Alleged drunk driver charged in motorcyclist’s death

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – An alleged drunken driver from Montclair has been charged with vehicular manslaughter for allegedly killing a motorcyclist in a May traffic collision.

Chris David Wilcox, 33, allegedly collided with motorcyclist Sebastian Bobby Orioli Jr. on May 25 at Euclid Avenue and Holt Boulevard in Ontario.

Orioli, of Upland, was thrown from his Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he collided with Wilcox’s 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe at about 5:30 p.m.

Orioli, 38, suffered severe injuries and later died at Loma Linda Medical Center, according to a police report in Wilcox’s court file.

Wilcox failed field sobriety tests, and breath tests at the scene yielded blood-alcohol measurements of 0.26 and 0.24, about three times the legal limit of 0.08, according to the police report.

Wilcox has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, and is next due July 27 in West Valley Superior Court.

He remained jailed Friday in lieu of $500,000 bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

According to the police report, Wilcox made an illegal left-hand turn from southbound Euclid onto Holt.

As he entered the intersection, the passenger side of his vehicle was struck by Orioli, who was traveling north on Euclid and had the right-of-way, according to the report.

Wilcox suffered minor scrapes to one of his arms in the collision, possibly from when an airbag deployed in his car.

At the time of the collision, Wilcox, a manager at Old World Delicatessen in West Covina, was driving his children to hockey practice, according to the police report.

He told police he only drank one glass of wine prior to the incident. He said he drank wine while he was at work about three hours before the crash.

In addition to vehicular manslaughter, prosecutors have charged Wilcox with a DUI-related felony and two counts of felony child abuse. Wilcox’s two young children were in his car at the time of the incident.

Will Bigham, Staff Writer

MIRA LOMA: Family’s fire-insurance claim derailed by criminal probe

In November, Mira Loma residents Raul and Lorena Velasquez and their five children were left homeless when an electrical fire in their garage spread to their 1,800-square-foot house, leaving it uninhabitable.

The four-bedroom home, which is in the equestrian-oriented Sky Country tract, remains empty and unrepaired six months later — its front yard overgrown with weeds and yellow caution tape is still wrapped around the wooden fence. A chain-link fence surrounds the property.

Some might say the Velasquez family has been victimized and revictimized.

First by the Rancho Cucamonga restoration company they hired to repair the fire, smoke and water damage — work that never got done despite a $165,000 payment.

And then by the criminal justice system, which has charged the company and its owners with more than $10 million in forgeries and more than $100,000 in insurance fraud.

The company’s assets have been frozen while the criminal case is being adjudicated, meaning the Velasquezes cannot get their money returned.

“I don’t know when they will be able to return the money,” Raul Velasquez said. “I don’t know where to turn.”

On April 14, the California Department of Insurance announced the arrests of Steven Manchester, 50, Bob Roberts Jr. 51 and Heather Reavis, 40, on 45 felony counts including grand theft and forgery. The arrests culminated a four-year probe.

Manchester and Roberts are the owners of a Rancho Cucamonga and Tustin franchise of ServiceMaster, a restoration, cleanup and construction business that is commonly hired following an insured property loss. Reavis is the controller.

The three were booked into jail in San Bernardino County, with bail for each set at $1 million. They have since been released on bond and are due in court May 18.

They have entered not guilty pleas.

“This case exhibits a willful and flagrant disregard for the law and an abuse of the insurance system,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “Let this stand as a warning to those who think they can get away with it. My department will investigate.”

Manchester, Roberts and Reavis did not return a call for comment and the receptionist said the three were not in the office May 5.

Jeffrey Benice, the attorney representing Roberts and ServiceMaster said “somebody in the Department of Insurance has made a serious error in alleging that a crime has been committed.”

“ServiceMaster has been a very successful, well-respected business,” Benice said.

Investigators said the three defendants were involved in a scheme in which they cashed insurance company checks by forging homeowner signatures and fraudulently endorsing mortgage companies’ banking information on the back of the checks.

Work that the checks were meant to pay for was not completed by their company and, in some cases, no work was done, which led to more charges, investigators said.

That was the case with his family, Raul Velasquez said.

He said he signed with ServiceMaster after he inspected work they were doing for a neighbor in the days following the Nov. 2 fire at his home.

