Minors were banned from attending the latest rave. Those under 16 were not officially supposed to attend the Electric Daisy Carnival, but no one was checking IDs. IDs were assiduously checked at the Love Festival to make sure partygoers were at least 18 years old. Law enforcement officials arrested 80 people, mostly for drug-related offenses and using fake IDs.
]]> Emergency room doctors were also on-site. Fire officials said that 16 people were treated on-site and three were transported to hospitals by ambulance for undisclosed medical problems. Doctors have called on officials to more closely regulate the raves because they see numerous cases of drug intoxication. Often, they say, teens will take ecstasy thinking that it is a safe alternative to other more dangerous illegal drugs, not knowing that it can also cause serious health issues and sometimes death. They say that impure drugs are also increasingly being sold.
Source:
80 Arrested During "Love Festival" Rave at L.A. Sports Arena (Los Angeles Times)
]]>Police arrested Waits for DUI after he failed field sobriety tests. According to CNN, Hilton asked a police officer to be taken to a more private location to wait for the DUI investigation of Waits to conclude. She also said she needed to use the restroom. While inside the hotel, Hilton was told by the officer to place her purse on a counter. According to the officer, Hilton asked to retrieve some lip balm from the purse, and in doing so, a bag of what appeared to be cocaine fell out.
]]> The officer arrested Hilton on suspicion of cocaine possession. Hilton has claimed that the purse was borrowed and does not belong to her. She says that some of the contents of the purse belonged to her, but not all. Her attorney has asked the public not to rush to judgment. Hilton was released from jail on Saturday morning and returned to California. Hilton is scheduled to be arraigned on the drug charges October 27.Source:
Hilton facing felony drug possession charge after weekend arrest (CNN)
]]>Hoxie was an assistant to the head of corporate communications for Walt Disney Co., based in Burbank, California. Prosecutors say Hoxie passed along advance information on Disney's second-quarter earnings to Sebbag who then tried to sell the inside information to investors at at least 33 investment companies. Sebbag was caught when he accepted $15,000 from undercover FBI agents in exchange for the investment information.
]]> Sebbag, 33, pleaded guilty to both federal fraud charges in a federal court in New York. The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years and fines of $250,000 or twice the amount of money gained through the crimes. As part of a plea deal, Sebbag could face 27 to 33 months in prison. Sebbag is a citizen of Morocco and also faces possible deportation. He also agreed to forfeit the $15,000 paid to him by the FBI agents. Sebagg will be sentenced November 16.Source:
Man accused in Disney insider trading scheme pleads guilty (Los Angeles Times)
]]>Lohan recently served 14 days of her 3-month sentence in jail and was taken afterwards to the rehab center where she had been ordered to spend 3 months. Lohan had been sentenced to jail and rehabilitation after repeatedly violating the terms of her DUI probation.
]]> Fox ruled that Lohan can continue her treatment in outpatient care, but will be subject to strict supervised probation. Fox explained the terms of that supervised probation at a court hearing on Wednesday. Lohan will have to attend psychotherapy and addiction counseling sessions several times a week and will have to submit to random alcohol and drug tests at least twice a week.
The counseling and testing schedule will allow Lohan to continue working, but she has been ordered to remain in Los Angeles. Fox said that if Lohan attends every counseling session until November and passes every drug and alcohol test, he will take her off supervised probation.
Lohan did not attend the hearing. Her attorney said that her client was healthy again and looking forward to moving on with her life. Lohan had been sentenced to jail and rehab after missing several of her required alcohol-education classes. Lohan's attorney says that Lohan is "eager" to show the court that she can comply with its terms.
Source:
Lohan Ordered to Undergo Strict Outpatient Care (The Wall Street Journal)
]]>The jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision after 14 days of deliberation on any charge except the charge that Blagojevich lied to the FBI. They agreed with prosecutors that Blagojevich lied when he told FBI agents that he did not track campaign contributions and that he kept a "firewall" between political campaigns and government work. Blagojevich could face up to five years in prison for the single conviction.
