San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said today that her office took a tough stance early last year against organized retail thieves and is continuing to explore additional ways to hold these criminals accountable amid high-profile ‘smash and grab’ thefts across California.

Today, Stephan and her team met with retailers, business association representatives, retail industry employee representatives, law enforcement and others to discuss the scope of the problem in San Diego County, steps law enforcement is taking to stop and prosecute these crimes and talk about possible future prevention strategies. The meeting was also held to develop a deeper understanding of the issues and possible solutions.

Beginning in 2019, with the passage of California’s Organized Retail Theft Law (PC 490.4), the San Diego DA’s Office began a partnership with the California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Theft team of special investigators. Since that time, a number of successful prosecutions have occurred. Crews of thieves coming to San Diego from other parts of the California have been prosecuted in a single case for all crimes they committed against retail stores up and down the state.

“By building strong cases here in San Diego, the message we’re delivering is that if you come to our county to steal, you will be investigated, caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for all of the thefts you have committed in other counties,” said DA Stephan. “We’ve been a leader in the state when it comes to holding these organized crime rings accountable through enforcing the rule of law and are continuing to fight on behalf of businesses, their employees, customers and the community to be safe and protected from harm in our county.”

In a recent case, two thieves were prosecuted for 42 felony counts of looting, grand theft and burglary for breaking into ULTA Beauty, Nordstrom Rack and other stores during nighttime hours. These thieves caused over $700,000 in loss after destroying locked glass doors. The defendants were prosecuted by the San Diego DA’s Office for crimes occurring in four additional counties.

National retail groups estimate retail theft losses to be in the tens of billions of dollars each year. Locally, San Diego County has not yet seen any of the larger “smash and grab” incidents, but instead thefts are increasingly carried out by organized crews of thieves who are travelling around the state and hitting store after store of whatever they specialize in or whatever is in demand like fragrances, tools and electronics. Law enforcement is arresting some thieves who are San Diego residents but say at least half of them are not local residents and only come to San Diego is to steal.

In other cases, robbers hop the counter or enter a pharmacy area to steal prescription medication. Prosecutors also say thieves often strike when stores are open, knowing that sales associates have been directed to leave the crooks alone for safety and liability reasons. With these kinds of robberies on the increase, organized retail theft represents a significant problem in San Diego County.

Another challenge to holding repeat thieves accountable is a change in the law under Prop 47 that says any loss under $950 cannot be charged as a felony no matter how many times the crime is repeated. Currently the law doesn’t distinguish between a person who steals on one occasion and those who steal repeatedly harming small businesses and their employees.

In addition, currently misdemeanor retail theft cases are not bookable offenses and thieves are just issued citations (like a traffic ticket) and told to leave the store. This is due to the need for the jail to allow capacity for serious and violent offenders to address COVID concerns that have been taken advantage of by repeat criminals who have used the zero bail as a vehicle to continue preying on the community.

DA Stephan is also calling on the legislature to restore a key provision of the state’s Retail Theft Law. When the law lapsed recently, the legislature put the law back in place after the shocking images of smash and grab thefts emerged in the media, but without the provision that allows one DA’s Office to combine cases from other counties into one prosecution.
Arresting and prosecuting thieves is important but can’t happen without early reporting from stores. Oftentimes, the crews hit multiple stores per day and the evidence from one store can help prove the thefts in another store. Store video surveillance is particularly valuable, including outside cameras that may capture vehicle information. When arrests are made and property is recovered, police reports are the only way victims can be identified and stolen property returned.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that her office is hosting a first of its kind virtual opioid assembly – called SDNeeds2Know – streaming from the San Diego School for Creative and Performing Arts to inform students of increasing fentanyl-related overdose deaths related to laced substances and to warn them that any pills that don’t come from a pharmacy could be deadly. The online summit is being held December 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Every middle and high school in the county are being invited to attend the event virtually, which is being organized and supported by the District Attorney’s Office, the San Diego County Office of Education, Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Nathan Fletcher, Natural High, and other partners.

“Our region is experiencing drug overdose health crisis,” DA Stephan said. “Over the past few years in San Diego County, the number of fentanyl deaths, especially among young people, has more than quadrupled. This is why we planned this countywide summit focused on middle and high school students, who are asked to log on to this summit from whatever class they’re in for an hour packed with life-saving information.”

The summit on opioids seeks to educate middle and high school students by engaging them in a dynamic livestream event that includes powerful testimonials from overdose survivors, a short play by students, and inspiring messages from local leaders. One of the program highlights is a keynote speech by Chris Herren, a former NBA basketball player who struggled with an opioid addiction and uses his story of recovery as a powerful connection to help those suffering from addiction. His presentation also focuses largely on the social and emotional health of our teens.

