Three reasons to post bail in San Bernardino for your loved one now

1. The San Bernardino jail system can be a dangerous place. For people who are not use to this kind of environment and lack street experience and or connections an extended stay can at times prove to be rather hazardous.

2. It always makes a better impression on a judge and possibly jury should it go that far if a defendant is well dressed and relaxed in the appropriate attire rather than an orange jump suit and held in shackles while in court.

3. Being out on bail gives a defendant a better chance to fight his or her case. It puts less stress to “make a deal” and allows the defendant ample time to find suitable legal representation.

San Bernardino man arrested in triple shooting with no bail hold

19-year-old charged in death of San Bernardino toddler

SAN BERNARDINO — The man arrested in the shooting death of 3-year-old Nylah Franco-Torrez could face 305 years to life in prison based on charges filed by prosecutors Thursday.

Brandon Taray Barnes, 19, of San Bernardino was arrested by San Bernardino police Wednesday night after gang officers spotted him riding a bicycle near where the shooting occurred.

“He will never come out to harm another citizen of this community,” San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said at a news conference at the San Bernardino Police Department.

Barnes, a suspected gang member, could be arraigned on one count of murder and seven counts of attempted murder as early as today.

Police said they identified Barnes as the suspect within 24 hours of Monday’s shooting. Officers saw him at the corner of Base Line and Mayfield Avenue at 5:09 p.m. Wednesday.

They caught him in the 1100 block of North D Street after a foot chase.

Barnes was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and held without bail.

Nylah, 21-year-old La-Donna Howie and Howie’s 4-year-old daughter, Justine, were in front of their home in the 1300 block of North D Street at 7:40 p.m. Monday when a gunman opened fire. Police said more than a dozen rounds were fired.

Bullets struck the children in the head, and Howie in the neck and jaw. Howie and her daughter survived the attack, but the child was in extremely critical condition.

Patricia Prendergast, Nylah’s aunt, said Justine was placed into a medically induced coma Wednesday because doctors anticipated her head would start swelling from the wound. She showed promising signs before then.

“I know at one point she opened her eyes and moved around a little bit,” Prendergast said.

Relatives said Howie could be released from the hospital as early as today. They also said Howie didn’t realize the severity of her daughter’s wound until Wednesday night and that she didn’t know Nylah had died.

“She doesn’t remember what happened,” Prendergast said.

Police said the gunman opened fire on the house because he was retaliating against a man who stopped him from hitting a woman in the neighborhood earlier that day. Police have identified and interviewed the woman from that earlier attack.

Residents on D Street suspected the man police were chasing Wednesday night might be the suspected gunman, but didn’t receive confirmation until the following day.

“He had the nerve to be walking around this neighborhood,” said Nylah’s great-grandmother, Sophia Cardona.

Yvonne Torrez, the life partner of Nylah’s mother, Jessica Franco, said she was walking to the store when about 10 people gathered to check out the police activity.

“They were calling, `Baby killer.’ There was a lot of screaming and yelling,” she said.

Police Chief Keith Kilmer said detectives had been working continuously since the killing.

“We have not stopped. We have not faltered,” he said.

But police say their work isn’t done.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done to make sure this case is thoroughly investigated and thoroughly prosecuted,” Lt. Gwen Waters said.

Jessica Franco said the growing collection in her front yard of balloons, stuffed animals, candles and donations – some from complete strangers – has helped her get through the days since the shooting.

She had mixed feelings about Barnes’ arrest.

“Whether or not he gets put in prison for the rest of his life, it’s not going to bring my baby back,” the 25-year-old said. “I really want him to pay for what he did.”

The family is holding a car wash fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Anna’s Market, 1198 N. D St., San Bernardino.

A benefit concert will be at 1 p.m. Sept. 25 at Ray’s Downtown Deli, 168 S. E St., San Bernardino.

Donations can also be made to the Nylah Franco-Torrez Fund at First Valley Credit Union, 401 W. Second St., San Bernardino.

