Sacto 9-1-1

Three men have been sentenced for involvement in a human trafficking ring in which women from Mexico were used as prostitutes in five Northern California cities, including Sacramento, Yuba City and Chico.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced that Nery Najarro-Rodriguez, 42, Jorge Perez-Hernandez, 37, and Luis Mata, 30, pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit pimping and pandering as part of a multi-county investigation. Each was sentenced today in Sacramento Superior Court to three years in county jail.

The charges stemmed from an FBI investigation into a human trafficking network that spanned several Northern California counties. Young women, ages 21 to 30, were brought from Mexico and sold for sex to as many as 20 clients in a single day, according to an Attorney General's Office news release. The sex acts occurred in brothels in Chico, Stockton, Yuba City, Fairfield and Sacramento, officials said.

A man arrested in the attempted kidnapping of a woman in Woodland last November was indicted this week for trading in child pornography.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento on Thursday returned a four-count indictment charging Kyle Michael Hall, 24, of Woodland with receipt and distribution of child pornography, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to the indictment, between May 10 and Oct. 30, 2012, Hall distributed and/or received child pornography through the Internet.

A 23-year-old Sacramento woman has been accused of pimping a minor.

A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment Thursday charging Shanntaye Ebony Hicks with one count of sex trafficking of a minor and two counts of transportation of a minor, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Between March 3 and March 23, Hicks allegedly maintained a female victim by means of force, threats of force, fraud and coercion, to engage in a commercial sex act, according to the indictment. It also is alleged that on two occasions in March, Hicks transported the girl to Reno and Las Vegas with the intent that the girl engage in prostitution.

Lodi police said they have arrested a man for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint in a hotel.

John Ganoe, 44, pictured, who police said is a registered sex offender, was arrested on suspicion of lewd acts with a minor, rape and other sex crimes. His bail was set at $450,000.

Police said they apprehended Ganoe in Stockton after an arrest warrant was issued last week. A police press release said that Ganoe lured the teen to a hotel room in the 800 block of South Cherokee Lane on Wednesday. Once inside the room, Ganoe held her at knifepoint and sexually assaulted her overnight, police said.

She was eventually released. Lodi police said they spent about 100 hours actively investigating and searching for Ganoe until he was arrested Monday afternoon.

A male sexually touched and exposed himself to a teenage girl walking on a city street this week, Sacramento police said.

Police released a sketch of the suspect, who may be the same person sought in a string of indecent exposure incidents in South Sacramento.

In the latest incident, a 17-year-old girl was walking near Florin Road and 17th Street in Meadowview about 7 a.m. Wednesday when a man rode up on a white BMX-style bicycle with pink handlebars. He attempted to speak with the girl, but she showed disregard for him and went on her way, police said.

A federal grand jury today returned an indictment charging an Elk Grove man with two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography.

Michael Gibson, 37, is accused of using minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to a sworn complaint filed May 3, in March, a computer at Gibson's residence was observed offering files of child pornography through an online file-sharing network. On May 1, law enforcement agents searched Gibson's house and found a hard drive that contained videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Also located were hidden-camera videos taken by Gibson in bathrooms in his house.

A Woodland man has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for molesting a 2-year-old boy.

Yolo Superior Court Judge Stephen Mock also sentenced John "Tim" Ganthner, 46, to an additional 11 years and 8 months for physical injuries inflicted on the child in connection with the sexual assault, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

On the morning of Aug. 23, 2011, Ganthner was left alone to watch the child while his grandmother performed volunteer work with a local charity. When the grandmother returned home about 12:30 p.m., she noticed that the child had severe injuries to his private areas and chest. A medical exam determined that the child had been beaten and sexually assaulted, officials said.

A brother and sister are in Sacramento County Jail, accused in a plot to have a woman killed.

Manuel Perez (top left photo), 47, and his sister, Natalia Perez (top right photo), 45, were arrested earlier this week on suspicion of solicitation to commit murder and criminal conspiracy, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department news release.

Manuel Perez has been in custody since December on charges related to committing lewd acts with two minor females. He is alleged to have victimized one of the females on several occasions in 1996, and the other child during 2010.

A Vacaville High School teacher has turned himself in to police and has been booked on suspicion of lewd acts with a minor.

Rodney Orosco, a 47-year-old English teacher at the high school, turned himself into authorities on Wednesday.

The arrest of Orosco began with the report of a strange sighting. Police received a report that a grandparent of the girl saw Orosco carrying her across the stage of the high school's theater.

Family members spoke with the girl who related details of her relationship with Orosco. According to a Vacaville police press release, the girl said that Orosco allegedly kissed her on three separate occasions.

Text messages retrieved from the victim's cell phone supported the allegation against Orosco, police said. Detectives have also conducted extensive interviews, leading to an arrest warrant.

A 37-year-old Elk Grove man was arrested today on suspicion of producing child pornography.

In March, a computer at the home of defendant Michael Gibson (pictured) was observed offering files of child pornography through an online file-sharing network, according to a criminal complaint filed today.

On Wednesday, agents with the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force searched Gibson's house, where they located a hard drive that contained videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to federal Department of Justice news release. Also located during the search were hidden-camera videos allegedly taken by Gibson in bathrooms at his house, authorities said. The hidden-camera videos showed children using the toilet and shower in those bathrooms.

Sacramento police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who exposed himself to female walkers and joggers on at least seven occasions.

In each of the incidents, the man approached the victims, who were walking or jogging alone near parks or on city streets, and made small talk before exposing himself or making vulgar comments, according to Sacramento police.

The suspect then ran away or pedaled away on a bicycle. The victims were not injured in any of the incidents, police said.

The man has been described by police as a light-skinned Hispanic or Asian man, 18 to 20 years old. He is 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, weighs 180 to 200 pounds and has short dark hair and thick eyebrows. Twice he was seen carrying a backpack.

The manager a youth baseball team in Sacramento has been arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of lewd acts and molesting a child.

Sacramento police announced that Daniel Kirk (pictured), 42, was taken into custody today after a warrant was issued by the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.

A teenage victim reported that Kirk had sexually assaulted him multiple times over the past four years, according to a Police Department news release. At least one of the alleged assaults is believed to have occurred in Sacramento and other incidents may have occurred while the victim and suspect were together in another jurisdiction, police said.

Sacramento police are investigating whether the same man exposed himself on the street and later sexually assaulted a woman on Thursday in the Pocket-Greenhaven area.

In the first incident, a man was seen exposing himself around Royal Garden Avenue and Havenside Drive at about 6:45 a.m. Police searched the area but no suspect was found.

A police activity log said that crime scene investigators were called in and detectives were notified to follow up on the case.

Then, about 8:45 p.m., a pedestrian along a waterway near the 7300 block of Gloria Drive was approached from behind by a man. The man reached around and briefly touched her.

The heavyset man in his 20s ran away. A search aided by a police helicopter failed to find the perpetrator.

Police believe the incidents could be related.

A Sacramento County jury on Thursday convicted 31-year-old Rico Lyntice Riley of multiple sexual assault charges, including rape and tying up the female victim.

The woman was assaulted by Riley and one of her friends after she refused Riley's sexual advances, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. The friend eventually left the woman's apartment, but Riley stayed and continued to sexually assault her.

The woman and her son found Riley four days later, and her son was able to detain him until law enforcement officers arrived.

Riley is to be sentenced May 10.

A Dixon man has been arrested on suspicion of molesting boys and girls.

Corey Wilkins, 34, was arrested on numerous counts of suspicion of lewd acts on a child, according to a Dixon police press release. The police say the alleged criminal activity occurred over an 11-year period in Dixon and Vacaville.

"We do have multiple victims, ranging in age from nine to 17 - both male and female," said Dixon Police Chief Jon Cox.

A woman previously convicted of child molestation in Placer County has been convicted by a Sacramento County jury of 17 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with force against a child younger than 14 years old.

Rosemary Eusted, 40, began continuously molesting two female family members in November 1997 at her Rio Linda home, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. The victims, who were 6 and 7 years old at the time, did not report the abuse for several years because they feared retaliation and further physical abuse, authorities said.

In May 2005, Eusted was convicted of two counts of child molestation in Placer County. In that case, the victims included her ex-boyfriend's daughters, who ranged in age from 5 to 10 years old. These victims traveled from Red Bluff, Marysville and Twin Falls, Idaho to testify in the Sacramento County case, according to the DA's office.

Eusted is to be sentenced May 10 by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny.

Sacramento County sheriff's detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying the man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman on the American River Parkway last month.

A woman was running along a horse trail on the parkway between Watt and Howe avenues about 11 a.m. on March 26 when a man allegedly grabbed her from behind and forced her to the ground, said Sgt. Jason Ramos.

The man attempted to further assault the victim, but he rode away on a mountain bike when she screamed, Ramos said.

The man was described as white, in his late 20s to early 30s, with a blonde scruffy beard and a moustache. He is between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall and has a slender build, according to the Sheriff's Department. At the time of the alleged assault, he wore a red baseball camp, sunglasses, long-sleeved olive-green T shirt and black and gray pants. He rode a black mountain bike with white detailing.

Anyone with information about the suspect's identity is asked to call sheriff's sex assault detectives at (916) 874-5070 or the sheriff's tipline at (916) 874-TIPS. Tips also can be left anonymously at www.sacsheriff.com or texted to 274637 with the word "SSD."

A 35-year-old Sacramento man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for using the Internet in an attempt to entice a minor to engage in sexual acts.

Eric G. Lowe also will be subject to 10 years of supervised release following his time in prison and will be required to register as a sex offender, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

On April 14, 2012, Lowe posted a Craigslist advertisement seeking someone with whom to "have a Daddy/Daughter incest relationship," according to court documents. An undercover detective from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department responded to the ad through email, posing as a 13-year-old girl.

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a sexual assault on a woman on the campus of an Antelope-area school last November.

Demarea Brown (pictured) was taken into custody today at his Sacramento County residence and was booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of felony offenses related to the assault, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

About 8:30 p.m. Nov. 25, a 19-year-old woman was walking around Olive Grove Elementary School in the 7900 block of Firestone Way when she was approached by a man who engaged her in a brief conversation. The two then went their separate ways, but moments later, while the woman was still on the campus, the man approached her again, grabbed her and sexually assaulted her before leaving on foot.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

Former West Sacramento police officer Sergio Alvarez, accused of sexually assaulting women while on duty, will face trial in September.

The three-week trial is set for Sept. 23 in Yolo Superior Court in Woodland, according to court records.

Alvarez, 37, faces 35 counts including rape, sodomy and kidnapping in the alleged attacks on six women while on duty between October 2011 and September 2012.

The allegations came to light following a five-month investigation and a February grand jury indictment that led to the former officer's arrest and his removal from the force.

Alvarez remains held in lieu of $26.3 million bail at Yolo County Jail.

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a sexual assault on a woman in February.

About 6:15 p.m. Feb. 6, the youth allegedly entered an apartment in the 4900 block of El Paraiso Avenue on south Sacramento County, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department news release. The resident, a woman in her 60s, tried to escape but was overpowered by the youth, who is accused of sexually assaulting her. The teenager allegedly stole money and other items from the woman before fleeing.

Sheriff's officials said the youth, who has not been named because he is a juvenile, was taken into custody at a residence Tuesday. He was booked on suspicion of robbery, burglary, forcible rape, elder abuse and injury to a telephone line.

A Citrus Heights man previously convicted of sex offenses was arraigned today in federal court in Sacramento on charges of receiving child pornography and failing to register as a sex offender.

Travis Marshall Grey, 29, entered a not guilty plea in proceedings before Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd, according to federal court online records.

Between Jan. 25 and Jan. 29, Grey allegedly received images of child pornography through the Internet. In addition, in December 2012 and January 2013, while living in Citrus Heights, Grey failed to register as a sex offender, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

A man accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl is in jail following a Sunday afternoon standoff with police at a Pocket-area apartment.

Rondell Shavell Baptiste (pictured), 32, is being held in Sacramento County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.

After taking a report from the 12-year-old, investigators traced the suspect, Baptiste, to an apartment in the 7600 block of Windbridge Drive about 3:30 p.m. Baptiste initially refused to come out of the apartment, and SWAT and hostage negotiation teams were summoned, according to a Sacramento Police Department news release.

Baptiste finally surrendered and was taken into custody without further incident.

Police said the girl reported being the victim of sexual assaults that occurred over the past several months. The case is under investigation.

A reward is being offered for the arrest of a man who sexually assaulted a jogger on a well-traveled portion of the American River Parkway last week.

The woman was knocked to the ground by a man who tried to put his hand under her clothing during the attack that occurred about 11 a.m. Tuesday along the American River between Howe and Watt avenues.

Supervising Park Ranger John Havicon said the young woman was jogging on the horse trail between the river and the paved bicycle path. At one point, she passed a picnic table where the man was sitting next to a bike.

A Woodland man has been found guilty of sexually molesting a 2-year-old boy.

After 10 hours of deliberation over two days, a Yolo County jury on Thursday convicted John "Tim" Ganthner, 46, of two felony counts of sexual assault of a child younger than 10 years old, four felony counts of physical abuse of a child and three additional enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury on a child younger than 5, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

In the morning of Aug. 23, 2011, Ganthner was left alone to watch the child while the youngster's grandmother performed volunteer work for a local charity, authorities said. When the grandmother returned about 12:30 p.m., she noticed that the child had severe injuries to his private areas and chest.

An Oakland man has been sentenced to seven years in prison in a case involving the sex trafficking of a 14-year-old south Sacramento girl.

Jamir Imari Tatum, 20, was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Morrison C.England Jr. Tatum will be subject to 10 years of supervised release following his prison term and will be required to register as a sex offender, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, in January 2012, Tatum met the 14-year-old victim outside her house. He took her to a motel in Sacramento and took several photographs of her engaged in sexuality explicit conduct. On Feb. 21, 2012, law enforcement agents were notified that the victim had run away with Tatum.

Sacramento County sheriff's detectives have arrested a 50-year-old man on suspicion of distributing child pornography.

Danny R. Smith (pictured) was booked into Sacramento County Jail this afternoon and is being held on $50,000 bail.

The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received information that Smith was trading files of child pornography via the Internet, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. A federal search warrant was served at Smith's residence in the 2000 block of Bluebird Lane in the Arden Arcade area. Detectives discovered, however, that Smith had recently moved and tracked him to Citrus Heights, where he was taken into custody.

An Auburn man was arrested today, accused of offenses involving sexual assault and child pornography.

Auburn police said Thomas Mitchell Hale, 53, was taken into custody following a yearlong investigation. He was arrested on suspicion of extortion by force or fear, sexual assault, sexual battery and sending child pornography. Several victims came forward during the course of the investigation, according to a Police Department news release.

After police obtained an arrest warrant, Hale turned himself in at the Auburn Police Department. He is being held in Placer County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

A man convicted of sexually assaulting three women in the south Sacramento area in 2011 has been sentenced to 90 years to life in prison.

Ladell Lamont Sanders, 42, was convicted last month by a Sacramento County jury of six charges, including rape and forcible oral copulation, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. Sanders was sentenced today by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Eugene Balonon.

The three women were assaulted in separate incidents, which occurred Nov. 15, Dec. 10 and Dec. 13, 2011. In each case, Sanders threatened the victim by stating he had a gun or by displaying a gun, authorities said. He then drove the women to areas where he sexually assaulted them. After the assaults, Sanders fled, leaving the victims stranded in the remote area.

Sanders was determined to be a suspect after a Sacramento police officer recognized the description of the suspect and the suspect's car from a vehicle stop he made Nov. 1, 2011, in the same area. Sanders also was determined to be a suspect in the Dec. 13, 2011, sexual assault through the use of DNA analysis performed by the Sacramento County District Attorney's Crime Lab.

A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to 65 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting children.

Santiago Sanchez was convicted by a Sacramento County jury in February of multiple counts of lewd acts with a minor and sexual assault charges. The jury also found true that Sanchez molested more than one victim in the commission of these offenses, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

Sanchez was sentenced today by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Goodman.

On Aug. 2, 2011, Sanchez was babysitting the 8 and 10-year-old victims, along with their four brothers. One of the children walked into a bedroom and discovered Sanchez partially unclothed and on top of his 8-year-old sister, authorities said. In an effort to get help, the boy rode his bike to several neighbors' homes and then to a local gas station, where he called 911. Officers learned soon afterward that Sanchez had engaged in lewd acts with the two sisters over a period of two days before his arrest.

Sacramento police seek the public's help in identifying a man believed to have been involved in five incidents of indecent exposure since October 2011.

In each instance, the man approached females who were walking or jogging alone near parks or on city streets. The incidents occurred on weekdays and weekends, typically in the early morning or evening hours, according to a Police Department news release.

Police said the man usually approached the victim and attempted to make small talk before exposing himself or making vulgar comments. On each occasion, he left on foot and no vehicle was seen. No injuries occurred during the incidents.

A Catholic priest has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation, according to a press release from the Diocese of Stockton.

The Rev. Julio Guarin-Sosa, pictured, a visiting priest from Colombia, was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery and molestation of a minor in Yuba City. He is being held in the Sutter County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned today.

Guarin-Sosa had been helping out at St. Anne's parish in Lodi. Stockton Bishop Stephen E. Blaire had required, and was provided a letter, attesting to Guarin-Sosa's good standing prior to the priest's ministry work at St. Anne's.

His arrest has caused the Diocese of Stockton to revoke Guarin-Sosa's permission to exercise ministry. The Stockton diocese has also told Guarin-Sosa's home diocese of his arrest.

An Antelope man has been sentenced and a Sacramento man has pleaded guilty in separate child pornography cases.

Stephen Graeff, 60, of Antelope, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to 15 years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for distributing child pornography, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Graeff maintained a collection of approximately 1,020 files of child pornography, according to court records. He shared and posted the child pornography images from his computer to others on the Internet.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: Whatever happened to the case of the pastor in south Sacramento -- his name was Frederick Dew -- who was accused of molesting a boy at the MLK library back in 2006?
Submitted by: Slim, Sacramento

ANSWER: A Sacramento County jury found Frederick Deshawn Dew guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in the Meadowview area in March 2007.

A Rancho Cordova man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento to engaging in child sexual exploitation.

According to court documents, Brandon Marks, 25, attempted to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. In addition, between April and June 2012, he received and shared child pornography, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Marks is to be sentenced May 15 by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller.

A Roseville man whose daughter was arrested last year in connection with the death of his granddaughter has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Daniel Harrison McGrath, 58, of Roseville pleaded guilty today in federal court in Sacramento to possessing more than 3,000 images and videos of child pornography, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

The pornography was discovered during a police investigation into the death of McGrath's 2-year-old granddaughter. McKinley Wilder's body was found in McGrath's home April 4. Denise Marie McGrath Wilder, the child's mother and McGrath's daughter, has been charged with cruelty to a child and neglect in connection with the youngster's death and awaits trial in Placer Superior Court.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is the current status of the criminal case against Ronald Buchanan Jr., the volleyball coach and photographer accused of videotaping teenage girls?
Submitted by: Concerned, Sacramento

ANSWER: Ronald Roy Buchanan Jr. is awaiting trial in Placer Superior Court.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

The former West Sacramento police officer facing 35 counts of sexually assaulting women while on patrol will face a March 7 arraignment in Yolo Superior Court.

Sergio Alvarez, 37, made a brief appearance Wednesday afternoon at the courthouse in Woodland. He is being held in lieu of $29.3 million bail in Solano County custody on allegations including rape, sodomy and kidnapping of six women while on duty between October 2011 and September 2012.

Alvarez has been a member of the West Sacramento Police Department since 2007.

A Fair Oaks man has been sentenced to eight years and 10 months in prison for distributing child pornography.

Clifford Donald Wells, 56, will also be subject to 10 years of supervised release following his time in prison, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez.

According to court records, Wells maintained a collection of approximately 6,000 videos and 60,000 still images depicting minors engaged in various types of sexually explicit conduct. He shared and posted the images from his computer to others on the Internet.

A woman leaving her apartment was forced back in and raped by two men, Davis police said.

The rape occurred around 5:00 a.m. Thursday, as the woman was leaving her apartment at the 4500 block of Alhambra Dr. Two men grabbed the victim, forced her inside and took turns raping her, according to reports.

The woman described the men as Caucasian, one with black hair and the other with brown hair. Emergency personnel treated the woman for injuries. The victim waited nearly eight hours before reporting the crime to police.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Davis Police Department's Sexual Assault Unit at (530) 747-5400.

A man who spent time at a Rancho Cordova residence has been sentenced in federal court in Sacramento to 14 years and two months in prison for distributing child pornography.

Joseph Cantrelle, 61, who lived most recently in Vacaville, also will be subject to 10 years of supervised release following his prison term, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell.

According to court documents, law enforcement agents searched residences where Cantrelle stayed in Napa and Rancho Cordova. They found that Cantrelle maintained on his computer a collection of approximately 561 videos and 4,079 still images depicting minors engaged in various types of sexually explicit conduct. He shared and posted the images from his computer to others on the Internet.

A 42-year-old man has been convicted of sexually assaulting three women in the south Sacramento area in November and December of 2011.

A Sacramento County jury convicted Ladell Lamont Sanders of six charges, including forcible sexual intercourse and forcible oral copulation, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

The assaults occurred Nov. 15, Dec. 10 and Dec. 13 of 2011. Sanders threatened each victim by stating that he had a gun or by displaying a gun, officials said. He then drove the victims to remote areas where he sexually assaulted them. After the assaults, he fled, leaving the victims stranded in the remote area.

A Sacramento man was sentenced today by a federal judge to 24 years in prison for child pornography and sex tourism.

James E. Johnston, 71, was convicted in May by a jury to conspiring to produce child porn, two counts of receiving child pornography, possession of child pornography, and "traveling in foreign commerce" with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Judge Morrison C. England Jr. said at sentencing that Johnston's crime, and the need to deter others, warranted the lengthy sentence.

A man and woman, old enough to know better, were cited for indecent exposure when found naked and acting frisky in Sonora.

The Sonora police department received a call about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday regarding two people "engaged in sexual conduct" inside a vehicle parked at a business in the 600 block of Stockton Road.

The unnamed business where the car was parked in the Mother Lode town was open. Customers had full view of the alleged afternoon hanky-panky.

An officer who was given the call to respond to the address happened to be driving by and quickly pulled into the parking lot. Inside the vehicle, police said, he found an unclothed man and woman in the back seat.

The officer cited Linda Titus, 72, of Earp, San Bernardino County, and Garry Wells, 62, of Sonora, for indecent exposure.

A Sacramento man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento for trading child pornography.

Erik David McKinney, 27, formerly of Chico, is charged with two counts of receiving and sharing child pornography, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, between June 10 and July 29, 2010, McKinney, while living in Chico, received and shared images of child pornography through the Internet. The indictment alleges that after McKinney moved to Sacramento, he continued receiving and sharing images of child pornography until Nov. 14, 2012.

The case resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A 13-year-old boy is in custody after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and a 10-year-old girl Monday in separate incidents in the Foothill Farms area.

Sacramento County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jason Ramos said both attacks took place on neighborhood streets.

The first occurred about 8:30 a.m. as a woman was walking in the area of Brett and Vogelsang drives, west of Hillsdale Boulevard. She was approached by a juvenile who knocked her down and sexually assaulted her. The youth ran off when he was spotted by a witness, Ramos said.

A 37-year-old Sacramento man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Oliver P. Kim was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb. Kim also will be subject to 10 years of supervised release following his prison term, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Between Feb. 9 and March 23, 2011, agents identified a computer at Kim's address offering files of child pornography through a file-sharing network, according to court documents

A self-professed prostitute from Sacramento told authorities that she was forced to perform sexual acts with a shotgun to her head, according to the Amador County Sheriff's office.

The 23-year-old woman told deputies she had performed sex acts for money at a home on Cosumnes Lane in Plymouth in the past, according to a Amador County Sheriff's office press release.

She alleged that on Jan. 23 that two men she knew as Vince and Mike beat her, tied her up and forced her to perform sex acts with a shotgun held to her head.

She was then driven around before being thrown out of a car. She eventually was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Deputies went to the home where the attack was said to have occurred, gathering evidence at what they said was the residence of Vincent M. Brewer.

Detectives identified the woman's suspected attackers as Brewer, 30, (pictured right) of Plymouth and Michael L Gunn, 38, (pictured left) of Martell via a photo lineup.

Gunn and Brewer were arrested Friday on suspicion of kidnapping and sex charges.

After several days of digging, the FBI and drilling experts have not found any human remains at a well in Linden where a search is being conducted for victims of two San Joaquin County killers.

Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel began working at the well on Jan. 7 in a search for the victims of serial killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog. Last week, digging began after the initial site preparations.

The experts don't exactly know the depth of the well, despite using a bore and camera. The excavating of the well is done by hand.

Davis police announced the arrest this afternoon of a 25-year-old man in connection with the sexual assault of a woman outside a church Saturday morning.

About 2:30 p.m. today, police received a call from a citizen who reported seeing a person who matched the description of the suspect in the case. Officers responded to the area and located Christopher Turk, whom they described as a transient, at a shopping center in West Davis.

Turk was taken into custody without incident. During a search, physical evidence was recovered that connected Turk to Saturday's incident, according to a Police Department news release.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is the legal standing of the Citrus Heights private school principal? It's been quite a while since he was charged, and I haven't seen any information lately.
Submitted by: J. Smith, Sacramento

ANSWER: A preliminary hearing for Robert Benson Adams, former principal of Creative Frontiers school in Citrus Heights, has been continued several times.

The last of four sisters to be sentenced for their participation in a child sex-trafficking operation has been sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison.

Cherelle Elizabeth Hornbuckle, 26, of Sacramento, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Morrison C.England Jr.

Her co-defendants included her sisters Tynisha Hornbuckle, 24, who was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison; Tamrell Hornbuckle, 26, sentenced to 12 years and seven months; and Latrelle Hornbuckle, 25, sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. Their mother, Tammy Brown, 44, was sentenced to three years in prison.

A 27-year-old Citrus Heights man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Derrick James Kennedy was sentenced today in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. Kennedy also will be subject to 10 years of supervised release following his prison term, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Kennedy pleaded guilty in March to one count of possession of child pornography. According to court documents, law enforcement agents traced user-sharing files of child pornography on a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to Kennedy's Citrus Heights residence.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento returned a four count indictment today, charging a former nurse with production of child pornography.

The indictment alleges that in May 2011, Daniel Ratner, 45, of Folsom attempted to produce visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. The indictment also alleges that between Aug. 1 and Nov. 23, 2012, Ratner produced child pornography involving the same minor, and that between Aug. 1 and Aug. 8, 2012, he attempted to produce visual depictions of six additional minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Ratner is in Sacramento County Jail, having been charged by the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office in December with multiple counts of indecent assault, possession of child pornography and production of child pornography.

The case resulted from an investigation by the Folsom Police Department, the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Reardon, who is prosecuting the case.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What was Dion Dametrice Tolliver sentenced to for sexual assault on multiple children?
Submitted by: Misty, Sacramento

ANSWER: Dion Dametrice Tolliver was sentenced Jan. 11 to 25 years to life in state prison, according to Sacramento Superior Court online records.

A South Lake Tahoe police officer was arrested today, accused of witness tampering.

The arrest of John Gerald "Johnny" Poland followed a three-year investigation, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation news release. He was taken into custody without incident this morning in South Lake Tahoe.

According to court documents, the violations include two counts of corruptly persuading a person to alter, destroy or conceal an object's integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding, and attempting to do so, as well as three counts of corruptly persuading another person with the intent to influence the testimony of a person in an official proceeding, and attempting to do so. Poland's alleged actions reportedly took place while he was on and off duty.

A Plumas County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sex acts.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller also sentenced Larry Gorbet Jr., 33, of Chester to 20 years of supervised release, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, on Sept. 25, 2011, Gorbet met with his cousin and her friend, a 13-year-old girl, in the city of Susanville. During the meeting, Gorbet provided the girls with marijuana and talked about the prospects of the 13-year-old becoming his girlfriend.

A Rocklin man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton also sentenced John Patrick Frost, 28, to a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Frost pleaded guilty in October to one count of possession of child pornography. According to court documents, on March 12, 2009, a photo-sharing website reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cybertipline that a user had posted child pornography to its page. Further investigation led to a Placer County residence where Frost spent time.

The Sacramento Sheriff's Department today announced the arrest of a 20-year-old man in connection with the sexual assault of a woman near American River College last summer.

Ian Clark (pictured) was arrested Thursday at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, where he has been in custody since his arrest July 27 on unrelated charges of auto theft and felony evasion of a peace officer, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Shortly before 7 p.m. July 16, a woman was walking along the Arcade Creek nature trail near American River College when she was grabbed from behind and choked by a man who held a knife to her. He reportedly indicated that he intended to rape and kill her.

A Placer County teacher has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with a former student.

Jennifer Lynn Woods, 35, (pictured) was booked a week ago into jail on suspicion of having sex with a minor. The 17-year-old boy she allegedly had sex with was her former student.

An employee with the Placer County Office of Education contacted the sheriff's office when education officials received information that Woods was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with a former student.

Woods, a Granite Bay resident, is listed on the Placer County Office of Education website as being an employee in the Emotionally Disturbed Program.

The sheriff's department said in a press release that Woods met the boy when he was her student two years ago. He has since transferred to another school.

The relationship lasted for one year, according to deputies, while the boy was 16 or 17 years old.

A Rocklin man who volunteered with a program that assists children in the court system has been sentenced to prison for possessing child pornography.

Donald G. Callahan, 63, was sentenced in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to eight years and one month in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. The judge also imposed a $15,000 fine.

According to court documents, in September 2011, law enforcement officers identified a computer at Callahan's home offering child pornography through an Internet file-sharing service. On Oct. 25, 2011, agents searched Callahan's home and seized his computer and several compact discs.

The computer contained approximately 898 image files and 536 video files showing the sexual exploitation of children. An additional 16 video files were on the compact discs. Officials said the collection included files showing molestation of infants and toddlers.

At the sentencing, the judge expressed concern that Callahan, given the crime to which he pleaded and his own history as a victim of sexual abuse, had been involved in the Court Appointed Special Advocate program, according to the news release. CASA volunteers work on behalf of children who are in the California court system, often as the result of being victims in child abuse and neglect cases.

The case resulted from an investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a federally and state-funded task force managed by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department with agents from federal, state and local agencies. The task force investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement and sex trafficking.

A 37-year-old man was arrested Sunday, accused of unlawful sex with a minor, after he was allegedly assaulted by his 17-year-old girlfriend.

Sacramento police officers responded to a domestic violence report in the 1600 block of Cormorant Way in the North Sacramento area at 12:49 p.m. When officers arrived, they were told that the 17-year-old had assaulted her boyfriend, Kevin Hunt (pictured). The couple have a 1-year-old child, according to a Police Department news release.

The girlfriend was booked into juvenile hall on suspicion of domestic violence, and Hunt was booked into Sacramento County Jail.

The child was placed in a family member's care. Police said Child Protective Services and detectives were notified, and an investigation is in progress.

A man convicted of stalking a woman, installing spyware on her computer and hidden cameras in her bedroom has been sentenced to 19 years and four months in prison.

Jose Moreno, 32, will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. A jury last month convicted him of 21 counts, including stalking, first-degree burglary, wiretapping and installing spyware. He was sentenced today by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Ernest Sawtelle.

When the victim ended her relationship with Moreno in July 2010, he repeatedly broke into her home, stole personal items, installed spyware on her computer and installed hidden cameras in her bedroom, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. When the victim found the hidden cameras, she left her apartment and stayed with a friend.

A 23-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping in Woodland in November is also accused of possessing child pornography.

Kyle Hall, described by police as a transient, was taken into custody Nov. 28 after a 31-year-old Woodland woman reported Nov. 25 that he tried to kidnap her in the Westgate shopping center at 367 Main St. She told police that she was walking between parked vehicles when a man seated in a pickup truck opened his door, blocking her way. She said he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her toward the truck.

The woman yelled for help and as a bystander approached, the man released her and drove off. She was not injured.

Two Sacramento-area men were among 18 people arrested in Central California as part of an international child pornography investigation.

From Nov. 1 through Dec. 7, the U.S. Attorney's Office and Homeland Security Investigations worked closely with local law enforcement agencies in what was dubbed Operation Sunflower to arrest people engaged in child pornography. Arrested from the Sacramento area were Albert Lee Mitchell of Sacramento and Robert K. Roberson of Citrus Heights, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Mitchell, 65, was arrested Nov. 6 following the execution of a federal search warrant. More than 40,000 images of child pornography were found on his computer, officials said. At a bail hearing in U.S. District Court, it was reported that Mitchell had been planning to depart the next day for Argentina, where he owns property. Children's clothing and toys were found in his luggage.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is the status of Jerry Caldwell, arrested Feb. 28, 2012, by the Sacramento County Sheriff on suspicion of indecent exposure?
Submitted by: Twice Retired, Ventura

ANSWER: Jerry Wayne Caldwell remains in Sacramento County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento today returned an indictment charging a 29-year-old Galt man with receiving child pornography.

According to the indictment, between July 8, 2011, and Dec. 18, 2012, Tyler Jordan knowingly received images of child pornography through the Internet.

The case resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. The federally and state-funded task force is managed by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department with agents from federal, sate and local agencies.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: Whatever happened to Eric Knapp, arrested many years ago for rape in Sacramento?
Submitted by: Emily, Sacramento

ANSWER: Eric Charles Rodney Knapp was sentenced in February 1994 to 98 years in state prison after a Sacramento County jury convicted him in connection with two sexual attacks, including one against a woman who reported she was raped in her bed as her family slept in their Citrus Heights home.

Before the man dubbed the "jogger rapist" for a series of 1980 sexual attacks in Sacramento could get out of custody, a jury has decided he should not be released.

The jury agreed Thursday with the Sacramento County District Attorney's office that Joseph M. Maggard should be declared a sexually violent predator. The law allows for the designation to protect society from a small but dangerous number of sexually violent people.

"Their verdict helps ensure that Sacramento is protected from this individual engaging in future violent sexual offenses," said Deputy District Attorney David Brown.

Sacramento police officers have arrested one of their veteran colleagues on suspicion of various sexual assaults allegedly committed while off duty, according to a Police Department news release.

Gary Baker, 49, has been a police officer for 22 years, according to the department. He was placed on paid administrative leave during the course of the investigation until today, when he was fired by Police Chief Rick Braziel.

Baker is accused of assaulting a 76-year-old woman on three occasions, the first two years ago, and then twice in recent months, according to the police department. Officers arrested Baker today on suspicion of rape, two counts of forcible oral copulation, attempted oral copulation with intent to commit rape and sexual battery.

A man has been extradited from Mexico to Sacramento to face allegations that he sexually molested two girls in 2006.

In 2006, Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies began investigating allegations that Michael Joseph Chavez, 33, sexually molested two girls under the age of 14 years old. Chavez disappeared and could not be found for several years, according to the sheriff's department.

Working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, deputies learned that Chavez was outside the United States. In March 2011, detectives in the Sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau got a tip that Chavez was living just outside Mexico City.

Police arrested two men in separate incidents who were allegedly naked in public places over the weekend - on a downtown Sacramento street and along Interstate 80 in Rocklin.

In the first incident, Sacramento police officers arrested David Brook, 44, (pictured at left) about 4 p.m. Saturday. Police said he was spotted near 8th and H streets with no clothes on.

According to a police activity log, he fled on foot. After he was caught, Brook struggled with officers but eventually was taken into custody, police said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has released composite sketches of a suspect who is being sought in connection with two sexual assaults in the Arden Arcade area in recent weeks.

On Nov. 23, a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a white bandana that covered his face attacked and sexually assaulted a woman after entering an unlocked apartment in the 3100 block of Trussel Way.

Two weeks later, another woman was sexually assaulted by a male suspect wearing a black knit cap after he forced her into her apartment in the 2200 block of Howe Avenue. Sheriff's investigators say they believe the same man is responsible for both assaults.

People who may have information to help authorities identify the suspect are asked to call the sheriff's department sex assault bureau at (916) 874-5070. Information may also be given anonymously by calling 916-874-TIPS (8477) or texting to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering the keyword SSD or through the sheriff's department website, www.sacsheriff.com.

Sketches provided by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department

Four Sacramento-area men were recently charged in federal indictments with receiving or sharing child pornography.

James Capalbo, 61, of Davis was charged with receipt of child pornography. The Nov. 29 indictment alleges that between March 28 and April 26, 2011, Capalbo knowingly received visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

The case resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

Placer County sheriff's detectives relied on DNA evidence to arrest an ex-employee of a care home suspected of impregnating a severely mentally disabled woman.

Sheriff's officials said that they arrested Marquise X. Montgomery, 22, in Elverta on Wednesday night, booking him into the Placer County Jail on suspicion of rape of a person unable to give consent.

Montgomery is suspected of sexually assaulting a woman in a Penryn care home where he was once employed. The 34-year-old woman was discovered a year ago to be about six months pregnant.

Sacramento County sheriff's detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying a man suspected of sexually assaulting a young woman in Antelope last month.

The woman, 19, was walking around Olive Grove Elementary School when she was approached by the suspect, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department. They had a brief conversation, then went their separate ways, the release states.

A few minutes later, the suspect grabbed the woman and sexually assaulted her, then fled the area on foot, the release states.

Roseville police have arrested a local photographer and youth volleyball coach on suspicion of secretly videotaping an underage girl in the bathroom while she was getting ready for a photo shoot.

Ronald Roy Buchanan Jr. (pictured), 30, was arrested Thursday following an investigation that began in late November, after a teenage girl and her parent reported concerns about inappropriate comments and secret videotaping during a photography session, according to a Police Department news release. The photographer was also the girl's former club volleyball coach.

Buchanan was arrested on suspicion of possessing obscene matter involving a person under the age of 18. He is being held in Placer County Jail on $250,000 bail.

A man was convicted in Sacramento Superior Court of a long list of sex charges, including lewd acts on a minor.

Dion Dametrice Tolliver, 36, was convicted Tuesday, by a jury of rape, sodomy, performing a sex act on an unconscious victim, sex assault and committing a lewd act on a child under the age of 14 and performing a sex act on a child under the age of 10.

Tolliver assaulted five victims from 1998 to 2009, according to a press release from the Sacramento County Office of the District Attorney. At the time of the offenses, the young people he assaulted ranged from 7 to 16 years old.

El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a man who they allege was caught in the act of molesting a child by the youngster's mother.

Deputies were called at about 5 p.m. Monday to an apartment near Green Valley and Cambridge roads in Cameron Park by a mother who reported she had caught an acquaintance in the act of molesting her child. Deputies declined to identify the gender or age of the child.

Deputies spoke with the mother and their investigation revealed that the acquaintance was 52-year-old Jeffrey Michael Ellsworth. Ellsworth is a registered sex offender, according to a sheriff's press release.

Ellsworth, a transient living in the Cameron Park area, had fled the apartment complex before deputies arrived. He was later tracked to Oak Hill Road in the Pleasant Valley area where he was arrested on suspicion of child molestation.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jeffrey Michael Ellsworth

Truckee police have arrested a registered sex offender after he was reportedly found living within 2,000 feet of a day care facility.

The Police Department's investigation division regularly monitors and contacts local registered sex offenders to encourage compliance and lawful behavior, according to a department news release. In California, convicted sex offenders are required to register with the local law enforcement agency when they change their address or residence. The requirement also applies to transient or homeless registrants.

In October, registered sex officer Gustavo Ramirez, 20, moved to Truckee and registered with Truckee police, acknowledging the restrictions, which included a prohibition from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care facility. On Nov. 21, police found that Ramirez had deceived officers regarding the location of his true residence, officials said. The location allegedly violated the restrictions regarding its proximity to a day-care center.

Ramirez was arrested on suspicion of failing to register and violating probation. He was booked into the Nevada County Sheriff's Department's Truckee substation jail.

A week and a half after California voters passed Proposition 35, beefing up penalties for people convicted of human trafficking, Attorney General Kamala Harris has released a report looking at the prevalence of the problem and what can be done to address it.

The report, titled "The State of Human Trafficking in California 2012," is based on information gathered by a "work group" Harris assembled in January to update a 2007 report on the problem.

The group found that between mid-2010 and mid-2012, nine regional task forces in California initiated more than 2,500 investigations into human trafficking, identified more than 1,200 victims and arrested nearly 1,800 suspects.

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com

Elk Grove police are calling on the public to help find a man suspected in a sexual assault on Sunday, Nov. 11.

Police describe the man as white or Latino, 5 feet, 9 inches, 165 pounds, with short messy hair, a "5 o'clock shadow," and clad in a black sweatshirt.

Anyone with information is asked to call Elk Grove Police Department's detective bureau at (916) 478-8060 or Crime Alert at (916) 443-4357. Crime Alert callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.

Tips can also be sent via SMS text message by entering CRIMES (274637) on a cell phone, followed by Tip732 (agency identification number) and the message.

Elk Grove police are investigating an attempted sexual assault that occurred late Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of the softball complex at Elk Grove Regional Park.

Police said the incident occurred about 6:05 p.m. A 37-year-old woman was leaning into the back of her parked vehicle when a man she did not know attacked her from behind and tried to sexually assault her. The woman was able to fend him off by pushing and punching him several times in the body and face, according to a Police Department news release.

The man fled and was last seen running north through the park.

Woodland police are trying to locate a man who reportedly entered a home and raped a woman at knifepoint early Wednesday.

Officers were dispatched to the 100 block of Oak Avenue about 3 a.m. regarding a report of a rape in progress. When they arrived, they found the victim at a neighbor's house. She told them she thought the suspect was still in her home, according to a Police Department news release.

Officers went to the house but did not find the suspect inside. A search of the surrounding area also proved fruitless.

A man suspected of being the Roaming Rapist, an assailant who assaulted a dozen women throughout Sacramento County from 1998 to 2003, has been arrested, law enforcement officials announced today.

Dereck Jermaine Sanders, 39, was booked into Sacramento County Jail early this morning. He is charged with 35 counts of forcible sexual assault involving 10 victims ages 14-42, in nine separate incidents.

He was implicated through a "familial DNA" match, which traces family characteristics, to a brother, who is a convicted felon, and recently had been arrested on three unrelated sexual assaults.

Sanders was connected by a direct DNA match through trash he threw out at his Isleton home on Wednesday.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is going on with the trial of the man arrested last June for alleged child sex abuse over a period of 10 years, Michael Nodine? I heard of his arrest and a trial date set in August, but it's well past August and I have yet to hear anything?
Submitted by: Testify, Sacramento

ANSWER: Michael Scott Nodine, 45, remains in Placer County Jail awaiting trial, with bail set at $1 million.

A fugitive from Sacramento County sought in connection with a child molestation case has been returned to the United States from the Philippines.

Scott David Shrum (pictured), 46, is being held in Sacramento County Jail without bail, accused of unlawful sexual conduct with a child.

In January 2010, Sacramento County sheriff's detectives investigated a report that Shrum had maintained an inappropriate sexual relationship with a female child who lived in a home with Shrum, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. The alleged activity took place over a period of several years when the victim was between 7 and 14 years old.

A Rocklin man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Sacramento to possessing child pornography.

John Patrick Frost Jr., 28, admitted to one count of possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

On March 12, 2009, a photo-sharing website reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cybertipline that a user had posted child pornography to their page, according to court documents. Further investigation led to a Placer County residence where Frost spent time.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: There was a special education teacher who worked at Will C. Wood by the name of Mark Cline. He was taken to jail for pornography. Can you tell me what happened?
Submitted by: Tami, Sacramento

ANSWER: Mark Allen Cline, a former special education teacher at Will C. Wood Middle School in Sacramento, was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2011 for receipt and possession of child pornography.

By Richard Chang
rchang@sacbee.com

Roshann Harris, 30, and Jason Wilson, 24, are behind bars after pimping and pandering two juvenile girls, authorities said.

The pair was allegedly pimping two runaway girls from a motel in the 1400 block of 30th Street.

Sacramento police made contact with the two girls Monday night and determined they had been missing out of Wisconsin since the beginning of October, police spokesman Officer Doug Morse said.

A second alleged victim completed two days of testimony today in the Dr. Scott Dodd Anderson sexual assault trial, saying the workers comp physician molested her during two visits in May 2009.

The woman, who is now 63-years-old, said she went to see Anderson during a visit for a hip injury she suffered on the job with a large state agency. Her name and place of employment are both being withheld by The Bee because of the nature of the charges.

She said Anderson made her bend over an examination table on her first visit and that he then inappropriately touched her buttocks.

An Army lieutenant colonel was convicted Tuesday by a Sacramento County jury, after a January incident when he propositioned a 13-year-old girl walking to a Land Park school to perform a sexual act.

Lt. Col. Jason Shepard, 41, was found guilty of solicitation of a minor with the intent to commit an act of oral copulation, and of annoying and molesting a child.

Shepard was based at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and was in Sacramento on military business at the Army Depot on Fruitridge Road at the time of the offense.

Testimony concluded today in the Richard Joseph Hirschfield murder trial, with the case scheduled to go to a Sacramento Superior Court jury late next week.

Attorneys for the 63-year-old defendant accused in the Dec. 20, 1980, killlings of UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves finished their case with readings from transcripts and playing taped recordings. The transcripts and recordings contained statements from witnesses that the Hirschfield lawyers say cast suspicion on a group of four defendants who have since been exonerated.

The prosecution called a retired sheriff's detective, Bob Bell, as a rebuttal witness. He testified that his agency, based on its concern over the reliability of informant Ray Gonzales, lost interest in pursuing the so-called "Hunt Group" of defendants. Yolo County authorities picked up the theory that the Hunt Group killed Riggins and Gonsalves and charged the four suspects. But they were forced to dismiss the case when the DNA on a semen-stained blanket found in Riggins van excluded all of them and ultimately pointed toward HIrschfield.

After both sides rested their cases, Judge MIchael W. Sweet scheduled closing arguments in the case for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Hirschfield is accused of murder and sexual assault in the case. He faces the death penalty if jurors convict him and sustain special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders, and murder during the course of a kidnap, rape and forced oral copulation.

Trial began today in the case of a Sacramento workers compensation doctor accused of taking sexual improprieties with his patients, but the most serious charges of rape, forced oral copulation and attempted sodomy have been stripped out of the complaint against him.

Dr. Scott Dodd Anderson who formerly worked at U.S. HealthWorks on Folsom Boulevard still faces 22 counts in the Sacramento Superior Court trial before Judge Eugene L. Balanon. They are split between misdemeanor sexual battery counts and felony charges that Anderson engaged in sexual contact with four patients.

Deputy District Attorney Laura West did not say why the more serious charges were dismissed. Defense attorney Patrick K. Hanly said they were dismissed due to insufficient evidence.

A Sacramento man is suspected of entering a Greenhaven-area home and fondling a woman while she slept earlier this month.

Sacramento police said Johnta Lexus Waters, 20, is wanted on a warrant for attempted rape and burglary in connection with the incident.

On Oct. 12 at about 1:20 a.m., a 36-year-old woman was asleep in her home on Fountain Oaks Circle, when she was awakened by a male stranger groping her. The victim screamed, and the man ran out of the residence.

Officers were later able to identify the suspect as Waters. Police are asking for the public's help in locating him.

Waters is described as African-American, about 5-feet-10-inches tall, weighing about 145 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has ties to the south Sacramento area.

Anyone with information about Waters is asked to contact Crime Alert at 916-443-HELP (4357) or text to 274637 (CRIMES,) enter SACTIP followed by the tip information. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

PHOTO CAPTION: Johnta Lexus Waters, 20

Sacramento police are asking for the public's help in locating a 20-year-old man they suspect of breaking into a home and groping a woman.

The incident occurred about 1:20 a.m. Oct. 12, when a 36-year-old woman awoke to find a stranger groping her, said police spokeswoman Officer Michele Gigante. The woman screamed, and the man ran out of the house.

Police later identified the suspect as 20-year-old Johnta Lexus Waters (pictured at left), Gigante said. A warrant has been issued for Waters' arrest on suspicion of attempted rate and burglary, the spokeswoman said.

Waters is described as black, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds with black hair and brown eyes, according to police. He has ties to south Sacramento.

Anyone with information about Waters' whereabouts is asked to call Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP or text in a tip to 274637. Enter "SACTIP" followed by the tip information. Callers can remain anonymous and might be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

A Sacramento Superior Court jury today convicted a former National Football League defensive lineman on 19 counts stemming from three home invasion robberies in the North Natomas area in the summer of 2011 in which he also sexually assaulted a female victim.

Keith Wright, 32, will be sentenced on Nov. 16 by Judge Michael A. Savage as a result of his convictions today on four counts of forced oral copulaton, three counts of burglary, four of robbery, five of kidnap and three of false imprisonment

A University of Missouri player who earlier competed at Sacramento City College, Wright, who originally was from Santa Clara, was taken on the sixth round of the 2003 NFL draft and signed to a three-year, $925,000 deal with the Houston Texans, according to published reports. He was later signed as a free agent to the practice squads of the Indianapolis Colts, the Detroit Lions, the Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions.

Prosecutors charged him with late-night break-ins at three separate homes in the North Natomas area, robbing his victims at gunpoint of cash and other valuables. In one instance he held a revolver to the head of a woman while he forced her to orally copulate him, jurors found. Then he forced her to drive him to an ATM machine where he unsuccessfully sought to withdraw $300 cash, according to court documents.

Two of his victims were Qatari nationals who said the robber stole currency from their native country. Sacramento police checked with a currency exchange and found out that a man matching Wright's description, accompanied by a woman, had traded in Qatari riyalis for dollars. The woman gave the exchange an address. Investigators set up a surveillance on her residence and arrested Wright Aug. 29, 2011.

A convicted sex offender has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento for transportation of child pornography.

The indictment was returned Thursday against Jason Garrett Duran, 42, of Sacramento. According to court documents, Duran on Oct. 9 allegedly sent several images and one video of suspected child pornography via email to an undercover officer.

Duran had been convicted of lewd and lascivious contact with a minor under the age of 14 and was paroled June 24 after serving a sentence of 10-1/2 years, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Davis police are reminding people to take precautions after a woman was sexually assaulted while walking in the city's downtown area late Thursday.

The woman was walking in the area of Fourth and J streets about 11:50 p.m. when she was grabbed from behind by a male and sexually assaulted, according to a Police Department news release. The assailant was last seen running eastbound on Fourth Street.

So far, police said, no description of the assailant has been provided. They ask anyone who was in the area and may have seen a suspicious person to call the Davis Police Department at (530) 747-5400.

Police remind people to:

* Always be aware of their surroundings.

* Walk confidently or with a purpose.

* Try to stay in well-lighted, well-populated areas.

* Travel with another person.

Eleven men were arrested on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution during a Sacramento Sheriff's Department sting operation Wednesday.

"Operation Zero Tolerance" focused on the Watt Avenue corridor near Interstate 80, an area that has seen a proliferation of prostitution and associated criminal activity in recent years, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.Deputies from the sheriff's North Patrol Division and problem-oriented policing units participated in the operation.

Arrested on suspicion of solicitation for prostitution were David Axtell, 30, Brandon Close, 26, Jorge DeLaCuesta, 49, Vincent Gaxiaola, 19, David Heers, 37, Donald Hickey, 44, Alexander Kurchin, 27, Kenneth Melton, 28, Jose Roman, 41, Thomas Simon, 52, and Vladimir Voytitskiy, 54. All were booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail.

The death of an inmate at New Folsom prison is being investigated as a homicide.

The 51-year-old inmate was found unresponsive in his cell a little after 9 p.m. Wednesday during a prisoner count. His name has not been released.

The inmate has been in prison since Dec. 10, 2001, serving a 25-year-to-life sentence from Contra Costa County for assault with intent to commit a sex act. Cause of death was not released.

Former Sacramento teacher Preston Lewis was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in state prison for child sex crimes.

Lewis, who taught special education students at Sam Brannan Middle School, reached a plea deal last month in which he pleaded no contest to three felonies and a misdemeanor for molesting a 7-year-old boy, sending sexual text messages to 14-year-old student and possessing child pornography.

A Bee investigation last year found Lewis had been accused of inappropriate behavior as a teacher on three occasions, including twice after the state revoked his foster care license in 2007.

The state Department of Social Services barred Lewis in 2007 from being employed, visiting or contacting any facility licensed by the department after he was accused of fondling a boy and showering with another.

Lewis continued to teach in the Sacramento City Unified School district until 2010 when he was accused of communicating with one of his special education students with the intent to commit a sexual offense.

For more on this story, read http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/08/3610394/high-bar-for-firing-kept-sacramento.html

A police informant who was central to a now-discredited theory of murder in the killings of two UC Davis students 32 years ago reaffirmed today that one of four defendants charged but later released in the case admitted to him that he and another of the original suspects were responsible for the slayings.

Raymond Gonzales, a long-time operative for assorted Sacramento area law enforcement agencies, said that Richard Thompson told him that he and David Hunt committed the Dec. 20, 1980 murders of John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves.

DNA extracted from a semen-stained blanket in Riggins van, however, excluded Hunt, Thompson and two others originally-charged defendants, and Yolo County prosecutors were forced to drop charges on them. The Sacramento DA's office, meanwhile, charged Richard Joseph Hirschfield with the murders, based on the DNA evidence, and it was in his trial that Gonzales testified today as a defense witness. Hirschfield faces the death penalty if he is convicted.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

A 44-year-old accused child molester was arrested in Orland today after being on the lam since January 2011, according to authorities.

The Tehama County Sheriff's Department was investigating allegations that Pascual DeJesus had repeatedly committed lewd and sexual acts with a child under the age of 14 when he fled, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service's Eastern District of California.

The next month, a warrant was issued for his arrest, but DeJesus was believed to be in Mexico, the release states.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge slammed convicted rapist Frank Rackley Sr. with a life-long sentence this morning as his two victims and their supporters looked on.

In May, a jury convicted Rackley, a career criminal with a history that dates back to his days as a teenager, of two counts of forcible rape and two other counts of sexual assault. For those crimes, plus special allegations found to be true and because of prior strikes, Judge Greta Curtis Fall handed down a sentence of 141 years to life.

Rackley's victims, 16 and 30 at the time of the attacks, were working as prostitutes when he picked them up. The victims attended today's sentencing but did not speak. They left the courtroom and were quietly congratulated, hugged and kissed by supporters in the courthouse elevator.

Today's proceedings in the Davis "sweethearts" trial were a reminder of just how long this case has been winding its way through Sacramento's criminal justice system.

First, jurors heard from Dr. Pierce Rooney - or at least a videotaped version of him. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on John Riggins - killed with his girlfriend Sabrina Gonsalves just before Christmas in 1980 - has died since he testified in the 2007 preliminary hearing to decide whether Richard Hirschfield would stand trial for the murders.

A judge ruled that he should stand trial, and the video of that 2007 testimony was played Friday for jurors who are now tasked with deciding whether Hirschfield is responsible for the brutal slayings more than three decades ago.

A state Department of Justice criminalist testified today that Richard Joseph Hirschfield's DNA profile is a one-in-240 trillion match to a semen stain linked to the killings of two UC Davis students 32 years ago.

"This is strong evidence that Mr. Richard Hirschfield is the semen donor," criminalist Steve Myers told a Sacramento Superior Court jury that began its fifth week of work today in the murder trial for Hirschfield.

The 63-year-old defendant is accused in the Dec. 20, 1980, bludgeon and slashing deaths of John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves, both of whom were 18 when they were abducted in Davis two days before their bodies were discovered more than 30 miles away off of Folsom Boulevard, near Lake Natoma.

Sacramento County sheriff's detectives arrested a former instructional aide today after he allegedly used social media to sexually harass two male students, according to authorities.

Jeremiah Ellington, who worked at Bradshaw Christian School until allegation surfaced in June, was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of annoying or molesting a child under 18 and making annoying or threatening phone calls, both misdemeanors, according to authorities and jail booking records.

Ellington, who has no criminal history in Sacramento County, is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Sacramento police arrested a 37-year-old man Wednesday after he allegedly flashed two 10-year-old children walking along a Natomas canal.

The incident is a reminder to parents to talk to their children about the danger of strangers, said Officer Doug Morse.

Morse said the children - a boy and a girl - were walking along the canal near North Bend Drive and Natomas Boulevard when the suspect tried to strike up a conversation with the girl.

Seven more witnesses testified about the chain of custody on key evidence in the Richard Joseph HIrschfield murder trial, but the real action in court today took place outside the presence of the jury.

Hirschfield's defense team once again asked to be allowed to present evidence to the Sacramento Superior Court jury that four other people had been charged with the killings of UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves some 32 years ago.

And again, Judge Michael W. Sweet precluded Hirschfield's lawyers from making mention of the Yolo County prosecution. Before the trial began, Sweet denied much of the defense effort to present evidence of third-party culpability in the Dec. 20, 1980, slayings of the 18-year-old college sweethearts.

Alert Target store security were instrumental in the arrest of a man for allegedly attacking a woman on a Folsom bike trail and sexually shadowing female shoppers.

Timothy Christopher Ortiz, 25, of Sacramento was arrested on suspicion of assault with intent to commit a sex crime and sexual battery.

A Folsom police press release reported that the man is suspected of attacking a woman jogger on the Humbug Willowcreek Trail where the path crosses under Blue Ravine Road at Riley Street at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Two prosecution witnesses established important connections in the Richard Hirschfield murder trial today, one of them putting the defendant in Davis in a time frame relatively close to the killings of two UC Davis students. Another said Hirschfield's brother lived in a mobile home park close to where the bodies of the two victims were found.

David Jones testified he knew Hirschfield from when they went to high school together in Colusa in the 1960s. Jones said HIrschfield came to visit him when he went to college at UC Davis. One of the visits, Jones said, was at a duplex where he lived on Benecia Court in 1979. The residence was located about a block away from where Sabrina Gonsalves lived the next year, before she was killed.

Another witness, Sharon Green Schneider, said Hirschfield's brother, Joseph, rented space in a mobile home park she managed on Mills Station Road in Rancho Cordova. The park was located about eight miles from where the bodies of Gonsalves, 18, and her boyfriend, John Riggins, also 18, were discovered two days after their Dec. 20, 1980, disappearance from Davis.

Hirschfield, 63, is accused of murdering the two UC Davis freshmen and sexually attacking Gonsalves. He is facing the death penalty if he is convicted.

A former criminalist with the state Department of Justice crime lab in Sacramento testified today about finding evidence that prosecutors say tied Richard Joseph Hirschfield to the killings of UC Davis "sweethearts" Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins.

Faye Springer, who later would be the director of the Sacramento County Crime Lab, said she recommended in 1992 to Yolo County investigators who had submitted possible trace evidence to her from the Dec. 20, 1980, killings that they might as well give her everything they had of possible evidentiary value.

Springer said she made her suggestion after looking at photographs of all the items Sacramento sheriff's detectives had retrieved from a van the two 18-year-old UC Davis students had been driving two nights before their bodies were found near Lake Natoma.

Richard Joseph Hirschfield's defense team was able to elicit testimony in his murder trial today that suggested another criminal on a crime spree across the western United States arranged the slashing deaths of UC Davis "sweethearts" John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves.

But the witness who testified to the theory, former Sacramento sheriff's Lt. Ray Biondi, suggested he never saw much evidence to substantiate it and that a Davis police detective who vigorously pursued it had "lost his objectivity."

Defense lawyer Linda Parisi still succeeded in getting the outline of the theory of a third party's culpability in front of the jury in her cross-examination of Biondi. The theory was first put forward 25 years ago by Davis police and Yolo County prosecutors, but it was later abandoned as charges were dismissed at the outset of a trial for four people who initially had been arrested and charged in the Dec. 20, 1980, killings.

A 22-year-old woman told authorities she was sexually assaulted in her car in a Fruitridge-area parking lot last week.

The woman was sleeping while parked in the 4600 block of 47th Avenue, near Highway 99, early in the morning of Sept. 17 when an unknown suspect entered her car through an unlocked door, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff's report.

The suspect displayed a gun, and forced the woman into oral copulation and intercourse, the report states.

Testimony resumed today in Sacramento Superior Court in the Richard Joseph Hirschfield death-penalty murder trial following a delay of nearly two weeks due to the knee injury suffered by one of the defendant's attorneys.

The morning's testimony consisted of a supervising property officer's recounting of the paper trail that accompanied evidence that was warehoused by the Sacramento Sheriff's Department after the Dec. 20, 1980, slashing deaths of 18-year-old UC Davis "sweethearts" John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves.

Defense attorney Linda Parisi, who slipped and fell in the courthouse on Sept. 11 and then underwent surgery the next day, sat in a wheelchair as she cross-examined the retired property officer, Mycal Brummer.

Parisi told Judge Michael W. Sweet she can only work an abbreviated schedule as a result of her surgery. Sweet said the trial sessions will now be held on the regular court days of Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The new hours cut the court day from the regularly-scheduled six hours of testimony.

A Sacramento man has been convicted of sexual conduct with a minor who he pursued via social media.

A Yolo County jury today convicted Ronald Vikash Chand, 32, of five counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Chand became involved with the victim when she was 15 years old, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

Authorities said he lied to her about his age and, knowing that she was 15 years old, he pursued her on Facebook and by text messages. On multiple occasions, he picked her up at her high school and engaged in sexual acts with her in his car and at a West Sacramento motel.

Chand is to be sentenced Oct. 22 by Yolo Superior Court Judge Timothy Fall.

A 44-year-old man has men sentenced to six years and four months in prison for engaging in sexual conduct with a minor in a restroom at the Carmichael Library.

Mark L'Ilith was convicted by a Sacramento County jury in August of six counts of child molestation. He was sentenced today by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Helena Gweon.

L'Ilith frequently visited the Carmichael Library at 5605 Marconi Ave. On two different dates in October 2011, he engaged in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old boy in a library restroom stall during business hours, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. The victim did not know L'Ilith. Officials said he met L'Ilith by chance in the restroom.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies arrested L'Ilith in December. They obtained a search warrant for his email account, where they discovered numerous emails between L'Ilith and strangers in which he suggested meeting at the library to engage in sex acts in the restroom.

A 15-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol has been arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual acts with a minor while off duty.

Robert C. Holland (pictured), 46, who worked out of the CHP's Truckee office, was arrested at 2:40 p.m. Tuesday after allegations were brought to the attention of the CHP, said Capt. Tim Malone, commander of the Truckee area office. Malone said a search warrant was served at Holland's Loyalton home. He was taken into custody by CHP personnel and booked into Nevada County Jail, with bail set at $500,000.

Malone said Holland's employment with the CHP ended Wednesday, and the results of the criminal investigation are being forwarded to the Sierra County District Attorney's office.

Detectives are investigating the sexual assault of a 30-year-old woman by a stranger who woke her as she slept in her Carmichael home Sunday, according to authorities.

The woman was awakened about noon to find an unknown man standing by her bed with a knife, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department report.

The man ordered her to remove her clothes, removed his and sexually assaulted her, the report states.

The woman's Edgerton Way home was unlocked at the time, according to the Sheriff's Department.

"It sounds like the epitome of a scary-as-it-gets sex assault by a stranger," said sheriff's Sgt. Jason Ramos.

The suspect was described only as a white man between 20 and 30 years old, 5 feet tall and wearing dark clothing.

A Folsom man was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento to five years in prison for receiving child pornography.

Matthew Mark Battersby, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. Upon release from prison, he will be subject to 10 years of supervised probation, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

According to court documents, in September 2011, law enforcement officers identified a computer at Battersby's address offering files of child pornography on an Internet file-sharing service. Law enforcement agents established a direct connection with Battersby's computer and downloaded a video of child pornography. On Sept. 22, 2011, agents searched Battersby's residence and found approximately 15 image files and 179 video files of child pornography on his computer, authorities said.

The case resulted from an investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a federally and state-funded task force managed by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department with agents from federal, state and local agencies. The Sacramento task force investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement and sex trafficking.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is the current status of the Richard S. Johnson trial?
Submitted by: VXSGUY, Antelope

ANSWER: A Sacramento County jury in June convicted Richard S. Johnson of sexually assaulting a child younger than 14 and also found an allegation of kidnapping to be true.

By Kim Minugh and David Ruiz
kminugh@sacbee.com

Sacramento police this week arrested a 38-year-old teacher on suspicion of lewd acts with a minor.

Michael Digino was released from the Sacramento County Main Jail on Wednesday, according to jail booking records.

Digino taught at Merryhill School in the Pocket area until the allegations came to light, according to a letter to parents from the school's principal, Denise Ondrof.

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

A judge today postponed the Richard Joseph Hirschfield murder trial until Sept. 24 as a result of a knee injury to defense attorney Linda Parisi that required surgery.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael W. Sweet agreed to delay the trial, on the request of Parisi's two fellow defense attorneys, assistant public defenders Ken Schaller and David Lynch.

Hirschfield, 63, is accused of abducting and killing UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves, both 18, on Dec. 20, 1980. The couple was last seen leaving the Veterans Memorial Theater in Davis after assisting in the production of The Davis Children's Nutcracker. Their bodies were found 30 miles east off of Folsom Boulevard in a ravine near the Rancho Cordova-Folsom border.

The Richard Joseph Hirschfield murder trial in Sacramento Superior Court was delayed today when one of the defense attorneys injured her knee in a first-floor courthouse lobby slip-and-fall.

Linda Parisi sustained the injury before the fifth day of testimony in the trial of HIrschfield, 63, who is accused of murder and sexual assault in the slashing deaths of 18-year-old UC Davis students Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins nearly 32 years ago.

Sheriff's deputies took Parisi out of the courthouse today in a wheelchair that had been used to transport her client.

It was not clear when Parisi would be able to return.

The prosecution had scheduled 16 witnesses to testify today in front of Judge Michael W. Sweet.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: How much prison time did Santino Deanda get in prison at his June 1, 2012, sentencing for multiple counts of child porn crimes?
Submitted by: linkin34, Sacramento

ANSWER: Santino Deanda, 34, was sentenced June 1 to 25 years to life in prison, according to Sacramento Superior Court online records.

A Sacramento County jury in April convicted Deanda of multiple child porn and sexual assault charges.

Prosecutors said Deanda abused the 10-year-old victim over several months.

Deanda is in Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.

Have a Sacto 911 question? Submit it here.

An El Dorado Hills massage therapist has been arrested, accused of false imprisonment and sexual battery.

Patrick Lockard (pictured), 46, of Shingle Springs was arrested Wednesday by El Dorado County sheriff's detectives.

A woman reported that she was receiving a massage from Lockard at Massage Envy in El Dorado Hills when Lockard held her down and sexually battered her, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. Detectives began an investigation to corroborate the woman's statements and eventually arrested Lockard.

A popular Catholic priest accused of molesting a 13-year-old girl waived his preliminary hearing today and was scheduled for a Dec. 6 trial in Sacramento Superior Court.

The attorney for the Rev. Uriel Ojeda said the overwhelming odds that his client would be ordered to stand trial anyway made the decision to bypass the preliminary hearing an easy one.

"The burden of proof on a prelim is so low that an accusation by itself is going to be enough to hold him to answer," defense attorney Jesse Ortiz said. "So it didn't make any sense for us to go through this process."

A 62-year-old Sacramento man has been sentenced to 200 years to life in prison for rape and sexual assault of two women.

Edward Charles Gellock was convicted last month by a Sacramento County jury and sentenced today by Superior Court Judge David De Alba.

On April 2, 2011, Gellock lured a homeless woman into his apartment by promising her a warm and dry place to sleep. Once she was inside, he beat, choked and sexually assaulted her, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. Two weeks later, on April 23, he beat, choked and raped his female In-Home Supportive Services worker.

When Sacramento police responded to Gellock's residence at the Ping Yuen Senior Apartments at 420 I St., he kept officers at bay by holding a cigarette lighter to an oxygen tank and threatening to blow up the apartment if they came any closer. The apartment complex was evacuated, and Gellock was subsequently taken into custody.

A West Sacramento man has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for child molestation.

Dmitry Dudkin, 27, pleaded no contest on July 24 to two counts of child molestation in the case. He was sentenced today by Yolo Superior Court Judge Stephen Mock.

Dudkin molested an 8-year-old girl from 2009 to 2011, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release. The crimes were discovered when the girl went to school with a hickey on her neck, authorities said.

The girl told police that Dudkin showed her pornography and asked her to perform various sexual acts. She also told authorities that Dudkin took pictures of her with his cell phone.

Members of the Yolo County High-Tech Crimes Task Force analyzed Dudkin's computers and cell phones and found provocative photos of the victim.

The owner of a Sacramento pizza parlor has been arrested on suspicion of furnishing marijuana to and committing lewd acts with a minor at his business.

Police said they received information from a member of the community that John Julian Martinez (pictured), 42, was using his business, Royal Pizza, to entice female juveniles and subject them to sexual behavior. The business is in the 2200 block of Northgate Boulevard.

Martinez was arrested following an investigation by detectives. He is accused of eliciting sexual behavior from juveniles with the promise of providing them with marijuana, according to a Police Department news release. He allegedly displayed lewd conduct at the pizza parlor in addition to touching multiple female juveniles in a sexual manner.

A Placerville man has been arrested in the cold case killing and rape of a 17-year-old Santa Cruz County girl, according to the San Mateo County Times.

Detectives took John William Kelley, 49, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of Annette Thur in 1986. Her body was found down an embankment south of Redwood City.

DNA evidence tied Kelley to the killing, police said.

Read the complete San Mateo County Times story here.

A 60-year-old man is headed to prison after a Sacramento County jury convicted him of seven counts of child molestation.

Edward Bridgeman was sentenced today by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner to a determinate 30 years in prison and an indeterminate 225 years to life in prison, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release.

Authorities said Bridgeman molested a young boy over a three-month period in 2008. He had been previously convicted on two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a young female relative.

A federal grand jury today indicted a Sacramento man on child pornography charges.

The three-count indictment charges Eric G. Lowe, 34, with attempted production of child pornography and attempted enticement of a minor.

The indictment alleges that between April 25 and June 11, Lowe attempted to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity and attempted to "produce images of child pornography."

The case was investigated by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Sacramento states.

A man has been arrested on several sex charges after allegedly sneaking into homes to prey on children in the Carmichael area, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

Matthew Steven Jones, 18, was booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of burglary, kidnapping and three sex charges, including committing a lewd or lascivious act with a child under the age of 14.

The sheriff's department released security photos about 1:45 p.m. Sunday of a man they said had been entering homes in the middle of the night and approaching children. He would then flee from the homes.

Sacramento police have arrested a Yuba City man in connection with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman in January.

Sacramento detectives with the assistance of the Yuba City SWAT team arrested 32-year-old Sarbjit Singh Sandhu (pictured) on Thursday at his home in Yuba City. He is accused of forcible rape and kidnapping with intent to commit sexual assault.

About 8:30 p.m. Jan. 24, a woman in her 20s was kidnapped at gunpoint after she arrived home from work in the north Sacramento area, according to a Police Department news release. She was blindfolded and her hands were bound. She was then driven to an unknown location about 40 minutes from Sacramento where she was sexually assaulted by two individuals, police said.

A 14-year-old boy was arrested this afternoon by Placer County sheriff's detectives on suspicion of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a minor an Auburn-area day care center.

The center, Colored Pencils Preschool and Child Care,at 1335 Luther Road, was shut down today by the state Department of Social Services, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The boy, whose name has not been released because of his age, was taken into custody at the day care center. Officials said he is related to the preschool owner.

Two Sacramento men have pleaded guilty in separate cases to possessing child pornography.

Michael Hill, 61, and Oliver P. Kim, 37, entered the pleas Monday in federal court in Sacramento, a federal Department of Justice news release states.

In October 2010, special agents with the California Department of Justice identified a computer at Hill's address offering files of child pornography through an Internet file-sharing network. Agents subsequently obtained a search warrant for Hill's residence and found 100,000 images and videos of child pornography on his computer, authorities said. The files showed molestation and abuse of children, including infants.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What happened to the Valley High teacher who was charged with having sex with a minor?
Submitted by: Monb, Elk Grove

ANSWER: Sean Darnell Davis, 42, a campus supervisor at Valley High School in the Elk Grove Unified School District, was arrested in May on suspicion of engaging in sex with a minor.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is the status of the Richard Johnson sentencing that was scheduled for July 26 for rape of a child under 14?
Submitted by: Vince, Sacramento

ANSWER: The probation hearing and sentencing for Richard S. Johnson that was scheduled for July 26 has been continued to Aug. 31, according to Sacramento Superior Court online records.

A West Sacramento man has pleaded no contest to two counts of child molestation.

Dmitry Dudkin, 27, molested an elementary-school-age girl from 2009 to 2011. The crimes were discovered when the youngster went to school with hickey on her neck, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.

The victim told police that Dudkin showed her pornography and asked her to perform various sexual acts on him. She also told authorities that Dudkin took pictures of her with his cell phone. The Yolo County High-Tech Crimes Task Force analyzed Dudkin's computers and cell phones and found provocative photos of the victim, officials said.

Dudkin is to be sentenced Aug. 24 by Yolo Superior Court Judge Stephen Mock.

A Sacramento County jury has convicted a 63-year-old man for raping and sexually assaulting two women.

On April 2, 2011, Edward Charles Gellock lured a homeless woman into his apartment promising her a warm, dry place to sleep. Once she was inside his apartment, Gellock beat, choked and sexually assaulted her, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. Two weeks later, on April 23, he beat, choked and raped his In-Home Supportive Services worker, officials said.

Gellock was convicted Tuesday and is to be sentenced Aug. 24 by Sacramento Superior Court Judge David De Alba.

Officials today touted the success of the Amber Alert program, which this month marks its tenth year of operation statewide.

The program began in Texas in 1996 after the abduction and killing of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman. The program was enacted regionally in California in 1999 and on July 31, 2002 was adopted statewide.

"The State of California needed a system to assist in recovering our children safe and sound," said former state Sen. George Runner, who wrote the original bill to create the state's system.

A Roseville man arrested in June on suspicion of sexually abusing a child has since been accused of additional offenses related to the sexual abuse of minors.

Roseville police detectives arrested 45-year-old Michael Scott Nodine (pictured) on June 26 on suspicion of sexually abusing a child over a period of more than 10 years. Since his arrest, he has been charged with two additional offenses involving the sexual abuse of children, according to a Police Department news release. He is being held in Placer County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Detectives are continuing to investigate Nodine's activities and contacts with children, and believe he may have molested other youngsters. Potential victims may include boys or girls ranging in age from 5 to the mid-teens, officials said.

A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to 31 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges related to six armed robberies and a sexual assault.

Between May 16 and June 1, 2011, Kenju Osborne committed six armed robberies at businesses throughout Sacramento County, according to a District Attorney's Office news release. In each robbery, he pointed a handgun at the employees and demanded their money and personal property. During one robbery at the Pavilions shopping center, Osborne sexually assaulted a female employee.

Detectives from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department worked with police in Sparks, Nev., to apprehend Osborne after he attempted a robbery in Sparks, officials said. DNA analysis by the District Attorney's Crime Lab identified Osborne as the suspect in the Pavilions sexual assault and robbery.

Osborne was sentenced by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Goodman.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: When and where was Tom Daniels, the Rio Linda Baptist Church preacher, sentenced to do his time?
Submitted by: Cathi, Antelope

ANSWER: Tommy Gene Daniels was sentenced March 2 to 158 years to life in prison and is incarcerated at California State Prison, Corcoran.

A West Sacramento man has been sentenced to 335 years to life in prison after a Yolo County jury found him guilty of 47 counts of child molestation and five counts of possessing matter depicting sexual acts by a minor.

Michael Martinez was sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Janet Gaard.

On May 1, a jury found Martinez guilty of molesting a 7-year-old girl. Evidence showed that Martinez engaged in sexual acts with the child and used his cell phone to record the abuse, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release. The evidence at trial also showed that the cell phone containing the videos belonged to Martinez and was found in his pocket during a search.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: Sometime between 2009 and the present there was a young man named Marcos that was arrested for pimping young girls in the Sacramento area. He was in jail last time I knew. Is he still there and for how long?
Submitted by: Lisa, Sacramento

ANSWER: You may be referring to Marquist Piere Bradford, 26, who faces federal charges of child sex trafficking.

The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office today announced the conviction or sentencing of three men in separate cases involving sexual abuse of children.

Larry Paul Gregory, 68, who was convicted by a jury last month of eight counts of child sexual abuse, has been sentenced to 600 years to life in prison. Gregory's previous felony convictions involving child sexual abuse made him subject to sentencing enhancements, officials said. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly.

Gregory was considered a good friend of the 5-year-old victim and her family. In the months leading up to the assaults in 2009, Gregory inappropriately exposed himself to the victim on several occasions while playing soccer and swimming with her in the backyard. He also sexually assaulted the youngster in her bedroom and living room, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento has indicted four men -- from Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, Folsom and Oroville -- charging them with attempting to entice a minor to engage in prohibited sexual conduct.

The men were identified while they were online seeking to have sex with minors, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. In each case, the men allegedly traveled to meet a fictional minor and were met instead by law enforcement officers.

Brandon Marks, 25, of Rancho Cordova was indicted June 21 and charged with attempted enticement of a minor, as well as two counts of receipt and two counts of distribution of child pornography. Nicholas Perry, 34, of Sacramento and Eric Johnston, 21, of Folsom were indicted today and charged with a single count of attempted enticement of a minor.