Aaron Rubin, who became a quadriplegic after an opioid overdose, and his mother Sherrie will also speak to the students about their experience.

Parents of middle and high school age children are encouraged to contact their schools to confirm their child’s classroom is participating in the summit. Parents are also encouraged to attend.

“We have an opioid epidemic gripping our country,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “We are needlessly and tragically losing many young lives at an alarming rate. Our young people need to know that experimenting with drugs can have fatal consequences. That pill or powder might be laced with fentanyl. Don’t let one bad decision steal your future.”

San Diego County continues to deal with a fentanyl crisis. Overdose deaths have increased from 33 in 2016 to almost 700 so far this year. Victims include students as young as 16-years-old and young people are experimenting with drugs as early as 12.

“It’s our job as educators to make sure that students are made aware of the dangers that opioids and other drugs present and this summit is an opportunity to hear from individuals who have experienced peril at the hands of these powerful drugs,” said County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Gothold. “To curb these alarming trends, we must continue to create school environments that are safe and welcoming to all students.”

It’s impossible to know what is in street drugs, DA Stephan warned.

“San Diego needs to know that the pills or powder currently sold on the streets, likely contain fentanyl, DA Stephan said. “Literally one pill can kill and has killed in every neighborhood of our county.”

This event would not have been possible without the generous assistance from our donors, who include HIDTA, Sycuan, Natural High, Hazelden Betty Ford, the Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force, and the Warshof Family. The summit was organized by Deputy DA Terri Perez when she served as the DA’s Chief of Narcotics Division and continuing in her current position as Chief of the South Bay Branch.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan is encouraging the public to report fraud during International Fraud Awareness Week. Insurance Fraud is the second-largest economic crime in the U.S. and costs California residents about $15 billion a year. To combat this problem, the District Attorney, in conjunction with the California Department of Insurance, is shining a spotlight on this issue to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education.

In 2020, the DA’s Insurance Fraud and Workplace Justice Division filed criminal charges against 214 defendants and obtained 81 convictions for various insurance fraud offenses. As a result of these convictions, over $1.1 million in restitution was ordered for victims, including individuals, insurers, and state agencies.

“Committing fraud is a serious financial crime that harms seniors, business owners, employees and corporations,” DA Stephan said. “Ultimately fraud impacts all of us when insurance prices spike because of unscrupulous actors. Honest industries can’t compete with those cutting corners through fraud. If you know of fraud being committed, report it.”

The Insurance Fraud and Workplace Justice Division is dedicated to eradicating insurance fraud, whether it relates to workers’ compensation, automobile insurance, life insurance, or fraud in the healthcare industry. It also prosecutes other crimes uncovered during fraud investigations, including wage theft, tax evasion and even labor trafficking.

The DA’s Economic Crimes Division is also responsible for prosecuting a wide variety of fraud, including identity theft, investment scams and embezzlements. The division also acts to protect consumers and businesses by successfully filing civil cases to prohibit unfair business practices within the marketplace.

 

Examples of the types of crimes that the Insurance Fraud and Workplace Justice Division prosecutes are:

• Workers’ Compensation Provider Fraud – When medical and legal providers, including doctors, chiropractors, and lawyers are paying or receiving kickbacks for referrals, billing for services not rendered or overbilling for services provided.

• Workers’ Compensation Premium Fraud – When a business misrepresents its true payroll, the type of work it performs, or conceals employee injuries to pay lower workers’ compensation premiums. One of the most common premium fraud schemes occurs when employers pay employees in cash without reporting that cash payroll to the Employment Development Department and their insurer. This activity results in $7 billion in lost revenue each year and evasion of approximately $6.5 million in payroll taxes annually. Frequently, employers who commit premium fraud also engage in other crimes, including wage theft, tax evasion, and labor/human trafficking.

• Workers’ Compensation Applicant Fraud – When employees fake or exaggerate work injuries to collect workers’ compensation benefits, or when employers make false statements to deny benefits to injured workers.

• Uninsured Employers – Every business in California is required to have workers’ compensation insurance to cover its employees in the event of a workplace injury. These cases are especially important because if an employee is injured at work and their employer does not have workers’ compensation insurance, the employee may have no recourse to get required care and benefits.

• Auto Insurance Fraud – Fraudulently obtaining payment on an auto insurance policy based on false information such as inflated or faked damages, staged collisions, false claims of vehicle theft and arson. This fraud costs consumers billions of dollars each year in the form of higher insurance premiums.

• Disability and Healthcare Fraud – This involves fraudulent medical and disability claims and policies, including medical providers who fraudulently bill insurance companies or who divert medications for personal use or sale. Healthcare fraud increases medical costs for everyone.

