SACRAMENTO - Monica Merlin Morales, 26, of Point Arena, pleaded guilty this week to sex trafficking of a minor, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, Morales and co-defendant Tion Makeise Foster, also of Point Arena, transported a 16-year-old girl to various places in the Eastern District of California and the San Francisco Bay Area in August 2016 so that she could engage in commercial sex acts for their financial benefit.
Court documents indicate that Morales and Foster picked up the victim in her hometown after meeting her online. They bought her lingerie, took photos of her, and posted the photos in online prostitution advertisements. The victim did several “dates” during the week she was with the defendants. Morales and Foster ultimately returned to her hometown, but both they subsequently conspired to traffic the victim again in November and December that same year.
Ten Years of Hands Free Law The Challenge Remains: Put Your Phone Down. Just Drive!
FRESNO - Drivers are using their cell phones less often while driving, 10 years after “hands-free” became the law, but distracted driving remains a serious safety challenge in California. Observing April as Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the first week in April as California Teen Safe Driving Week, safety advocates will focus on education and enforcement efforts statewide.
The Fresno Police Department has join law enforcement throughout the state to step up enforcement along with awareness efforts by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to discourage distracted driving. Officers will have a special emphasis this month on enforcing all cell phone and distracted driving laws. The goal is to increase voluntary compliance by drivers, but sometimes citations are necessary for motorists to better understand the importance of driving distractions.
California Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking in Counterfeit Sports Apparel
SACRAMENTO - A Mountain House, California man pleaded guilty today in Sacramento for trafficking in counterfeit sports apparel. Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office and Sheriff Scott Jones of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department made the announcement.
Seyyed Ali Noori, 50, pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. of the Eastern District of California. Noori was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 14, 2016, and will be sentenced on June 15.
California Communities Resist State's Sanctuary Law
SANTA BARBARA - Orange County, California, supervisors voted this week to join the federal lawsuit against California's sanctuary state legislation that prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement officers. Other communities have also pledged resistance to SB 54 signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October.
"Community leaders understand that law enforcement officers at all levels – local, state and federal – need to work together," said Toby Nicole White of Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). "Failure to cooperate means that criminals will go free and innocent victims will suffer. We applaud the communities in California that are taking a stand against poor policies that put Californians and many others, from across the country and around the world, who come to the state for business and fun at risk."
Southwest Officers Locate And Arrest Armed Gunman
FRESNO - On Thursday, March 29, 2018, at approximately 2100 hours, Southwest Patrol Officers responded to the 2200 block of S Plumas regarding several subjects in the parking lot. One subject, described as a male wearing a red shirt and having a gold grill on his teeth, had brandished a firearm.
Upon arrival, Officers drove into the parking lot where three males who all attempted to walk away. One of the subjects, wearing a red shirt and having a gold grill on his teeth, was very argumentative and uncooperative with officers. This subject was detained and identified as 30 year old Fresno Resident Charles Garrett, who is an identified Strother Boy Criminal Street Gang member.
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