Visalia Criminal Law Blog

At least one driver is arrested for DUI in Napa County every 12 hours during the summer months, according to statistics released by the California Highway Patrol and other agencies. They made 184 drunk driving arrests between June and August of this year. While Napa police arrested 40 people suspected of driving under the influence, the Sheriff's office arrested 36 more drivers. The California Highway Patrol conducted the vast majority of the arrests, seizing 108 people on DUI charges during that time.

Napa County has more DUI arrests than other parts of the state, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. In 2015, the city of Napa had 433 drunk driving arrests, making it the city with the second-highest DUI rate among 105 areas of similar size and population. The 2015 statistics showed that one person each week was injured or killed in car accidents that involved a drunk driver between the ages of 21 to 34.

In the early morning hours of October 23, a suspected drunk driver crashed his vehicle into several objects along a California street, causing it to burst into flames. The incident took place in Garden Grove.

According to the Garden Grove Police Department, the 24-year-old defendant was driving south on Euclid Street when he smashed into a light pole, a street light and a bus stop bench as he approached Main Street. His vehicle then caught fire as a result of the collisions. The defendant and two male passengers were able to exit the vehicle and escape the flames. One of the passengers suffered moderate injuries and was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

Prosecutors in California have filed felony charges against a 29-year-old woman who allegedly embezzled about $38,000 from the San Miguel Community Services District. The woman reportedly took the money while working as a bookkeeper for the Community Services District between February and November 2015. Attorneys from the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office filed the charges on Oct. 5.

Investigators from the office's Public Integrity Unit investigated the case, but initial reports do not provide details of the investigation or reveal what led authorities to suspect that the woman could be misappropriating public funds. They also do not mention what the woman is alleged to have used the embezzled money for.

Some California residents might have been lured by the promise of robust returns in a debt reselling scheme that bilked hundreds of people out of millions of dollars according to federal prosecutors. A 14-count indictment unsealed on Sept. 19 in Maryland alleges that three men maintained lavish lifestyles with money that they told investors would be used to purchase portfolios of delinquent mortgage, student loan and credit card debt. The men face decades behind bars if convicted according to media accounts.

Prosecutors say that the elaborate Ponzi scheme involved 30 companies and 55 bank accounts. The men are alleged to have used $73 million of the $364 million they raised from investors to purchase luxury homes in Texas, Maryland, Nevada and Florida. The men are also said to have spent $35 million gambling in casinos and purchased dozens of luxury cars.