ORANGE COUNTY, CA.- We have been reporting over the past couple of months about attempts across the country to use the coronavirus as an excuse to stage a real life version of “Prison Break,” except for the fact that these inmates aren’t crawling through a hole behind the toilet in the cell. They are literally walking out the front door.
According to Breitbart, socialist George Soros’ backed ACLU, of which he is a significant benefactor, is suing Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, demanding that he free somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 inmates from the county’s jails.
The suit claims the inmates are vulnerable to being affected by the coronavirus.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against the Orange County sheriff to force him and the county to reduce the jails population to better implement social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://t.co/JTVleRmT4n
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) May 1, 2020
As of April 29, 227 inmates had been tested for the coronavirus, with under 120 being found testing positive.
In a statement to the OC Register, Barnes said that he is opposed to the mass release of inmates.
“I will continue to take measures needed to ensure the capacity is available to maintain safe operations and preserve our ability to house criminal offenders,” Barnes said.
“In preserving the safety of our custody operations, I must also ensure the safety of the law-abiding public. I am not supportive of extensive preemptive releases that go beyond what is necessary to keep the jail and community safe.”
Without the release being demanded by the ACLU, Orange County’s inmate population has dropped by nearly half in less than two months. Barnes claims that the jails in the county are not overcrowded.
Breitbart reported last week on seven sex offenders that had been released from Orange County jails by Court Commissioner Joseph Dane. Law enforcement officials had warned that all seven were “high risk” offenders and were likely to reoffend.
This seems to contradict the narrative among prison release advocates who say that inmates being released would be at “high risk” of contracting COVID-19, and would be low-level offenders. That has not proven to be the case in many instances.
Seven high-risk sex offenders — 'the most dangerous kind of criminal' — released early in California over coronavirus https://t.co/L9cOXycLCu
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) May 1, 2020
In fact, after the release, one of the sex offenders was rearrested after he exposed himself in public. This individual had previously been convicted of child molestation, indecent exposure, assault, battery, criminal threats and inflicting injury on an elder adult.
The ACLU, which has been absent in the wake of civil liberties violations across the country by overzealous state and local officials, filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California’s Southern Division.
In the case of the inmate rearrested, Rudy William Grajeda Magdaleno was released from jail on April 13, after serving under half of his 180-day minimum sentence. He only served 71 days in jail.
One of seven “high risk” sex offenders released from prison in Orange County, California, by Court Commissioner Joseph Dane has already been rearrested weeks later for sex crimes. https://t.co/r50zn5cfYe
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 2, 2020
Ironically, Magdaleno was at a parole resource center four days later when he exposed himself to staff members at that location. He also failed to charge his GPS monitor, which caused the device to stop tracking him the day before. He fled the scene, however he was soon picked up by authorities.
Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin was unhappy about the situation. “I find it extremely troubling that this high risk sex offender was authorized for release, in spite of his significant documented criminal history,” he said.
According to Santa Ana police, he had convictions which included sexual assault on a mentally disabled person; breaking into a home while naked from the waist down and peeking into an 11-year-old girl’s room; and entering a law office in Santa Ana, sitting on the floor, and beginning to masturbate while staring at a woman in the office.
“These kinds of high-risk sex offenders are the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to reoffend,” said District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a statement. “They are doing everything they can to avoid detection by the parole officers assigned to monitor them so they can potentially commit additional sex offenses. These are not the kind of people who should be getting a break.”
The other six offenders who were released were identified by the District Attorney’s office:
Luis Joel Ramirez, 27, of Costa Mesa, with a history of sexual battery, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer, burglary, and possessing a leaded cane, with four occasions of parole violation since 2019;
James Franklin Bowling, 50, of Orange, with a history of lewd conduct in a public place, repeated convictions for failure to register as a sex offender, repeated convictions of being a sex offender on school grounds, possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, and two parole violations since February;
Calvin Curtis Coleman, 52, of Santa Ana, who has a history of lewd conduct in a public place and has allegedly violated parole three times in the past year;
Kyle Albert Winton, 40, of Mission Viejo, who has a history of child molestation, criminal threats to cause great bodily injury or death, resisting a peace officer, DUI, and hit and run with property damage, and has allegedly violated his parole once;
Jose Adrian Oregel, 46, of Santa Ana, with a history of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation of a person under the age of 18, great bodily injury, and being a second striker, who has also violated his parole six times since last June; and
Mario Ernesto Sandoval, 45, of Stanton, who has a history of sexual battery, touching for sexual arousal, indecent exposure, assault on a peace officer and assault, and allegedly violated parole once this year.
It was incorrectly reported that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department had authorized the release of the seven inmates, however that misinformation was clarified by Sheriff Barnes in a tweet.
Please see below for my statement clarifying information that was reported inaccurately. pic.twitter.com/spuD5N3ixg
— OC Sheriff Don Barnes (@OCSheriffBarnes) April 29, 2020
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
Make sure you click “following” and then click “see first” so you don’t miss a thing! (See image below.) Thanks for being a part of the LET family!
The post Soros backed ACLU sues sheriff to release 500 more inmates due to ‘health’ concerns appeared first on Law Enforcement Today.