The scheduled release of yet another sexually violent predator raises the question of why this keeps happening. The Orange County District Attorney held a press conference to warn the community about a pending release, only to be interrupted to announce that the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida was going to issue an arrest warrant which would prevent the release. But, if it was not for pending charges from an out of state jurisdiction, another convicted serial child molester would be released from prison today.

When 40 year old Anaheim registered sex offender David Walker Bryan, arrived at the location where he thought he was going to meet a 13 year old girl for sex, instead, he met the officers of the Huntington Beach Police Department, HBPD. Rather than acting upon pedophilic tendencies, Bryan now is in jail facing charges which could land him in state prison for up to 5 years. He pleaded not guilty.

A houseguest visiting a business acquaintance in Cypress was shot in the head Monday evening. Police said it was not an accident and not suicide. Cypress Police arrested Brent Christopher Wilcox, 35, who resided at residence.

The Seal Beach Police Department reported that last night, at around 8:20 pm, a Hispanic man held up the Starbucks at Seal Beach Blvd. and Westminster Ave. The lone suspect was brandishing a firearm, but there were no customers in the shop at the time and none of the employees were injured. The robber probably is not a Starbucks customer, because if he was, he would know they keep very little cash in the register.

Law enforcement teams will be out in force this Saturday night watching for drunk drivers and more. The CHP, Seal Beach Police Department, SBPD, the Los Alamitos Police Department, LAPD, and the Orange County Sherriff Department, OCSD, will all participate in DUI enforcement. In West Orange County alone, there will be two checkpoints on PCH.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct attribution of the quotes from the DA’s Office. When first published, the quotes were erroneously attributed to John Maxfield.

If you are a Hispanic male, your “right of the people peaceably to assemble” (First Amendment, U.S. Constitution) maybe in some jeopardy in Garden Grove. Late last week, the Honorable Kazharu Makino, signed a permanent injunction against “Hard Times”, a violent Garden Grove street gang. The injunction bans, among other things, two friends sitting on a park bench if they also happen to be active members of the gang, even if they have not been convicted of any crimes. John Anderson, Orange County Assistant District Attorney, said “Are there constitutional rights implicated? Of course, there are always constitutional rights implicated in any restraining order.”

On the surface, the ten year prison sentence in the case of Christopher Holden Fenn, 47, Mission Viejo, seems a bit harsh. After all, the only charges against the man relate to his rather unfortunate practice of sneaking up on women who happened to be alone in isolated areas, and appearing naked in front of them. He did not rape or sexually assault them. Apparently, he just liked scaring the heck out of them, and from the victim statement at the sentencing, he was pretty effective at that.

The Seal Beach Police Department, CHP, and the Orange County Sherriff, among other agencies, will conduct “DUI Saturation Patrols from tonight throughout the long weekend. These patrols are focused on DUI only. The program, called Avoid the 38, is a grant funded Multi-Agency DUI Task Force designated to enforce laws pertaining to motorists driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. This is part of a regional and statewide effort.

On Monday of this week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged David Kenneally, 2662 Oak Knoll drive, Rossmoor, along with two other former executives, with Securities fraud. The charges resulted from the 2007 collapse of subprime lender New Century Financial.

Yesterday an Orange County jury convicted a serial murderer of the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe. This was the third time the killer, Rodney James Alcala, 66, has been convicted of this crime. He was also convicted in the same trial of raping and murdering four Los Angeles County women in the 1970s.

Four suspects were arrested yesterday, and two more are being sought in a case where a Seal Beach Police Department, SBPD, Detective provided a major break in the case. SBP Detective David Barr, no relation to this writer, performed the initial investigation which led to collaboration with the U.S. Secret Service and the cracking of a fraud ring. According to a release from the Orange county District Attorney’s Office, “These crimes were committed throughout several Southern California counties including Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside.”

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Seal Beach Police Department, Linda Wilborn, 31, of Seal Beach, was arrested yesterday and is charged with the murder of her 22 month old daughter, Millicent, and with fracturing the skull of Millicent’s twin brother. Wilborn is being held on $1 million bail. She is expected to be arraigned Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.

The Orange County District Attorney wanted a sentence based on California’s 3 Strikes law—25 years to life, the defendant pleaded guilty, and the victim didn’t, but certainly could have, died from the knife assault. The judge, whose legal prowess has been seriously questioned (more on that below) is retired, but he dismissed the DA’s requests and issued lighter sentences.

Yesterday, a 42 year old history teacher at Oxford Academy, one of the top high schools in the nation, pleaded not guilty to charges that he engaged in sexual activity with one of his underage students. The teacher, Christopher John Ontiveros, of Huntington Beach, was arrested last October and is out on $100,000 bail. He faces up to 6 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Back in late 2007, when Casa Youth Shelter, Los Alamitos, Executive Director Luciann Maulhardt got a call from the bank informing her the charity’s payroll checks were bouncing, she knew something was very wrong. It did not take long for suspicion to fall on a seven year employee, Lydia Kathleen Fitzgerald, the shelter’s Executive Assistant.

Think you can trust the local, friendly, school bus driver? Better think again. Although the molestations of the two Los Alamitos girls occurred between November 2000 and December 2003, when the case was sent to the jury on Monday of this week, they needed only a few hours to convict Terry Shields, 54, Buena Park, on 15 felony counts and sentencing enhancement allegations for committing lewd acts on multiple children, substantial sexual conduct with a child, and kidnapping to commit a sexual offense against a child.