San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that Apple Inc. will pay $24.6 million to settle a California lawsuit alleging the company failed to disclose that iPhone software it instructed consumers to download intentionally slowed down the performance in older iPhones. In a separate action, the tech company is simultaneously settling a nationwide lawsuit for $113 million under the same basis. [TWEET THIS]

The Cupertino, CA-based company reached a settlement with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the California Attorney General’s Office, Alameda, Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s offices. Apple Inc. will pay $4.1 million in fines to each agency.

The Consumer Protection Units of the San Diego, Los Angeles, Alameda, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County District Attorneys’ Offices and the California Attorney General’s Office jointly conducted an extensive consumer protection investigation into the cell phone operations of Apple, Inc., focusing on Apple’s practice of providing updates to its cell phone operating systems that impaired or slowed the performance of those phones without disclosing the performance reductions to consumers.

“Our Consumer Protection team used their expertise working with colleagues across the state to reach this $24.6 million settlement against Apple, making it one of the largest consumer protection judgments in the history of local California consumer protection.” DA Summer Stephan said. “This settlement delivers justice on behalf of iPhone users and makes it clear that companies that use unfair business practices, such as throttling or slowing iPhone performance, will be held accountable.”

The civil complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges that Apple Inc. violated state law by failing to timely and adequately disclose that its iOS software slowed down the performance of older iPhones as their batteries aged.

Dissatisfied customers and industry experts had complained that Apple iOS updates were causing reduced performance in some iPhones. In December 2017, Apple Inc. released a statement apologizing to consumers and providing an explanation about why it slowed down the iPhones. As part of the company’s statement, it said that the iOS 10.2.1 update, which it had issued nearly a year earlier, contained power management features for certain iPhones to prevent unexpected shutdowns. The company also said a subsequent iOS 11.2 update also contained these power management features affecting other iPhones. These power management features resulted in slowing down certain iPhones and causing some users to experience longer launch times for apps, lower speaker volume, backlight dimming, and other reductions in performance. The iPhones affected by these software updates included the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, first generation iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus.

The People alleged that Apple Inc.’s failure to disclose these features at the time iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 11.2 were released constituted an unlawful business practice and violated California’s false advertising statute. Apple Inc. did not admit that it had violated any laws, but the company cooperated with the investigation.

Under the settlement terms, Apple Inc. has agreed to maintain easily accessible and prominent webpages that provide clear and conspicuous information to consumers about lithium-ion batteries, unexpected shutdowns, and performance management.

The webpages must provide guidance to consumers on steps they can take to maximize battery health and describe the operation of performance management and its impact on iPhone battery and performance.

Additionally, Apple Inc. has agreed to notify consumers in a clear and conspicuous manner if a future iOS update materially changes performance management features. [TWEET THIS]

A separate private class action lawsuit, announced earlier this year, will provide individual consumer restitution for these practices. (See In re Apple Inc. Device Performance Litigation, Case No. 18-MD-2827-EJD, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California). The private restitution process is separate from The District Attorney and Attorney General law enforcement action. For more information on the private settlement see: www.SmartphonePerformanceSettlement.com.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said today that over the last five months San Diego County has averaged one fatal DUI crash per week and is on target to surpass its worst record in decades. Even though non-injury DUI cases are down more than 30 percent, fatal crashes are up 33 percent with 24 deaths so far this, compared to 18 last year. In addition, blood-alcohol levels are higher than last year’s average.

The DA also announced today that her office is receiving a grant of $426,000 from the Office of Traffic Safety to prevent and prosecute impaired driving deaths. For the last seven years, cases in which someone dies at the hands of a DUI driver are investigated as potential murders, instead of approaching the case as a DUI car crash in which someone died. This higher level of investigation, prosecution and accountability is thanks to a grant from the Office of Transportation Safety, which is in its seventh year of funding the DA’s DUI Homicide Unit. To date, the organization has given more than $2.7 million in DUI grants to the DA’s Office.

“This grant will allow our DUI Homicide Unit to continue its critical public safety work,” DA Stephan said. “Even with stay-at-home orders because of the pandemic and many bars being closed, we are still on the brink of topping the highest number of deadly DUI crashes we have had in a single year. Today’s drivers know the risks and the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, yet they persist. Prosecuting and investigating these important cases require a specialized team of prosecutors and investigators to be able to hold offenders accountable and deter this deadly behavior.”

In addition to forming a special prosecution team, funding will be used to:

• Develop protocols for handling cases through every step of the criminal process.
• Provide training for prosecutors and investigators through California’s Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Program.
• Host quarterly regional meetings with law enforcement partners to improve DUI investigations and prosecutions.

“If you drink or use drugs and decide to drive, you put lives at risk,” said OTS Director Barbara Rooney. “This funding from the OTS makes sure that those who make the choice to drive under the influence are held accountable for their actions.”

More than 9,406 DUI-related cases were prosecuted last year, a slight decrease from the 9,629 in 2018, a decrease of just 2.5 %. At the same time however, the District Attorney’s Office prosecuted 445 DUI with injury or fatality cases. The worst year for fatal DUI crashes was 2017, when we had 25 deaths. This year is on track to top that sad distinction.

As part of the grant and with assistance from the State’s Traffic Safety Resource Program, the DUI Homicide Unit coordinates and participates in DUI prevention and awareness in schools, military bases and colleges. It also provides training to local law enforcement agencies. Funding from this DUI Prosecution Grant will aid the District Attorney’s Office in handling cases through each step of the criminal process. This includes prosecuting both alcohol and drug-impaired driving cases. In fatal and major injury DUI vehicle collisions, members of the team may respond to the crash scene to assist in the investigation.

The DUI Homicide Unit, which launched in 2014, streamlines complex DUI cases by creating expertise within the office. The specialized unit creates uniformity in sentencing among the four adult courthouses. In addition, the unit helps law enforcement adapt to changes in technology by having a designated DA Investigator who is trained in the latest techniques in collision reconstruction. Since its inception, the unit has prosecuted more than 130 cases.

In recent years, California has seen an increase in drug-impaired driving crashes. The District Attorney’s Office supports efforts from OTS reminding the public that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI. Marijuana use can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI arrest and conviction.

Grant funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will change how our office handles these challenging cases to be better, more efficient and more effective.

A man sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison for killing four people in a DUI crash is set to be released early by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on Friday after serving only two years and 10 months of his sentence. Richard Anthony Sepolio, 27, was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that plummeted over the side of a transition ramp to the Coronado Bridge and landed in Chicano Park, killing four people.

Sepolio was convicted in February of last year for the October 15, 2016, crash that killed Annamarie Contreras, 50, and Cruz Contreras, 52, a married couple from Chandler, Arizona; and Hacienda Heights residents Andre Banks, 49, and Francine Jimenez, 46. Seven other people were seriously injured. Sepolio was convicted of four counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of DUI causing injury.

On Monday, CDCR surprised victims in the case as well as the District Attorney’s Office by notifying them of the impending early release, citing various prison credits for good behavior as well as its policy of releasing inmates early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no specific reasons cited related to this defendant.

In strongly worded letters to both Governor Gavin Newsom and CDCR Secretary Kathleen Allison, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan called the early release a “miscarriage of justice,” arguing that Sepolio should not receive extra credits and an early release due to COVID-19. DA Stephan wrote that Sepolio should serve the term as originally contemplated for the safety of the public.

“This very early release is unconscionable,” DA Stephan Said. “CDCR’s decision is re-victimizing the family and friends of the four people killed and seven injured who have been devastated by their loss and continue to deal with the financial, emotional, mental and physical trauma caused by the defendant. This inmate continues to deny and minimize the crime by refusing to admit he was speeding and denying being impaired while arguing with his girlfriend on the phone, which resulted in the devastating crash.”

Sepolio was traveling between 81 and 87 miles per hour when he lost control of his vehicle. He testified that when he got onto the Coronado Bay Bridge another vehicle would not let him over into the left-hand lane, so he sped up twice to pass. When he lost control, the vehicle bounced off the inside guardrail and then veered across the lanes of traffic hitting the outside guardrail before plummeting off the bridge. The vehicle careened down into Chicano Park where there was a motorcycle rally with nearly 1,000 people present.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan joined the District Attorneys of Sacramento, Alameda and Ventura counties, and the United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of California, Central District of California, and Southern District of California to launch an online outreach campaign to help victims of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The District Attorneys and U.S. Attorneys are joined by Childhelp, a national nonprofit organization aiding victims of child abuse.

The outreach campaign was created to combat unintended consequences of COVID-19 public health measures— an alarming rise in domestic violence with victims trapped at home with their abusers under increasing stress. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has reported an increase in contacts to the hotline during COVID-19. Reports show that physicians are treating more domestic violence injuries and that these injuries are more severe. According to the CDC, roughly 1 in 6 homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. In 2019, there were 17,434 domestic violence cases reported to law enforcement in San Diego County. There were 13 domestic violence homicide victims, of which the suspect was a current or former intimate partner, and 4 children. According to SANDAG, there were 8,495 domestic violence incidents reported in the first six months of 2020 compared to 8,235 reported in the first half of 2019.

“These unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have unleashed more domestic violence in the home with victims feeling trapped with their abusive partner and children as collateral victims,” District Attorney Summer Stephan. “We want victims to know that they are not alone and our DA Victim Services, local and national organizations and law enforcement continue to be ready, despite the pandemic, to help them get to safety and give them the help and resources they need.”

According to Childhelp Founder & CEO, Sara O’Meara, “The partnership of California’s safety leaders with Childhelp to secure children during COVID-19 is a model for child welfare across the country. All these huge hearts coming together to find children trapped in the shadows of abuse will not only save lives but create a culture of compassion that will exist long after this virus is behind us.”

The campaign includes a video public service announcement and public awareness messages posted on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media  platforms with a new post made each day for one week. The posts provide information for victims with resources, such as 24-hour hotlines and other services vital to reporting abuse. The posts also provide tips for concerned friends, relatives, and educators on how they can help victims of abuse. This outreach campaign follows a July campaign addressing domestic violence and child abuse and exploitation by U.S. Attorney Scott, ChildHelp, and the District Attorneys of San Diego, Alameda and Sacramento counties.

If you or someone you know needs help, visit PreventDV1.org for local resources or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that a Mira Mesa dentist, who fraudulently billed multiple insurance companies $866,700 claiming she performed 800 root canals on 100 patients, some of whom never stepped foot in her dental office, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of insurance fraud earlier this year. April Rose Ambrosio, 59, who does not have specialized training as an endodontist to perform root canals, received more than $400,000 from ten insurance companies after billing them nearly $900,000, according to the San Diego County District Attorney. She has been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $405,633.

Ambrosio, a general dentist, fraudulently billed 10 insurance companies $866,700 from 2014 to 2018 for 800 root canals which were never done. Her deception involved billing for work on days her office was closed, or she was noted as being on vacation, and, in one case, billing for more than 100 root canals over a three-month period for a family of four. In some instances, Ambrosio billed for root canals on non-existent or missing teeth, or she double billed for teeth she previously claimed to have performed root canals on.

“The way this defendant bilked the system is astounding,” DA Stephan said. “Unfortunately, when insurance companies get ripped off, consumers ultimately pay the price through higher premiums.”

The Department of Insurance spent two years investigating this case and worked closely with the District Attorney’s Insurance Fraud Division to bring Ambrosio to justice. Investigators say she was running the billing scam for four years.

Ambrosio never billed the patients for their portion of phony dental work which she billed to the insurance companies. In addition, Ambrosio’s license to practice dentistry has been suspended since September 24, 2019.

Insurance fraud in the U.S. costs consumers about $80 to $90 billion per year. In California, it is a $15 billion-a-year problem. Insurance fraud is the second-largest economic crime in America, exceeded only by tax evasion. The District Attorney’s Insurance Fraud Division is dedicated to preventing all forms of insurance through outreach efforts, investigation and prosecution. This team handles workers’ compensation fraud, disability insurance fraud, health care insurance fraud, auto insurance fraud and life insurance and annuity product financial abuse.