By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, The (San Bernardino County) Sun

Grandmother in Victorville jail after child left in hot car

VICTORVILLE — A grandmother and her friend are facing felony child-cruelty charges after allegedly leaving an 11-month-old boy strapped in a car seat inside a vehicle in 90-plus degree heat while the two attended a wedding reception, sheriff’s officials said.

Maria Davila, 55, of Victorville, and her friend Margarita Simbana, 51, of Los Angeles, were arrested at 2:38 p.m. Saturday at the Social House, 12152 Cottonwood Ave.

Davila, who is the boy’s grandmother, and Simbana were entrusted with the care of the child, whose parents were also attending Saturday afternoon’s reception, said Karen Hunt, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s Victorville station.

It was unclear if the child’s parents knew that Davila and Simbana were also at the reception, without the boy.

A guest noticed the boy had been left in the car and called 9-1-1. The temperature outside was roughly 97 degrees, Hunt said.

A surveillance video showed Davila and Simbana leaving the child in the car as they went inside the reception hall. The video also showed the child was left in the car for more than an hour, according to the news release.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived to find the boy, who was breathing but unresponsive, had been removed from the car and taken into the reception hall. Paramedics removed his clothing and lowered his body temperature to 102.7 by applying cold water to his skin, according to the release.

The boy was taken to Desert Valley Hospital, where he was monitored, hydrated and later released to his parents.

Davila and Simbana were arrested on suspicion of cruelty to a child and booked in the Victor Valley Jail. Davila posted bail early Saturday and was released from custody, according to sheriff’s online booking records.

There was no record of Simbana on the booking logs.

Sheriff’s investigators are expected to turn the case over to the District Attorney’s Office today for review and consideration of criminal charges, Hunt said.

Facebook post leads to increase in suspect’s bail

Gastineau says it wasn’t a threat

Former sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Gastineau, who is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old police Explorer, found himself back in jail Tuesday after prosecutors accused him of posting a threatening message on Facebook.

Judge John Martin questioned Gastineau, 31, of Redlands, about the message, which spoke of revenge and payback, before raising his bail to $350,000 at a hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Gastineau, who had been free on a $150,000 bail bond, was handcuffed by a bailiff and escorted from the courtroom. As of 5 p.m., he was still in custody, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The message had been posted to a Facebook group page called “Gastineau Support.” Martin read the message aloud in court, and photocopies were later given to the news media.

“This is your Admiral,” Gastineau’s message begins. “I know there’ve been a lot of rumors going around about the destruction that’s been visited on my life. I would like to tell you that they’re exaggerations, but in fact it cannot even come close to convey the horror that’s been unleashed.”

Gastineau’s message suggests that running and hiding are the easy choices, but it then quotes an unnamed “philosopher” as saying that when faced with untenable alternatives, face your imperative.

“War is our imperative,” the message said. “And if right now victory seems like an impossibility, then we have something else to reach for: revenge, payback. So we will fight. Because in the end, it’s the only alternative my enemy has left us.”

The judge pushed Gastineau for answers.

“What on Earth is the matter with you?” Martin asked.

Gastineau responded that he had referenced a television show in the posting and thanked supporters.

But Martin wasn’t convinced.

“You never know who reads something like this,” he said.

Deputy District Attorney Bobbie Mann argued that Gastineau’s words should not be taken lightly.

“The words indicate his personal feelings. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have posted them,” Mann told the judge.

After the court proceedings, Gastineau’s lawyer, Andrew Haynal, downplayed any potential for danger, saying the message was paraphrased from the television show “Battlestar Galactica.”

“I strongly believe that my client would not be a threat to anyone in the community,” Haynal said.

Gastineau returns to court Aug. 25, when it will be determined whether the lawyers are ready to proceed with a preliminary hearing four days later.

Gastineau, who had been based at the sheriff’s Highland station, was arrested April 22. He pleaded not guilty June 21 to three counts of lewd acts on a minor and three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

The case has cast a spotlight on the Explorer Program operated by the Sheriff’s Department.

Victorville-based Deputy Anthony Benjamin, 30, pleaded no contest last month to charges of sex acts with a minor in a case involving a 17-year-old Explorer while on ride-alongs in a patrol car.

A Rialto man who is not a deputy was accused of having sex with the same girl as Gastineau. Jason Anguiano, 27, pleaded guilty last month to felony unlawful sexual intercourse as part of a plea bargain.

A group of about a dozen Gastineau supporters, some wearing pins that read, “Innocent until proven guilty,” rallied Tuesday in front of the Central Courthouse. Others held posters saying Gastineau was a 2008 Officer of the Year.

Bonnie Lucas, a spokeswoman for Gastineau supporters, said the former deputy’s friends are 100 percent behind him. About the Facebook posting, Lucas said: “I can guarantee it was not a threat of revenge or anything.”

“I’m very happy about what the court did today,” said Los Angeles-based attorney Gloria Allred, who represents the alleged victim. “I think it was the right decision. We don’t ever want an alleged victim to be in fear.”

Mike Cruz, Staff Writer

Bail is set ‘extremely high’

The four men indicted on corruption charges Tuesday were still in custody Wednesday evening, awaiting arraignment and a bail hearing today in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Experts and attorneys say the bail is remarkably high and that the men might have trouble making bail.

Bail for developer Jeff Burum has been set at $10 million, while bail for county staffer Mark Kirk, former Supervisor Paul Biane and former county Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin is set at $2 million each.

“A $10 million bail is extremely high,” said Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, who is also president of Pomona-based Apex Bail Bonds. “I’ve only seen a handful over $1 million.”

But prosecutors say they did not exceed the recommended bail for the charges against the defendants. One of the charges, misappropriation of public funds, allows bail to be set up to the amount that was allegedly stolen, according to the San Bernardino County bail schedule.

That means the bail in this case could have been as high as $102 million – the amount the county paid to Burum’s development partnership in a deal prosecutors say was rigged.

“We made the request, and the court granted it,” said Deputy District Attorney John Goritz.

He declined to discuss the factors that prosecutors weighed to reach the specific figure.

Bail creates challenges

Attorneys for the four defendants will likely ask a judge to lower their bail at today’s hearing. Paul Grech, Kirk’s attorney, said he expects a judge will reduce Kirk’s bail.

“The setting of an extraordinarily high bail is a matter that has to be addressed in court at the earliest possible moment to prevent a miscarriage of justice,” he said. “I expect when we go to a bail hearing, a judge will reduce the bail.”

Without reduced bail, Hagman said it will be difficult for the four men – especially Burum – to find a company that will post bail.

To post bail, a bail-bond company essentially takes out an insurance policy – called a surety bond – that will pay the court if a defendant fails to show up for court. Hagman said there’s only one surety company in California that could cover a $10 million bond and that most bail-bond companies likely can’t handle such a large amount.

“If someone misses court, it’s the surety company that writes the check,” he said. “Then the bondsman has the same liability to the surety company. … Most bail agents cannot have a $10 million liability out with the surety company, because they don’t have the assets to back it up.”

Hagman said it’s not an impossible feat but that it’s also “not simple.”

“It’s not going to be a 12-hour process,” he said.

Never a punishment

Judges have discretion to determine what bail will be, according to those who work in the legal system.

Douglas Elwell, the presiding Superior Court judge in San Bernardino County, explained generally that the county’s standard felony bail schedule is prepared every year. But that is not binding on any judge.

“It is just there as a guideline,” Elwell said.

The presiding judge cannot speak about any specific court cases, but he can talk generally about how bail works in San Bernardino County.

The concept of bail goes back to English common law, Elwell said.

Bail generally serves two purposes: to ensure the appearance of the defendant in court and to protect the safety of the public, he said.

“It is never used as a punishment,” Elwell said.

When an arrest warrant is sought, a judge is asked to set bail at the outset. The judge starts out with a common guideline and then can modify the bail for good cause based on additional factors given to him or her by law enforcement.

Once the person is arrested and booked into jail, that person can seek out one of a variety of local bail bondsmen to post bond for release and a promise to appear in court. Generally, a bondsman may charge 8 percent to 10 percent of the bail to post the bond, but in lean economic times, a bondsman may accept 6 percent to 7 percent, Elwell said.

There also are provisions of California law where property can be put up to secure release. But there are many detailed provisions required for that, such as obtaining an independent appraisal, and the amount must be at least twice the value of the bail.

Elwell has only seen a property title secure a person’s release twice, he said.

Growing San Bernardino jails secure jobs

ADELANTO – With expansion under way at two jails and a third one set to reopen soon, this High Desert city appears to be experiencing a housing boom of a different sort.

That “housing” is part of the city’s plan to bring employment opportunities, give a financial boost to the local economy and take advantage of Adelanto’s abundant open land.

“That’s our biggest interest, being able to help create some jobs in the area,” City Manager James Hart said.

Adelanto encompasses a 56-square-mile chunk located west of the 15 Freeway, a major transportation artery between Southern California and the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Census estimates show the city has grown tremendously over the last decade, from about 18,000 people to about 31,700 people, as people sought more affordable housing and an escape from the hustle of city life.

The industrial section of the city, where the jails are located, is filled with older prefabricated buildings and some concrete structures. Many of them house small businesses, and a fair share are empty and for lease.

The project at the sheriff’s detention center brought about 500 construction jobs at its peak to the area, many requiring specialized skills such as iron workers, plumbers, electricians and cement workers.

Subcontractors even leased empty buildings near the job site, said sheriff’s Capt. Jon Marhoefer. When the project is completed, the Sheriff’s Department will need about another 250 people – such as safety, medical, maintenance and culinary personnel – to operate the facility, jail officials said.

“When the whole thing is said and done, it will be a giant benefit to the citizens of this county,” Marhoefer said.

The Sheriff’s Department also expects to realize cost savings. Currently, the Adelanto jail is an overflow facility for minimum- and medium-security inmates from the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and Central Detention Center in San Bernardino.

But when the expansion is completed, the Adelanto facility will be able to house high-security inmates and act as a hub serving the courthouses of Victorville and Barstow, reducing transportation costs and security risks from numerous bus trips daily through the Cajon Pass.

The cost of the jail’s expansion is partly covered by a $100 million grant as a result of Assembly Bill 900. San Bernardino County placed first on the list for the funds.

“It tells us the state agrees we have a need, and we have the ability to carry out the project,” Marhoefer said. The expansion is anticipated to be completed by August 2013.

At one expansion in an industrial area on Commerce Way, construction crews have been working on a $120 million, 1,368-bed expansion project at the sheriff’s Adelanto Detention Center.

A couple of blocks away, heavy equipment rumbled across a wide swath of land for an expansion project at jails operated by Florida-based company GEO Group.

The company invested $22 million to retrofit and renovate a jail that it bought from the city last year and will temporarily house illegal immigrants. Another $70 million investment project will raise the total beds from 650 to 1,300.

When GEO Group’s holding facility for illegal immigrants is completed, about 100 people will be needed to operate it. But most of those jobs will be offered to the 100 or so city employees who had worked there when Adelanto still operated the jail, Hart said.

GEO Group’s expansion project will need about 50 to 60 employees when completed, Hart said.

However, the sheriff’s jail and GEO Group’s operations don’t necessarily bring the city a lot of direct revenue. The city will get $50,000 a year from GEO Group to offset the costs of maintaining the contract. But the additional jobs – even the construction jobs – also benefit Adelanto in other ways.

“What it does is it stimulates the (local) economy,” Hart said. “The jobs pay well, and people will use their money to buy houses, vehicles, furniture, clothing and an assortment of other manufactured goods. They also need to eat, and local businesses feel the boost.”

The closest place to eat near the jails in the industrial area of Adelanto is Del Muro’s, a family-owned restaurant with homestyle Mexican cooking and American fare from Heriberto Del Muro and Reyna Del Muro.

The next closest place is a burger restaurant on the other side of Highway 395, so Del Muro’s has a market. The specials on Thursday at Del Muro’s included a N.Y. steak and eggs, country fried steak and a turkey sandwich.

Clientele comes from the nearby businesses, the construction crews and people visiting inmates at the jails. Some of those construction personnel come from as far away as Texas, said manager Susie Del Muro.

“I think that’s where we get most of our business, it’s not local,” Del Muro said. Jail guards and office staff stop in occasionally at the restaurant, but Saturdays are a popular day for visitors to the jail and Menudo, she said.

Del Muro can usually spot the jail visitors because they ask for dollar bills which can be taken into the jail.

The city also has dreams of building a 6,100-bed state prison near the same area, west of Highway 395, to help ease overcrowding and lessen the flow of Calfiornia’s inmates to be housed in other states.

Officials had been in discussions with the state for a couple of years to build a new prison on a 226-acre site near Highway 395, Hart said. But those talks stalled when Jerry Brown was elected governor in November.

Brown’s office has told Hart that priorities are now focused on getting a state budget.

Hart, however, remains optimistic.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that a reduction of 33,000 state prisoners was needed to correct serious lapses in medical care.

The hope behind Adelanto’s new prison proposal was that if California was going to send thousands of inmates of state to alleviate overcrowding, why not house them in Adelanto.

“That’s California revenue that’s leaving to another state, and there’s no return on that,” Hart said. The city wanted to work out a deal to build and operate the prison, which would need about 2,500 to 3,000 employees, he said.

“We would then be able to generate jobs, and then those jobs would be paying California taxes,” Hart said. “So there would be a return on the investment and help take care of overcrowding.”

Ex San Bernardino Officer Found Guilty of Murder

RIVERSIDE — A jury found a former narcotics detective for the San Bernardino Police Department guilty of first-degree murder Tuesday in the 2007 drowning death of his wife.

A jury took two days to find Blair Christopher “Chris” Hall, 52, guilty. He now faces 25 years to life in prison after the conviction. He is set to be sentenced July 22, said prosecutor Burke Strunksy.

“My argument to the jury was that this guy was a murderer masquerading as a bereaved husband,” he said.

The former detective was charged with the death of Cristi Lynne Hall, 46, who was found in a backyard hot tub on June 7, 2007 at the couple’s Calimesa home. Hall has denied having anything to do with his wife’s death and was out of custody on a $ 1million bail bond at the time of his conviction Tuesday.

A neighbor testified at a court hearing in November 2007 that she heard a panicked scream, looked over a brick wall into the backyard of the couple’s home and saw Chris Hall in the hot tub and holding a woman’s head under the water.

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_18175201?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com#ixzz1OEuEvm9I

Second man arrested in Highland deputy sex case

Sheriff’s investigators have arrested a 27-year-old Rialto man suspected of having sex with the same 16-year-old girl that a Highland-based sheriff’s deputy is alleged to have had sex with.

Jason Anguiano was taken into custody at about 9 p.m. Monday after a search warrant was served at his home.

When asked if Anguiano was being accused of having sex with the same police Explorer that Deputy Nathan Gastineau was accused of having sex with, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller said yes.

“It’s the same girl,” Miller said.

Deputy Nathan Gastineau was arrested Friday on suspicion of committing lewd acts with a minor after the Sheriff’s Department received information he may have had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl from the Explorer program he ran.

Investigators said they recovered “evidence” at Anguiano’s home after they served the warrant but did not elaborate. They arrested him without incident on suspicion of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Deputies from the sheriff’s Crimes Against Children Detail investigating the allegations against Gastineau identified Anguiano as a suspect, said Miller.

“It’s part of the same investigation,” she said. “(Anguiano) was identified as a second subject.”

But Anguiano is not connected to the Sheriff’s Department in any way nor is he connected to the Highland Explorer post, Miller said.

Anguiano was booked Monday night at Central Detention Center in San Bernardino. He posted $25,000 bail bond about 6:45 a.m. today, authorities said. Gastineau is also out of custody on bail.

The District Attorney’s Office has yet to file charges against either man.

JESSE B. GILL, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/26/2011 04:39:46 PM PDT

Jury orders San Bernardino Police to pay $2 million

Mentally disabled man died in police custody

A federal jury in Los Angeles has awarded $2 million to the family of a mentally disabled man who died in 2009 while in custody of San Bernardino police.

