a duty to be transparent about their automatic renewal charges."

The company's actions "were likely to deceive members of the public and were performed with that intent," the complaint said.

[brandedcities]

SF 49ers' Charles Omenihu arrested on domestic violence allegation in SJ: police

The case will be submitted to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office for possible charges.