Crime and Courts – Attorney Legal Counsel

LA cops being trained to bring some illegal gun cases in federal court – NBC Los Angeles

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 06:12:54 +0000

The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles announced Wednesday expanded efforts to empower local law enforcement officers, who typically present investigations to County district attorneys for prosecution, to bring some violent crime cases involving firearms to federal court, where people convicted of certain gun crimes can face far steeper terms in prison.

“What we’re doing here is expanding the number of cases that we bring federally,” said Martin Estrada, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who briefed reporters while standing with LAPD Chief Dominic Choi, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, and Ventura County Assistant Sheriff Victor Fazio.

“This is an issue that is felt nationally, with this increase in violent gun crimes, and we feel it’s our place to use the powerful sentencing tools we have to address this,” Estrada said.

Federal mandatory minimum sentences for certain violent crimes committed with the use of firearms can often exceed sentences in local courts under California laws, and officials highlighted a number of successful federal robbery prosecutions that were investigated by local police in Southern California.

“This effort will ensure the most violent people out there on the streets are prosecuted and spend the time in jail that they need to, and what that creates are safer cities, safer communities,” said LAPD Chief Dominic Choi.

Violent crime has increased in LA in the first months of 2024, including a 30-percent increase in the number of murders compared with this time last year, according to the LAPD.

The number of people shot has risen by 11-percent, and an increasing number of robberies are being committed with firearms, Choi told the LA Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday.

“We continue to struggle with robberies with firearms, they’re up 4-point-6 percent in 2024 compared to 2023,” he said.

Estrada didn’t respond directly to questions about whether the expanded effort to assist local law enforcement was a response to justice reform initiatives implemented by LA County District attorney George Gascón, who put strict limits on the use of sentencing enhancements for the use of firearms, effectively reducing potential prison time for some people convicted of using guns during the commission of certain violent crimes.

“What we’re doing here is expanding the number of cases that we bring federally, this is an issue that is felt nationally, with this increase in violent gun crimes, and we feel that it’s our place to use the powerful sentencing tools we have to address this,” Estrada said.

“We are being collaborative in this, we are working with our state, local partners to make this a success, I have personally spoken with the District Attorneys of Ventura and Los Angeles and they are supportive of this effort to ensure that we’re targeting the worst of the worst,” he said.

Gascón and Ventura County District attorney Erik Nasarenko did not attend the news conference.

Gascón’s office disagreed in a statement that the routing of some local police investigations to federal prosecutors, rather than to his office, was an effort to undermine his reform policies.

“District attorney Gascón fully supports Operation Safe Cities and rejects any assertion that this is an attempt to sidestep his jurisdiction or thwart his discretion as District attorney,” the statement said.

Gascón’s rules that limited the use of California’s sentencing enhancements were an early focal point of criticism from many of the DA’s office prosecutors, and Gascón made some changes to allow enhancements in some egregious cases with approval from office managers.

Michele Hanisee, the president of the the union that represents most prosecutors, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, said the U.S. attorney‘s announcement that federal prosecutors were reaching further into an area traditionally handled by local prosecutors appeared to reflect that not enough was being done to punish people who use guns in violent crimes.

“The federal government is not going to waste its resources by sending their employees out to local agencies to train them on how to use federal statutes, if the local district attorney was doing his job,” she said.

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Riverside County DA’s Office seeks help identifying victim of ‘Happy Face’ serial killer – NBC Los Angeles

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:46:14 +0000

The Riverside County District attorney’s office sought help from the public on Monday in identifying a woman who was murdered by the “Happy Face” serial killer 31 years ago.

“Our goal is to identify this victim and provide closure to her family, wherever they may be,” Riverside County District attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement. “We are hopeful someone hearing any of these details may remember anything that could help us reunite this woman with the family who may have been looking for her for over three decades.”

Keith Hunter Jesperson pleaded guilty Jan. 8, 2010, to the murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, according to a statement from Riverside County District attorney‘s Office spokesperson Brooke Beare. He referred to the woman as “Claudia,” and she was found about seven miles north of Blythe, along Highway 95, on Aug. 30, 1992.

Jesperson confessed the murder to a news reporter in Portland, Oregon following his arrest in a separate case, Beare said. He then admitted to Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputies about killing her and seven other women as well. He was dubbed the “Happy Face Killer” because he put smiley faces on letters he sent to the media detailing his murders.

More recently, Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide investigators interviewed Jesperson late last year at the Oregon State Penitentiary about “Claudia,” according to Beare. He said he met her while working as a long-haul truck driver in August 1992.

“Jesperson said he met ‘Claudia’ at a brake check area on the I-15 south of the Victorville area around August of 1992 while he was working as a long-haul truck driver,” Beare wrote in a statement. “The woman asked to be taken to the Los Angeles area, but he refused, and due to his planned truck route to Arizona, took her to Cabazon, California instead.”

After that stop, she decided to continue traveling with him until they reached the Indio/Coachella Burns Brothers rest stop and argued about money, Beare said. He said he killed her in his truck and then drove to Blythe, where he dumped her body.

On this date fourteen years ago, “The Happy Face Killer,” was convicted of a murder he committed in Riverside County nearly 20 years prior. Since that victim’s untimely death, we still do not know her name. Today, we ask for your help to identify her. https://t.co/mJnn0MulVA. pic.twitter.com/Ytz5g9A5ak

— Riverside County DA’s Office (@RivCoDA) January 8, 2024

He described her as about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, 20 to 30 years old with a medium build, weighing about 140 to 150 pounds, with shaggy, wild blonde hair, and tight clothing, according to Beare. When found, she was wearing a t-shirt with a motorcycle print and had a tattoo of two small dots on the left side of her right thumb.

She’s believed to have been familiar with the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County areas with ties to Las Vegas and southern Nevada, based on what Jesperson described in his encounter with the victim, Beare said. It’s also believed that she smoked cigarettes and was a frequent hitchhiker.

Improvements in forensic science allowed investigators and genealogists to determine some relatives, including her biological but now deceased father of Cameron County, Texas, according to Beare. Several of the victim’s half-siblings were also identified but they were not biological matches to her mother.

The victim’s maternal side of the family is believed to have ties to the Louisiana and/or southeast Texas area, Brooke said.

Anyone with additional leads to “Claudia’s” identity is asked to call the Cold Case Hotline at 951-955-5567 or email coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org.

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District Attorney – NBC 7 San Diego

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 19:27:56 +0000

San Diego County’s deadly DUI numbers are nearing an all-time high, according to District attorney Summer Stephan.

Making a worrisome trend worse is the fact that, according to Stephan, prosecutors are seeing higher blood alcohol levels associated with these deadly tragedies, as well as more drivers mixing drugs and alcohol before getting behind the wheel.

Bruce Mezan suffered a near-death experience because of a DUI driver back in February 2020.

He was on his way to teach a motorcycle safety class at 6:30 a.m. when a passed-out driver in an SUV slammed into him at 50 mph while he was riding his motorcycle through a Rancho Santa Fe intersection.

In addition to losing his leg, Mezan battled back from a litany of other injuries.

“I had two brain bleeds. I mentioned the coma. I broke all of my ribs. I’ve got 40 pieces of hardware still in my rib cage, reassembling it,” Mezan said.

Since 2020, Stephan said the county has seen a rise in DUI homicides.

Also troubling, she said, is the 45% rise in drivers mixing drugs and alcohol. There were 151 cases in all of last year versus 219 since the start of this year through the start of November, according to Stephan.

“The combination together is creating a hazard that’s causing DUI deaths,” Stephan said.

Last year, 33 people were killed in DUI-related crashes countywide. So far this year, there have been 27 deaths. With more holidays around the corner, there’s cause for concern.

NBC7’s Amber Frias was in court as Gary Baker pleaded not guilty to the hit and run.

“Everyone needs to be their brother and their sister’s keeper. It is not interfering in someone’s business by saying, ‘You’re in no condition to drive,” said Stephan.

The DA’s office has received an $800,000 grant from the state office of traffic safety. Stephan said the money will help prevention efforts and give the DA’s DUI homicide unit more resources to prosecute.

Over the past 10 years, the unit has prosecuted 225 deadly DUI cases.

“When you’re in that vehicle, you have a dangerous instrument, so people need to stop and think of it that way. It’s a weapon of sorts, and when you can’t handle it properly it’s going to take a life, like a gun or something else,” Stephan said.

After battling back from his near-death experience, Mezan now speaks to DUI offenders, hoping his story will help keep our roads safer.

“Truly, and this sounds cliche, and there’s no way to quantify this, but if I was able to keep one person from hurting themselves or someone else, it’s a fair trade,” he said.

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Former SDSU, Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza to be dropped from sex assault lawsuit – NBC 7 San Diego

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 01:27:39 +0000

Matt Araiza has been dropped from the civil lawsuit filed by a woman who accused him and four other former SDSU football teammates of sexually assaulting her at a Halloween party in 2021, the punter’s attorneys said Tuesday. The former punter will also drop his lawsuit against the accuser.

The woman, who was 17 at the time, accused Araiza of bringing her into a room at a home near SDSU where she was raped by several ex-Aztec football players, filed a civil lawsuit against Araiza and two others in Aug. 2022. Two additional men were added to the complaint in 2023.

Araiza, the most high-profile of the defendants named, retaliated with his own defamation lawsuit against the sexual assault accuser in July 2023. In it, he claimed the girl solicited him for sex outside the party and the encounter was consensual.

In a statement released by Araiza’s attorneys on Tuesday, the football star said the sides have reached an agreement, “requiring the plaintiff to dismiss her complaint against him in the next week. Matt is not paying the plaintiff any money and he is reserving his right to pursue the plaintiff’s attorney, Dan Gillion.”

As part of the agreement, Araiza will drop his countersuit, his attorneys said.

NBC 7 reached out to Gillion for comment and to confirm his client’s lawsuit will be dropped against Araiza and has not yet heard back.

It was also not clear if the accused would continue with their claims against the four other men named: Zavier Leonard, Jaiden Brown, Jonathan Harrison and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko, 20, who was earlier this month sentenced to 180 days in jail for possession of child porn.

Araiza, whose play earned him the nickname “Punt God” and a draft selection by the Buffalo Bills, has long maintained his innocence and has called for the complaint to be dismissed, arguing through his lawyers that he believed she was 18 years old at the time and that the sex.

The San Diego Police Department closed its criminal investigation of the alleged incident in early August 2022 without detailing what, if anything, was discovered.

The San Diego District attorney‘s Office was then tasked with investigating the police findings and in December 2022 announced that it would not be filing criminal charges against any of the former players, stating, “Prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction.”

The DA’s office said their investigation included analysis of all the evidence in the case, including “over 35 taped witness interviews, the results of a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) exam, DNA results, and evidence derived from 10 search warrants.” The search warrants produced four terabytes of data which included forensic evidence from cell phones and video evidence of the incident itself.

Araiza was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2022 but released by the team after the allegations came to light. He was seen working out with the New York Jets earlier this year but remains teamless.

His attorneys said in a statement Tuesday, “He now has the full intention of returning to the NFL in hopes of resuming a successful punting career.”

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Pastor removed from city’s police oversight board after anti-transgender comments sues Mayor Gloria – NBC 7 San Diego

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 10:09:50 +0000

A San Diego County Human Relations Commissioner who faced potential removal from the commission following his controversial statements about transgender people filed a lawsuit Wednesday against San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, claiming Gloria discriminated against him for his religious beliefs by removing him from a city board.

Dennis Hodges came under fire after he abstained from voting with other members of the Human Relations Commission regarding the body’s support of a letter condemning transphobia.

Hodges, who is also a pastor of the Church of Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Lemon Grove, cited his Christian beliefs when explaining his abstention and said “transgenderism … is an abomination in the eyes of God,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Those remarks, along with other similar alleged statements, led the commission to vote last year on whether to remove Hodges but not enough votes were cast in favor of his expulsion.

In his lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Diego federal court, Hodges alleges that after the vote, some of his fellow commissioners influenced Gloria to veto Hodges’ reappointment to San Diego’s Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations earlier this year. Hodges had served on that board since 2017.

The complaint alleges that in a memorandum explaining his decision, Gloria said Hodges “has made repeated concerning public comments about LGBTQ people — specifically, the transgender community” and he couldn’t support Hodges’ “reappointment to a board tasked with promoting a positive relationship between the police department and the community it serves.”

Hodges alleges the decision was made “solely based on his beliefs on human creation and transgenderism — issues that are unrelated to his role on the Advisory Board.”

Gloria’s office did not immediately respond for comment regarding the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and Hodges’ reinstatement to the Citizens Advisory Board.

One of Hodges’ attorneys, Mariah Gondeiro, said in a statement, “It is unacceptable that individuals of faith are being explicitly forbidden from serving in government simply because of their faith. The mayor of San Diego must be held accountable for his unconstitutional actions.”

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Attorney wants Hialeah teen charged with mom’s murder moved back to juvenile detention – NBC 6 South Florida

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 23:30:33 +0000

The attorney of a teen who confessed to stabbing his mother spoke out about her concerns for the 13-year-old’s wellbeing in adult jail as family members wrote 20 letters to the court supporting him.

Thursday marked a week since Derek Rosa, who confessed to fatally stabbing his mom Irina Garcia, was transferred out of the Juvenile Detention Center to the Metro West Detention Center.

The transfer was ordered once Rosa was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge for his “evil” and “premeditated” actions, according to records.

Because the teen was denied bond and is considered an adult, he is living with a small group of minors waiting for trial as adults at Metro West. However, Kristen Reynoso, Rosa’s attorney, told NBC6 in an exclusive interview that most of the minors he’s with are closer to 17.

“He’s a middle schooler. He still plays with Legos. He’s a child,” Reynoso said.

Reynosa filed a motion to try and convince a judge to let Rosa return to the juvenile center where he previously lived, pending his adult case. The children living there are not facing as serious charges as Rosa.

“My goal is to get him back to a safe place, where he had established loving and respectful bonds, where he was doing very well and had a lot of services at his disposal,” Reynoso said.

Experts say adult jail is known as a place for punishment, while the juvenile system prioritizes rehabilitation. County records show there are currently 2,502 inmates at Metro West. County-wide, only 32 inmates are 17 and under.

“My concern, of course, is bullying. Both emotional and physical and harassment,” Reynoso said. “My concern is also supposed to be separation, there are times as much as correction officers try, there are situations children do mix with adults.”

A 13-year-old boy who was accused of stabbing his mother to death in their Hialeah apartment was arraigned Tuesday and his attorney entered a plea of not guilty. NBC6’s Christian Colon reports.

Judge Richard Hersch is expected to hear arguments on the motion next week. The judge wants to learn more about the teen. In response, Rosa’s family sent 20 letters obtained by NBC6 that describe the accused criminal as a loving child.

“I had him as if he were my son. We get along very well, said Rosa’s stepfather, who lost his wife and the mother of his newborn baby.

A school bus driver also wrote to the court and described the middle schooler as having “impeccable conduct” and the best grades.

Rosa’s aunt wrote a detailed letter asking for her nephew to receive “psychological help” and said she loved him. The aunt later asked for “mercy” and “despite the loss of his mother, she’d want him to have a life of purpose.”

Criminal defense attorney Erick Cruz, who is not affiliated with this case, said prosecutors in Florida have all the power. Family support could help Rosa get a plea deal or a lesser charge.

“Florida is probably one of the leading states in our country at directly filing juveniles as an adult,” the former prosecutor added. “The reason is all the discretion lies with the prosecutors.”

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Adnan Syed goes before Maryland Supreme Court – NBC4 Washington

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 17:30:49 +0000

Attorneys for Adnan Syed, who is now free after being imprisoned more than two decades ago for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, will once again be arguing to keep his freedom in a case known to millions by the true-crime podcast “Serial.”

In a case fraught with legal twists and divided court rulings, arguments are set to begin Thursday in Maryland’s Supreme Court. Syed’s attorneys are appealing the reinstatement of his murder conviction by an appellate court, in a case that has broader ramifications for victims’ rights as well as Syed’s future.

Syed, 42, was released from prison in September 2022, when a Baltimore judge overturned his conviction. City prosecutors had dropped all charges after finding flaws in the evidence.

However, in March, the Appellate Court of Maryland ordered a redo of the hearing that enabled Syed to walk out a free man. The appellate court said the victim’s family didn’t receive adequate notice to attend the hearing in person, violating their right to be “treated with dignity and respect.”

The family of Hae Min Lee also is appealing to the state’s highest court, contending that crime victims in Maryland have a right to be heard and challenge the evidence in hearings like the one last year that vacated Syed’s conviction from 2000.

He faces at least the potential of being sent back to prison, a point his lawyers raised in court filings.

“The terrifying specter of reincarceration has hung over Mr. Syed’s head every day for the past ten months,” Syed’s lawyer, Erica Suter, wrote in a brief filed with the court in August.

The case could have consequences for victims’ rights. Although the appellate court ruled that Lee’s brother didn’t get sufficient notice to attend the hearing that vacated Syed’s conviction, the court also said state law doesn’t guarantee crime victims a “right to be heard” during the hearings. That decision falls to the presiding judge. Allowing victims to present evidence or otherwise engage substantively would “result in a huge shift in practice,” the judges said.

The Maryland Supreme Court isn’t expected to issue a ruling on Thursday. A written ruling will be filed on the court’s website, although it’s unclear when.

Syed’s attorneys say the Lee family did have sufficient notice about the hearing. They also argue that the family’s appeal is moot, because prosecutors decided not to charge Syed again after his conviction was vacated. His attorneys contend that even if the rights of Lee’s brother, Young Lee, were violated, he hasn’t demonstrated whether the alleged violation would have changed the hearing’s outcome.

Lee, who ended up speaking remotely at the hearing, was notified on a Friday afternoon that it would take place the following Monday. That was “insufficient time to reasonably allow Mr. Lee, who lived in California, to attend the hearing in person,” the appellate court ruled. Attorneys for Lee’s family have criticized a lack of transparency as well in the court proceedings that led to Syed’s release.

“Hae Min Lee’s murder has been at issue in Maryland’s courts for nearly a generation,” David Sanford, an attorney for the family, wrote in a court filing last month. He argued the state Supreme Court should send the case to another judge to decide whether to vacate the conviction or not.

This isn’t the first time Maryland’s highest court has taken up Syed’s protracted legal odyssey.

In 2019, a divided court ruled 4-3 to deny Syed a new trial. While the court agreed with a lower court that Syed’s legal counsel was deficient in failing to investigate an alibi witness, it disagreed that the deficiency prejudiced the case. That ruling came after a lower court ordered a retrial in 2016 on grounds that Syed’s attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, who died in 2004, didn’t contact an alibi witness and provided ineffective counsel.

In November 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision by Maryland’s top court.

More recently, Baltimore prosecutors went over Syed’s files under a Maryland law targeting so-called “juvenile lifers” because he was 17 when Hae Min Lee was found strangled to death and buried in a makeshift grave.

Prosecutors uncovered numerous problems, including alternative suspects and the unreliable evidence of cellphone tower data presented at trial. Instead of reconsidering his sentence, prosecutors filed a motion to vacate Syed’s conviction entirely.

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Ring leader of burglary crew that hit homes across San Diego County sentenced to prison – NBC 7 San Diego

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 05:02:30 +0000

The ringleader of a residential burglary crew that San Diego prosecutors say targeted 43 homes and took more than $1 million in cash and jewelry was sentenced Monday to 56 years in state prison.

George Boozer, 48, led a crew that included eight other defendants who burglarized homes over an 18-month period, according to the San Diego County District attorney‘s Office.

Boozer pleaded guilty earlier this year to 72 counts that included residential burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Three other defendants have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing, while the remaining defendants may still go to trial.

The District attorney‘s Office said the crew committed burglaries in other California counties and “utilized sophisticated measures to conceal their appearance and vehicles used to commit the offenses.”

One of Boozer’s co-defendants, Lauren Patrick, helped case affluent neighborhoods for homes the crew targeted, while another co-defendant, Devon Taylor, took part in stealing property from homes and pepper sprayed some homeowners’ dogs during the crimes, prosecutors said. Both Patrick and Taylor are slated for sentencing next week.

San Diego County District attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement, “These criminals not only stole cash and valuables from the victims, but they also stole their peace of mind, their safety and their security.”

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San Diego substitute teacher, hockey coach ‘Mr. Pickles’ sentenced in child-porn case – NBC 7 San Diego

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 22:08:10 +0000

A North County man who worked as a teachers aide, substitute teacher and youth hockey coach was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 16 years in federal prison for his role in a scheme to trick minors into sending sexually explicit material of themselves to him and two co-conspirators.

Daniel Dasko was arrested last year after federal authorities said he worked with two people, one of whom was a Philadelphia-area teacher, to solicit child pornography from minor victims.

NBC 7’s Omari Fleming reports from the North County ice rink where Daniel Dasko worked and coached.

That teacher, Andrew Wolf, was sentenced earlier this year to nearly 39 years in prison, while another defendant, