Shandon labor contractor raided
Law enforcement officials searched the Shandon office of Sierra Pacific Labor Services last week as part of an ongoing workers' compensation insurance fraud case.
Kings County Chief Deputy D.A. Patrick Hart said that four other search warrants were also served related warrants to homes in three Kings County locations: Hanford, Lemoore, and Avenal. No arrests were made.
The San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department confirmed that they had participated in the Shandon operation but refused further comment.
Hart said the goal of the raid was to collect financial records and other types of "documentary evidence" against the farm labor contractor who provided workers to agriculture businesses in several counties.
"We were specifically looking at labor practices [in Kings County], but we know they work in Tulare County; we know they work in San Luis Obispo County. We suspect they work in Fresno, too," he said.
Representatives from the San Luis Obispo Farm Bureau said they were unaware of any county business that used Sierra Pacific Labor Services.
Hart would not release the names of any suspects but said that joint investigation between the state's workers compensation officials and the D.A. offices in Kings, Tulare, San Luis Obispo counties was drawing to a close.
"We need to sort through two pickup trucks full of documents," he said. "It's gong to take a little bit of time to put together so we're sure that we're on to everybody that's involved in the fraud and can get a handle on how much fraud is actually taking place. It is quite a lot.
As of press time, New Times was unable to contact Sierra Pacific Labor Services for a comment.
Freitas lawyer outlines plans for defense
Opening arguments were slated Wednesday afternoon in the vehicular manslaughter trial of Kenneth Freitas, charged in the September 2002 crosswalk death of pedestrian Sarah Scruggs, 17, in Grover Beach.
Freitas, 33, the son of San Luis Obispo County Tax
Collector Frank Freitas, is represented by San Luis Obispo attorney Ilan
Funke-Bilu, who has suggested in previous court proceedings that his defense
would include an attack on the road crossing's safety and on the credibility
of investigating Grover Beach and Pismo Beach police
officers.
July selection for the trial, expected to last two to three weeks, was completed Monday.
Freitas faces a single misdemeanor count and a year in prison if convicted.
Funke-Bilu, during open-court discussions of witness lists crafted by both the defense and prosecution, said he plans to present witnesses who will paint a picture of an inherently unsafe, darkened crosswalk where accidents and near misses are common.
Scruggs' parents, Tom and Elizabeth Scruggs of Grover Beach, filed a civil lawsuit against Freitas and the city of Grover Beach, alleging negligence in providing adequate visibility at the Fifth Street and Grand Avenue location.
Sarah Scruggs and Jennifer Tunae, also 17, were struck when Freitas drove through the crosswalk shortly after 9 p.m. Tunae was slightly injured. Scruggs died after four days in a hospital. Investigators said Freitas was traveling at the legal speed limit and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Freitas has an extensive record of vehicle offenses dating back 10 years, and spent six months in county jail in 1999 for a pair of road rage convictions.
His case originally was shuffled to the state attorney general because San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Gerald Shea perceived a conflict of interest due to the defendant's father's longtime local professional and political connections.
The attorney general declined to prosecute, and Shea subsequently retrieved the case and filed the single count.
The county grand jury last week issued a scathing report on Shea's handling of the case, citing the absence of any conflict of interest.
Judge Dodie Harman is presiding over the trial.
Morro, Diablo plant plan sessions delayed
Two public meetings on different public utility projects were postponed this week.
A session planned by the California Energy Commission to hear testimony on the proposed renovation of Duke Energy's Morro Bay power plant will be moved to a later, yet-undetermined date. No reason for the delay was given by commission officials.
Proponents of the project have been confronted with local and state opposition in their efforts to use ocean water for plant cooling purposes.
A meeting of federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) members planned in Texas also has been delayed, and no date for a future session has been given.
The meeting was to discuss safety and other potential problems at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. PG&E, owner of the plant, wants to build dry-cask storage facilities at the plant to hold radioactive waste until it can be shipped to a yet-undetermined location.
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, argued that a meeting in Texas relating to the controversial local issue was unfair to county residents. It now will be held in San Luis Obispo County, NRC officials said.
Stabbing suspect facing county jury
The alleged killer of a Pismo Beach restaurant employee went on trial Tuesday after pleading not guilty to the September 2003 slaying of longtime local figure Douglas Okashima.
Clinton Crites, 35, stabbed Okashima to death because he believed his wife was having an affair with Okashima, said prosecutors in opening statements.
Okashima died in his home, located next to his place of employment, Pismo Fish and Chips Restaurant. Prosecutors said that Crites first cleaned up the residence and then hid the body, first in a trash bin and then at a Grover Beach house, where it was eventually discovered.
Crites told a friend about the slaying, said prosecutor Matt Kerrigan.
Thomas McCormick, Crites' attorney, said he plans to make his opening statement at a later time in the trial.
Costco construction hits environmental snag
Developers of the Los Osos Valley Road Costco have pushed forward their planned completion date by several months. Instead of opening later this fall, the bulk-goods warehouse store won't see its first customers until next spring at the earliest.
The cause of the delay is the same one that faced its neighbor, Home Depot: wetlands. The city of San Luis Obispo is requiring Costco to improve Los Osos Valley Road and Calle Joaquin at Highway 101 as part of the construction project.
But the Army Corps of Engineers has to okay the work around Calle Joaquin because of sensitive wetlands. And it might take up to a year for the federal agency to approve that permit. Army Corps and Costco officials both think it should take a substantially shorter time than that.
Argument leads to stabbing
According to the San Luis Obispo Police Department, an argument between Jose Diaz of Tijuana, Mexico, and Jesus Guitron of Paramount, Calif., escalated out of control late Tuesday night.
The two men were passengers in the same car and as their verbal exchange grew more heated, Diaz allegedly stabbed Guitron multiple times in the face and head with a metal screw. The two men returned to a local motel where police found them.
The victim was treated and released at the scene while his alleged assailant was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the county jail with a bail of $20,000. ³
News Editor Dan Blackburn and Staff Writer Abraham Hyatt compiled this week's news from local and other news sources.
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