TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: california

  • Anthony Uckele convicted

    Man guilty of more charges in MySpace case:

    I originally posted about Anthony Uckele here. He’s the 24-year-old from Saratoga, California who was facing 36 charges for a sexual ‘relationship’ he had with a 12-year-old girl he met on MySpace.

    Well, it seems that Mr. Uckele has been convicted of 20 of those charges. On the remaining 15 charges, the jury was deadlocked. So now Uckele is only looking at 46 years behind bars rather than the 78 he could have received. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 29th.

    What’s almost disturbing as Uckele himself is the number of people posting comments not only on this site but at the newspaper’s site that blame the 12-year-old victim. You people have issues and I wouldn’t be surprised if you had certain criminal sexual leanings yourself.

  • Man sentenced for false imprisonment

    Jail, probation in MySpace imprisonment case:

    29-year-old Rami George Tawasha of South San Francisco was sentenced for the false imprisonment of a woman that he met on MySpace. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail and three years probation. He accepted a plea in order to avoid a trial for charges of forced oral copulation, sexual penetration, sexual battery, and false imprisonment.

    According to prosecutors, in January 2006 Tawasha met the 23-year-old victim on MySpace, a popular social networking Internet site. They allegedly agreed to meet at the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo and eventually returned to her home.

    After the couple initially kissed, Tawasha allegedly forced himself on the woman over her protests and drove her back to the shopping center.

    Since the charges were originally forced oral copulation, sexual penetration, and sexual battery he was smart for taking the plea but stupid for what he did to that woman.

  • Anthony Uckele

    In court, San Jose girl tells of sex with adult she met online:

    Right now 24-year-old Anthony Uckele of Saratoga, California is facing 36 counts of lewd conduct that could put him behind bars for 78 years.

    He was arrested back in October 2005 for having sex with a 12-year-old girl that he met on MySpace. They’re trying the ‘she said she was 16’ defense but his actions betray him.

    The girl with the blue stuffed animal – a cloth-covered cat that she hugged closely to her chest – said she called Uckele after reading his first message and agreed to meet him at a Starbucks near her home in Willow Glen. From there, he took her to a video arcade and a park, a pattern they would repeat several times over a period of a few weeks.

    As early as their second meeting – and a few weeks before they had sexual intercourse – the girl said she told Uckele she was 12 and he said he was 22.

    When he drove her home, Uckele dropped her off a block from her house because they knew her father wouldn’t approve of their age difference, the girl testified. Uckele also warned the girl not to tell any of her friends about him, “because he was too old.”

    Eventually, she said, Uckele persuaded her to sneak out of her father’s house at night and meet him a block away. The girl testified that Uckele drove her to his mother’s home in Saratoga, where he persuaded her to undress in his bedroom and have intercourse.

    “I was scared. It was something I wasn’t used to,” she testified in a low voice. “He said, ‘It’s going to be OK. Nothing bad is going to happen.’ ”

    After more encounters over the next several months, the girl read about sexual abuse in a library book and decided to tell someone who notified police, Shore said. But before authorities arrested Uckele, they arranged to record a telephone conversation between the pair.

    On the recording, which Shore played in court, the girl said several times that she felt it was wrong for them to have had sex.

    “OK. I didn’t force you to do anything,” Uckele replied. “If you tell someone, I’m going away to prison for 10 years. You’ll ruin my life.”

    And let’s not forget that the age of consent in California is 18, not 16. D’oh. Not only that but now Uckele is facing a lot more than 10 years. And your life should be ruined since you ruined that little girl’s life.

  • California craigslist rapist

    Police seek rape clues:

    Let me preface this by saying that this was sent to me by a professional escort.

    Anaheim police arrested Waymon Livingston, 24, of Stanton, charging him with murder and raping three women.

    The murder charge includes a special circumstance for rape, authorities said.

    Authorities believe he could be connected to other assaults and are appealing to the public to step forward with information.

    One woman was raped Aug. 21, 2005 in an Anaheim parking lot, police said. Then another woman was raped in a Stanton hotel room Oct. 25, 2006. The Costa Mesa assault happened May 7, according to authorities.

    Livingston contacted a masseuse through Craigslist for a private session at the Best Western on Newport Boulevard, Costa Mesa Sgt. Bryan Glass said. During the session, Livingston propositioned the woman for sex and she refused.

    Livingston allegedly strangled the woman until she passed out, Glass said. When she woke up hours later she went to Fountain Valley Hospital, Glass said.

    “We collected DNA from her person and crime scene and turned it into the crime lab,” but investigators didn’t make the connection until months later, Glass said.