]]> Prosecutors have already begun planning their strategy for the next trial. Jurors complained that the prosecution's case was overly complicated and the charges against Blagojevich unnecessarily convoluted. Prosecutors will likely simplify both the next time around. They may call witnesses that they did not call before, such as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.During the first trial, Blagojevich's defense attorneys chose to rest their case without calling a single witness. They may also alter their strategy, depending on what the prosecution does this time.
Source:
Blagojevich is convicted of 1 of 24 counts; prosecutors vow retrial (The Washington Post)
]]>The latest such lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in Oakland, California, by six women and one man who accuse Father Stephen Kiesle of sexual abuse from 1972 to 2001. The plaintiffs say that Kiesle sexually abused them throughout childhood and adolescence. One of the women says that Kiesle abused her until she was in her 30s. The plaintiffs accuse the church of knowing of Kiesle's alleged sex crimes but doing nothing to prevent him from committing further crimes against children.
]]> The Vatican issued new rules last month to address the sex abuse scandal. The rules are meant to give more transparency and clear-cut guidelines for how those in positions of power in the Church respond to allegations of sexual abuse by priests. The Vatican also said that it would speed up internal processes of investigation and that it would cut the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases by ten years.
Source:
US Catholic Church tarred with new child sex abuse scandal (AFP)
]]>The lawsuit names as defendants USA Swimming, Havercroft, West Valley, and Pacific Swimming (the regional organization of USA Swimming). The lawsuit alleges that USA Swimming continued to allow Havercroft to coach children even after it had knowledge of possible sexual misconduct by the coach.
]]> Havercroft and USA Swimming have not publicly responded to the lawsuit. ABC News reported that USA Swimming attorneys and insurance brokers had a mediation session with another alleged victim of Havercroft in 2002 and a confidential civil settlement was reached with Havercroft.ABC News "20/20" reported last April that 36 USA Swimming coaches have been banned for life because of alleged sexual misconduct. In January, former San Jose-area coach Andy King was sentenced to serve 40 years in prison for sexually abusing children on his swim team.
Source:
USA Swimming Hit With Another Sexual Abuse Lawsuit (ABC News)
]]>Parole officials already alert local law enforcement when parolees remove their electronic tracking devices by sending them photos and information of the escaped parolees. Spokespersons for the California prisons and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation say they are now working on developing ways to most effectively alert the public to a paroled sex offender who has escaped supervision.
]]> According to the Los Angeles Times, there were 7,167 parolees on GPS monitoring as of July 1, with 6,623 of them paroled sex offenders. The spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says that 20 to 60 times a month a parolee will successfully remove their GPS tracking device, which is not easy.Source:
Schwarzenegger orders public alerts when sex offenders try to flee supervision (Los Angeles Times)
]]>Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after it was found that he used performance-enhancing drugs, and while he continually tried to fight the accusation and finding, he eventually admitted cheating and, at the same time, sent letters to investigators accusing other cyclists of cheating.
The seven-time Tour de France winner is also under investigation for fraud because Landis accused him and the members of the U.S. Postal Service team of selling bikes given to them by the Postal Service to fund their doping program.
]]> The Los Angeles Times reports that Armstrong recently hired a criminal defense attorney to represent him during the federal investigation. Armstrong is being investigated by U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigator Jeff Novitzky. Novitzky has been involved or spearheaded many investigations into illegal drug use by professional athletes and is known as a dogged and formidable investigator who doesn't let anything get by him.Armstrong has never failed a drug test during his bicycling career, so it could be difficult to prove illegal drug use.
Sources:
Lance Armstrong hires criminal defense attorney (Los Angeles Times)
Lance Armstrong: Has Drug Probe Gone Too Far? (TIME)
]]>
Two weeks ago, Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail, to be followed by 90 days in rehab, for failing to complete her court-mandated weekly alcohol-education classes. Lohan was on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor drug charges and no contest to three driving charges after a 2007 DUI arrest.
]]> Lohan cried and acted shocked when she was sentenced two weeks ago in a Beverly Hills courtroom, but she was stoic when surrendering in court on Tuesday. Lohan's defense attorney said that her client was ready to face her jail sentence. She also said that Lohan has now completed her alcohol education classes, but she was sentenced to jail time for not completing them on a weekly basis.Some of Lohan's fans find the jail sentence overly harsh, but the Deputy Los Angeles County District Attorney said that she believed the sentence was appropriate. She said that the message to the public is to not drive under the influence because the consequences are serious. If you are convicted of DUI, she said, it's important to complete the requirements of your probation.
