We've been picked up elsewhere

at Exceptional Crimes (!), where we're posting under the handle SacWatch.

We'll continue to post teasers here as well, and some posts will remain exclusive to this blog.

More soon!

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Dept. to Play with Teens, Give them Free Things

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department — in the news recently after one of their deputies, Donald Black, was brought up on charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy — says they are now giving away free turkeys to the families of teens who play basketball with the deputies.

Read more at Exceptional Crimes: "Sacramento County Sheriff’s Dept. to Play with Teens, Give them Free Things"

Irony in Sac County: One DA-wannabe, Anne Marie Schubert, calls out another, California Deputy Attorney General Maggy Krell, alleging prosecutorial misconduct

DA-wannabe Anne Marie Schubert, darling of DA-incumbent Jan Scully

In a county known for widespread corruption, killer cops, rapist cops, child-molesting cops, and more, all under the watch of long-time District Attorney Jan Scully, one of Scully’s potential replacements is now leveling the charge of prosecutorial misconduct, without a hint of irony, against another DA-hopeful.

Read more at Exceptional Crimes:"Irony in Sacramento County DA Race"

Alleged child molester, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Donald Black, also found in possession of steroids and ecstasy

With Donald Black already in custody on suspicion of five counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a 14-year-old, Nevada County investigators say they have also found what Sacramento County investigators would have found–if they ever investigated Black–drugs, including steroids and ecstasy, in the accused child molester’s home.

Black,  a 23-year veteran of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, whose service record is most notable for numerous disciplinary actions and civil lawsuits — and who apparently enjoyed a free ride from Jan Scully and the Sac County DA’s office, which refuses investigate its own cops — was accused in September 2013 of molesting a teen.

Read more at Exceptional Crimes.

Long-coddled Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Black now accused of molesting teen

Donald Black,  a 23-year veteran of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, whose service record is most notable for numerous disciplinary actions and civil lawsuits costing the Sacramento County taxpayers  $400,000 to date -- and who has thus far eluded any actual prosecution, thanks to a DA's office who doesn't even care to investigate its own killer cops -- now stands accused of molesting a teen.

Arrested on suspicion of five counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years old, Black now faces what he's never faced under DA Jan Scully's watch: actual prosecution by actual attorneys working with an actual police department.

Yes, even after Black and fellow deputies badly burned two men in police custody, resulting in a "civil lawsuit and an administrative claim that ultimately resulted in Sacramento County paying more than $300,000 in damages," DA Scully's Office, which supposedly investigated the incident, said there were “questions” but "not enough evidence" to criminally prosecute Black or his fellow deputies.

What a surprise.

Scully has yet to issue a comment on whether her office also knew that Black was molesting children.

But Nevada County isn't Sacramento County. Cops aren't given a free pass by DA to maim and kill anyone they like, without fear of investigation -- as we've covered here at length in our Jan Scully and killer cops sections.

Read the full article, below the fold.

Sacramento Police Officer Gary Baker on trial for rape of 75-year-old woman

Brief update on Sacramento Police Officer Gary Baker, accused of assaulting and raping a 75-year-old woman who suffers from a stroke:

In a county that's otherwise brutal in its treatment of anyone so much as accused of sex crimes (see Shane Vicars, sentenced just last week), why is it also no surprise that when a Sacramento Police officer stands accused of rape, suddenly both Judge Cheryl Chun Meegan and the Office of DA Jan Scully appear to be playing for the defense.

The National Aphasia Association has filed a discrimination complaint against a Sacramento judge for ruling that an alleged rape victim with the disorder that inhibits communication isn't competent to testify at trial. Besides naming Superior Court Judge Cheryl Chun Meegan in a complaint filed with the U.S. Justice Department, the association wants the agency's disability rights section to review the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office for not taking up the issue on appeal.

Beloved teacher sentenced to 26 years for what, exactly?

Alleged to have asked two boys to "stick their hands in his pockets in search of a wallet," 29-year-old Shane Vicars, with no criminal history, but surrounded by a crowd of supporters and dozens of letters of support, was sentenced to 26 years for "child molestation."

Deputy District Attorney Shauna Franklin, however, redefined the alleged pocket-search as "substantial sexual conduct" -- and Judge Emily E. Vasquez more than agreed.

According to the Sacramento Bee, "a large crowd" packed a Sacramento courtroom on Friday to support Shane Adair Vicars, who they refused to believe was guilty of allegations from an angry family that Vicars "took little boys in the Sierra Oaks after-school program to secluded spots on campus, gave them candy and had them stick their hands in his pockets in search of a wallet that he said got stuck." Nonetheless, while "defense attorney Shannon Baker sought probation and a county jail term that would have had him released" Judge Vasquez apparently thought her 26-year sentence was lenient (rather than the max term of 32 years), and that she'd settled on her lenient sentence  "because of Vicars' previous standing as a productive citizen and because of his lack of a prior criminal record."

Proof, again, that Sacramento County DAs and Judges are absolutely batshit crazy where child molestation cases are concerned. Note that the man who murdered his mother via 70+ stab wounds, sentenced just last week, will likely be eligible for parole before Vicars.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/07/5714540/crowd-supports-ex-teacher-at-his.html#storylink=cpy

Read more at the Bee.

Man murders his mother with 70+ stab wounds, is sentenced to 16 years to life

Judge John P. Winn imposed the term on Angelo Wright, who inflicted over 70 "sharp force" injuries on his mother, "who had told a friend she suspected her son of stealing jewelry from her and that she intended to question him about it."

Woman receives 10 years for murder of another woman on "drug-troubled Loucreta Drive"

A South Sacramento woman gets 10 years for the fatal shooting of a 38-year-old woman. Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi calls plea bargain on the manslaughter count a "reasonable resolution of the case"--perhaps because it occurred on what SacBee calls "drug-troubled Loucreta Drive."

CHP Officer Jeffery Closson charged with sexual battery of diasabled man

A 22-year-old disabled man reported being "inappropriately touched" in mall bathroom on June 20, 2013. After a review of surveillance footage of the area, Sacramento police identified California Highway Patrol Officer Jeffery Closson as their suspect.

Jan Scully pay lip-service to "limited" review of officer-involved shootings

The shocking 2012-13 surge in shootings and in-custody deaths at the hands of Sacramento County Law Enforcement – 13 shootings in the first eight months of the year, eight of which were fatal, and many against unarmed Sac County residents – began after DA Jan Scully disbanded her office's officer-involved shootings protocol.

While Scully made clear that she still has no plans to "conduct a full, separate investigation, either at the shooting sites or in cases of in-custody deaths," she said that in "special circumstances," an investigator will be available "by telephone" to "consider" a response.