    After Livingston was arrested in connection with the three rapes, investigators were able to link him to the Sept. 9 slaying in Anaheim of Melissa Ann Gonzalez, 21, of Sacramento, through DNA evidence, authorities said.

    Like I’ve pointed out before, there’s immense danger lurking on both sides of the craigslist erotic services section.

    Let me wrap this up with what the escort sent me in her e-mail.

    Hi,

    i thought you might be interested in this link for your blog. Recently apprehended, this guy was targeting working girls in Orange County California and one of his methods in finding them was though craigslist (he had others).

    this guy attacked many other girls who are not listed in the article and it personally touched my life.

    Stay safe out there ladies.

  • Suspect in Donna Jou’s disappearance arrested again

    Suspect in disappearance arrested:

    Convicted sex offender and the last man seen with Donna Jou alive, John Steven Burgess, has been arrested yet again. For those of you who don’t know Donna Jou met Burgess on craigslist and went on a date with him and that was the last time she was seen. He was last arrested for failing to report as a sex offender.

    Now he’s been arrested for using a fake ID to steal DVDs from a Jacksonville, Florida Blockbuster.

    Since Donna Jou has not been found authorities are still unable to file charges against Burgess for Jou’s disappearance.

  • Alleged pimp pleads not guilty

    MySpace pimp suspect pleads not guilty:

    I originally posted about Melvin Parker Jr. here. He’s the 32-year-old California “man” who is accused of luring a 16-year-old girl over MySpace into prostituting for him. he has pleaded not guilty to pimping the girl out.

    The case began last month when San Rafael police saw the girl trolling for sexual customers in the Canal Area. The girl, a runaway from Washington state, told police she arrived in the Bay Area on Aug. 3 to see a man she had met on MySpace.com, the social networking site. After she arrived, the man threatened to harm her family if she did not work for him as a prostitute.

    Working with police, the girl arranged to meet the man at Burger King in the Canal area. Police arrested Parker when he showed up.

    Yet he pleaded not guilty. Criminals never fail to crack me up.

    Parker is due back in court on October 9th.

  • David Laguna

    Man convicted of sexual assault:

    40-year-old David Laguna of Chino, California was convicted yesterday for sexual assault. Laguna met a disabled woman from Truckee, California on TagWorld and went to her house and assaulted her. The victim has Parkinson’s and heart disease. According to Google maps from Chino to Truckee is roughly 8 hours. Laguna is looking only at a max of 26 years.

  • MySpace used to lure girl into prostitution

    Man charged with using MySpace to lure girl into prostitution:

    32-year-old Melvin Charles Parker Jr. of Richmond, California was arrested for using MySpace to lure a 16-year-old girl into prostitution.

    Once the girl arrived in town, police stopped her on the street for questioning when it appeared she was trying to find customers. She told police Parker threatened her into prostitution.

    “He told her that he wanted her to prostitute herself, or his friends would look up her family and hurt them,” said Margo Rohrbacher, a spokeswoman for the San Rafael police.

    Police said they told the girl to call Parker, and listened in as he gave her instructions on where to meet him to deliver her earnings. He was arrested when he arrived.

    I couldn’t find a MySpace for Parker. But if you needed another reason why kids should not be posting their personal info online this is it.

  • Woman disappears after meeting craigslist date

    2 Sought in Calif. Missing Student Case:

    Authorities said Friday they want to question two men in the disappearance of a 19-year-old college student who had met one of the men on the Internet.

    San Diego State University student Donna Jou was last seen by her brother on June 23 getting on a motorcycle with a man she had met on the Web site Craigslist.com, said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino. He said the man had been identified only as Kyle or “Skinny Puppy.”

    Investigators also were looking for registered sex offender John Steven Burgess, who rents the house where Jou apparently went that night for a party.

    “We’re not calling them suspects at this stage, but we want to question them,” Amormino said.

    The day after Jou left for the party, her mother received a text message from her cell phone saying she was coming home, but she never arrived, Amormino said.

    And yet no state attorney general inquest into craigslist yet. Why is that?

  • Edith Delgado found guilty

    Teen convicted of misdemeanors in crash that killed Tongan royals:

    For those of you who have been reading for a while, you may remember the story of Edith Delgado. She was the California teen who was on trial for killing members of the Tongan royal family in a car crash while she was allegedly street racing someone else.

    She was convicted this past Thursday of three misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter. She was found not guilty of felony charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

    Sentencing is scheduled for August 24th and the most she’s looking at is 3 years.