Sheryl Nash, the mother of Terry Wayne Jackson, 22, of San Bernardino, filed a lawsuit against the city in July, claiming her son died due to excessive force by police officers who failed to tend to his medical needs. The suit also named nine police officers and Police Chief Keith Kilmer.

“He was a good boy. He was a gentle giant,” Nash said of her son on Tuesday. “I feel like he’s been waiting, and now that justice is served he can go through (to heaven).”

The eight-member U.S. District Court jury sided with Nash on Monday after deliberating for five hours, a decision that left the city’s private attorney in “utter shock.”

“I think they went with sympathy,” said San Bernardino-based attorney Joseph Arias. “I think they ignored the evidence. I think they felt sorry for Mrs. Nash.”

Jackson died in March 2009 at St. Bernardine Medical Center after police took him into custody. An autopsy determined his cause of death was excited delirium due to an enlarged heart and obesity.

Officers initially went to Seccombe Lake Park at Fifth Street and Sierra Way on a report of a man who appeared to be exposing himself.

Jackson, also known as Terry Wayne Nash, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was under the influence of methamphetamine and marijuana, authorities said.

He reportedly asked officers if they could “see the dragons.”

In the suit, his mother’s attorney, Woodland Hills- based Dale K. Galipo, wrote that Jackson was detained for no reason.

Officers “tackled (Jackson), who was obviously experiencing a psychiatric emergency,” according to the suit.

Two officers tried to grab Jackson by his arms when he reportedly began swinging at them, but the officers said they had difficulty because Jackson was 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds.

A third officer used a Taser stun gun on him three times, but Jackson did not fall to the ground.

John C. Fattahi, Galipo’s associate, said after the trial that officers were unnecessarily rough and did not take steps to protect Jackson’s life.

“Despite his gradual decline into unconsciousness and death, the officers did not remove the restraints, put him in a position where he could breathe or start CPR, all contrary to their training and policies,” Fattahi said. “The officers made the incredible claim for the first time at trial that they didn’t perform CPR because they thought (Jackson) might be on PCP and it could intoxicate them through skin contact.”

Prosecutors from the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said Jackson bit an officer and kicked, head-butted and struggled with police while being taken into custody.

The District Attorney’s Office determined the officers were justified in their actions.

Arias said officers held Jackson on the ground to wait for an ambulance because they couldn’t get him into a patrol car.

Even with his hands and ankles bound, the man reportedly continued to struggle.

Two officers used their hands and knees to pin down his arms and shoulders, and two held his legs and another applied weight to his buttocks with his hands, authorities said.

Arias said Jackson continued to squirm even as officers were trying to hold him down.

“In order for someone to die of positional asphyxiation, pressure needs to be constant and for a period of time,” he said.

Arias said he plans to file a motion within a week to have the jury’s verdict dismissed.

Fattahi, though, said the incident points to a need for reforms in the Police Department.

“It is our sincere hope that this verdict will finally induce the department to properly train its officers on how to avoid more unnecessary restraint deaths from occurring,” he said.

“The trial also exposed the department’s wholly inadequate handling of missing persons reports like the one made by Sheryl Nash the day before the incident and its lack of state-mandated training on proper methods of dealing with persons suffering from a mental illness.”

Melissa Pinion-Whitt and Ryan Hagen, Staff Writers
Posted: 04/12/2011 09:18:00 PM PDT

Victorville nightclub homicide suspect arrested

A suspect in a deadly nightclub shooting in Victorville was arrested Tuesday in Lenwood.

Joseph Ray Rice, 29, barricaded himself inside a home in the 34500 block of Camino Real when law enforcement arrived. Authorities eventually convinced him to surrender.

Rice is suspected of shooting Delvon Williams 26, of Rialto in the head at Karma Nightlife at 12100 Cottonwood Ave. in November.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies booked Rice into jail on suspicion of homicide. Dayna Green Thomas, identified as Rice’s wife, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to the crime.

By Melissa Pinion-Whitt
Posted: 03/09/2011 09:40:00 AM PST

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