Source:
Lindsay Lohan is booked into jail (Los Angeles Times)
]]>Dugard was kidnapped by Phillip Garrido in 1991 while she walked to school. Garrido kept her for 18 years in a shack in the back of his ramshackle compound outside of Oakland. Dugard was raped repeatedly and gave birth to two daughters, now 12 and 15. Dugard, now 30, and her daughters were all denied access to school and medical services. Garrido was eventually arrested after a UC Berkeley police officer became suspicious when he saw Garrido with the two young girls passing out religious fliers on campus and called police.
]]> Garrido was convicted of kidnapping and raping a woman in 1976 in Nevada. He served only 11 years, even though he had received a 50-year federal sentence and 5 years to life in Nevada. California parole agents took over his monitoring for federal officials when he moved to Antioch, California. The report found conclusively that Garrido had not been monitoried properly and that Dugard's prolonged captivity was a preventable tragedy.
Source:
Parole agents talked to but did not identify Dugard, report says (The Los Angeles Times)
]]>The guilty plea was a result of a deal and Polanski served 42 days in a Los Angeles jail under psychiatric evaluation before his formal sentencing. Swiss authorities say that they were not provided with the documents that would have helped them determine whether the time already served by Polanski was enough to fulfill his sentence.
]]> U.S. authorities issued an international warrant for Polanski's arrest last fall. Polanski, 76, was arrested in September by Swiss authorities in Zurich after arriving to receive an award for his achievements in film. Polanski has been in Swiss custody since his arrest, but is now free. Since December, he was allowed to stay under house arrest at his vacation home in Switzerland after posting $4.5 million bail.U.S. authorities have expressed outrage with the decision by the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police. They believe a fugitive convicted of child sex crime charges has been allowed to go free on a technicality. They say they will continue to pursue Polanski and will arrest him if he ventures to countries that have extradition treaties with the U.S.
Source:
Swiss refuse extradition, free Polanski (The Los Angeles Times)
]]>In determining the punishment for Lohan, Judge Revel said she considered Lohan's failure to attend her required weekly alcohol education classes. Lohan's DUI probation was extended for a year last fall to give her more time to complete them, but a class operator testified that she had missed several.
Lohan's defense attorney told the judge that, although her client had not completed her program yet or perfectly, she had changed her behavior. Lohan pleaded for another chance and told the judge that she was taking the court and her program seriously, but the judge was not swayed and believed her apology to be insincere.
]]> In 2007, Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above .08 percent and one count of reckless driving.It is not known yet how much of Lohan's sentence she will actually spend in jail. Her sentence will likely be reduced because of jail overcrowding in California. The spokesman for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Deparment said it is typical for nonviolent female misdemeanor offenders to serve about 25 percent of their sentences. California also has a program that credits inmates for good behavior.
Source:
Lindsay Lohan's future is on hold as she does 90 days in jail, then residential rehab (Los Angeles Times)
]]>The Electric Daisy Carnival was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum and Exposition Park and drew 185,000 revelers. The company organizing the event, Insomniac, said it was the largest party of its kind in North America. The Coliseum is located on state land and is operated jointly by the city, county and state commission. The venue's manager says raves like the Electric Daisy Carnival are twice as profitable as a USC game. Emergency room directors, however, liken the raves to government-sanctioned drug fests that unnecessarily risk people's health and put a strain on emergency services.
]]> At least 120 people were taken to hospitals by paramedics, many for drug intoxication. At least two, one a minor, remain in intensive care for drug intoxication. Doctors say teens as young as 15 were admitted to hospitals. Ecstasy is the drug most associated with raves, and physicians say young people or juveniles will take it without realizing it can cause organ failure and death. Some teens at the event even take the drug accidentally. Doctors reported that one minor came to an area hospital in a coma after he drank water from another partygoer's water bottle, unaware that the water had been laced with drugs.
Source:
Keep raves out of the Coliseum, doctors urge (Los Angeles Times)
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