At the end of December, a ServiceMaster representative arrived to pick up a $165,000 check the family’s insurer had issued for damage repair.

As the weeks passed, and no work was done, Raul Velasquez said he had a friend check with Riverside County’s Planning Department to see if permits had been issued for repairs. None had been.

He filed a complaint with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in early March.

He said he was in disbelief when he learned of the April arrests.

At that point, the family was attempting to terminate the contract but were being told there was a $60,000 termination fee, Velasquez said.

Gina Kamler, spokeswoman for the parent ServiceMaster company, said the company’s privacy policy prevented her from discussing franchises except to say they are independently owned and operated businesses.

She said the company is looking into the allegations against Manchester, Roberts, Reavis and the Rancho Cucamonga and Tustin franchises.

Kamler said that in general the company has the right to suspend a franchise agreement if an investigation determines there has been a violation of the company’s business practices.

Velasquez said the insurance money allocated to the family for temporary housing is running low and he is unsure what will happen after that.

In the meantime, Riverside County is threatening to fine the family because of the condition of the Sky Country home.

He said he is contemplating a lawsuit against ServiceMaster.

“But I have to find a lawyer and see how much they will charge me,” he said.

By SANDRA STOKLEY
The Press-Enterprise

Police: ‘Morale low’ after officer charged in rape

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – The details of the crime are shocking enough.

A 25-year-old woman, in what authorities are calling a random attack, is kidnapped in daylight after walking to her car and being confronted by two men – one pointing a loaded gun at her.

The woman is ordered to drive to a nearby industrial park with one of the men, who then savagely rapes and beats her at gunpoint, threatening to kill her if she doesn’t comply, according to police and prosecutors.

Consider that two off-duty law enforcement officers – including a Westminster detective – are accused as the culprits, and the crime becomes even more difficult to comprehend.

Westminster police continue to reel from the arrest of one of their own following Saturday’s attack in Fontana, recoiling at the thought that a man sworn to protect the public could carry out such a crime.

“It caught us all by surprise,” said Westminster Police Chief Mitch Waller. “The morale right now is low. We take our position of trust very seriously and our officers are concerned of how the community will view this department.”

Waller, who became police chief in January and has been with the department for 26 years, said he has never had to deal with an issue of this magnitude.

“At this point they are allegations, but from what I know, the evidence against our officer is mounting,” Waller said.

Anthony Nicholas Orban, 30, a five-year officer with the Westminster police, and Jeff Thomas Jelinek, 30, a state prison guard at the Chino Institute for Men, face life in prison if convicted of the crime that unfolded in the parking lot of the Ontario Mills Mall on Saturday afternoon.

The two close friends, who have known each other since high school, have pleaded not guilty to an 11-count criminal complaint that accuses Jelinek of being the lookout for Orban, who police say carried out the sexual assault.

The two men were arrested after Ontario police traced a gun found in the woman’s car to Orban.

Waller said Orban, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, had always been a good officer with an exemplary record who was recently promoted to detective.

“Since we found out about this, we have been compelled to go back to his employment record, background record and polygraph test results,” Waller said. “We are checking to see if there were any red flags we missed, and we haven’t seen any,”

As part of an internal investigation, Waller said the department is also looking into allegations that Orban had an extramarital affair with a department dispatcher. Waller said the department learned about the possible affair from Ontario police.

Orban and Jelinek are being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $2 million bail.

Waller said that the department hired a consulting firm to conduct intensive training on policing ethics after a Westminster sergeant was terminated in September 2009 for using a state database to look up names and license plates for his personal use.

Last month, the former sergeant, William Arganda, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unlawful disclosure of DMV records and domestic violence.

Waller said the rape accusation against Orban has left officers feeling betrayed by one of their own and concerned about the victim. “If the allegations are true, no woman should ever be subjected to such brutality,” he said.

Crimes of random violence by police officers are unusual, an expert said.

“It’s statistically bizarre to have an officer assault a woman in broad daylight and rape her like this case alleges,” said Ronald Huff, a criminologist at UC Irvine. “This is really rare.”

Huff said that if you hear about a cop sexually assaulting a woman, it’s usually involves a prostitute or a traffic stop in a remote location.