• Life and Annuity Fraud – Unscrupulous life insurance agents and others who seek to steal the savings of victims through power-of-attorney abuse, securities fraud, and fraudulent claims on legitimate policies. These scams often target senior citizens, and the impact is life-altering, since seniors do not have the time or opportunity for financial recovery.

• Workplace Justice Violations – In this unit we have developed an innovative approach to prosecuting wage theft, wage and hour violations, meal and rest break abuses, unfair business practices, tax evasion, and labor trafficking.

The Economic Crimes Division has filed criminal charges against 233 defendants and obtained 144 convictions from 2020 through this year so far. Additionally, from those convictions, 50 defendants were ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution. The division also investigated over 100 price gouging complaints during the early days of the pandemic.

This division also pursued civil enforcement actions against various businesses for unfair competition or environmental violations. In 2020, the Consumer Protection and Environmental Protection Units completed over a dozen major civil enforcement actions resulting in injunctions to stop the unlawful business practices and statewide monetary relief that included millions of dollars in civil penalties and costs and $19.6 million in direct restitution to consumer victims.

Examples of the types of cases that the Economic Crimes Division prosecutes include:

• Real Estate Fraud – This type of crime involves various fraudulent real estate transactions and/or schemes such as the submission of forged loan applications, fraudulent transfers of title of real property, recordation of fraudulent real estate documents; home equity sale contract fraud; and mortgage foreclosure consultant fraud.

• Computer and Technology Crimes High Tech Task Force (CATCH) – This Unit prosecutes high-technology criminals engaged in crimes where technology is the prime method of committing crime.

• Identity Theft – These crimes involve criminals acquiring key pieces of someone’s identifying information to impersonate them and commit numerous forms of fraud.

• Complex Theft – These crimes commonly involve embezzlement or investment scams. Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been entrusted. Instead of using the company’s payroll system or checking or credit card account for legitimate company business, the individual uses these accounts to steal by directing the money to his or her own accounts or to pay for personal expenses. Grand theft schemes take many forms but include scams where the perpetrator misleads individuals about an investment opportunity and instead the uses the money to support the perpetrator’s lifestyle.

• Consumer Protection – These cases generally involve a business or an individual taking advantage of consumers. These cases can range from a business failing to warn a consumer that their credit card will be billed on an ongoing basis to a business using scanners that charge an amount over the advertised price to building contractors operating without a license. These cases also include other unfair business practices such as misleading product labeling or false advertising.

• Environmental Protection – These cases involve businesses that violate rules relating to the environment such as hazardous waste disposal, underground storage tank regulations and clean air act statutes.

If you see, hear, or know of an insurance fraud scam happening in your area, please contact the DA’s Office through the Insurance Fraud hotline at (800) 315-7672 or at sdconnect@sdcda.org, or contact the California Department of Insurance at (800) 927-4357. To report fraud related to real estate, you can contact the DA’s Real Estate Fraud hotline at (619) 531-3552. To report any other type of fraud or criminal activity, please contact your local law enforcement agency. For information and resources about International Fraud Awareness Week, visit www.FraudWeek.com.

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office has charged Danalee Pascua, 36, a nurse at the Las Colinas Detention Facility, with Involuntary Manslaughter, a felony violation of Penal Code Section 192(b), in connection with the death of Elisa Serna, 24. Serna died on November 11, 2019 while in custody at the detention facility. Arraignment is scheduled for November 19 at 1:45 p.m. in East County. If convicted, Pascua faces up to four years in prison. There is an ongoing investigation in this case reviewing other parties who may also be criminally responsible.

On November 10, 2019, Ms. Serna reported that she was dizzy and nauseous and was moved into the Medical Observation Unit of the Las Colinas Detention Facility. The next day, the defendant responded to Serna’s medical isolation cell in an attempt to take Serna’s vitals. Serna fell in the defendant’s presence. The defendant failed to get Serna’s vitals, did not move Serna into a recovery position and left Serna on the ground in the cell. About an hour later, Pascua and deputies returned to Ms. Serna’s cell and began futile life saving measures.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department referred their investigation to our office for review. The Special Operations Division of the DA’s Office, a dedicated unit of prosecutors and investigators that review officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths involving criminal wrongdoing, is handling this case.

District Attorney Summer Stephan released the following statement:
“There is nothing more sacred than the sanctity of life and when that life is in the custody and care of government, it must be safeguarded and provided with the appropriate medical care. The evidence in the in-custody death of Elisa Serna demonstrates criminal negligence that contributed to her death. It is a heartbreaking case of failure to safeguard Elisa’s life by those who are charged with that responsibility. Our analysis in this case as in any case follows the law, is independent and objective. In this particular incident, we can only file charges against the individuals involved if it is determined there is criminal negligence beyond a reasonable doubt. Other systems such as civil actions, administrative sanctions and citizen review boards provide wider remedies without the very high burden of proof of criminal accountability.”