“The crime is a random act of violence that could have happened to anyone, which is scary enough, but the fact it was committed by an off-duty officer, whose job it is to protect the public from crimes, makes this case especially horrific,” said San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ploghaus, who is prosecuting the case.

Both Orban and Jelinek had been drinking throughout the day, Ploghaus said. Results of intoxication tests still are pending.

“You can’t take one instance and say all cops are like that,” said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “Every walk of life has a bad apple. Every profession has a bad apple and unfortunately there in no foolproof system to weed out the bad ones.”

“If the allegations are true, they are totally disgusting,” Amormino said. “Anyone who tarnished the badge … should be punished even more.”

In an interview, Orban’s attorney, James E. Blatt, hinted that a possible defense he will build for his client is that the alleged crime was an “aberration,” but he declined to elaborate.

Huff said police officers have stressful jobs and have higher incidences of alcohol abuse, domestic problems and divorce.

“That has to do with the hours they work and the stress they are under, but that doesn’t justify raping a woman,” Huff said. “If the allegations are true, I don’t know what could explain it unless his judgment was severely impaired by alcohol or drugs or both.”

Blatt said Orban’s wife and other relatives, colleagues and friends are shocked at the charges filed against the former Marine and Iraq War veteran.

Jelinek’s court-appointed attorney, San Bernardino County Deputy Public Defender Renae Carpenter, could not be reached for comment.

Three other recent cases with Orange County connections involve law enforcement officers charged with violent crimes.

Huntington Beach police officer James Roberts III, 33, is charged with 20 counts of sexually and physically assaulting his former wife and a former girlfriend. He was initially charged in September 2009 and is awaiting trial.

In December 2008, Long Beach police officer Orlando Mendez, 26, of Anaheim was charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend and two of her friends after chasing them in his car and firing shots into the air while off-duty. He pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to six months in jail.

In October 2008, Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy Robert Avery McClain, 34, was accused of sexually assaulting his wife and savagely torturing another man at the man’s Irvine apartment after his wife announced she was leaving him. He is still awaiting trial.

Ontario detectives are concerned that there may be other victims. They are asking that anyone who has information to contact the Ontario Police Department at 909-395-2908.

The investigation is still pending and no other possible victims have been identified, said Ontario police spokesman Sgt. David McBride.

Register News Researcher Michael Doss contributed to this story.

By DENISSE SALAZAR and GREG HARDESTY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Teens’ MySpace Prank Leads To Arrest

A group of boys who posed as a 15-year-old girl for an Internet prank ended up helping California police arrest a 48-year-old man who tried to meet the fictitious teenager for sex, authorities said.

The five boys had created a fake profile of a girl on MySpace.com — a social networking Web site — to cheer up a friend who had recently broken up with his girlfriend. Soon after, a man began sending messages to the “girl” and their conversations began to have sexual overtones, said Fontana police Sgt. William Megenney.

The man also sent the “girl” his picture and arranged to meet her at a public park in Fontana, 65 miles east of Los Angeles. The boys went to the park and, when the man arrived, they called police.

“He admits to detectives he was going to go up there, meet this 15-year-old girl and have sex,” Megenney said.

Michael Ramos, 48, of Fontana, was booked into West Valley Detention Center on Monday for investigation of felony attempted lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and for an outstanding warrant, Megenney said. He was being held at the West Valley Detention Center on $105,000 bail, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Web site.

The California arrest is the fourth case in two weeks involving the extremely popular MySpace site.

On March 3, the FBI arrested two men in what prosecutors said were the first federal sexual assault charges involving MySpace. The unrelated cases involved Connecticut girls who were 11 and 14, the FBI said.

And, in February, a middle school student in Costa Mesa, Calif., allegedly threatened a female classmate on MySpace. The posting asked “Who here in the (group name) wants to take a shotgun and blast her in the head over a thousand times?” The student who allegedly posted the message is facing suspension from the school. Twenty other students in the Internet group were suspended from school for viewing the Web page, school officials said.

Authorities nationwide have expressed concern that the popular site puts children at risk for abuse, but the CEO of MySpace said the site remains safe. He encouraged parents to teach children the same commonsense rules on the Internet that they learn in the real world.

“If you go to the mall and start talking to strange people, bad things can happen,” Chris DeWolfe, a co-founder of the site, said in a telephone interview. “You’ve got to take the same precautions on the Internet.”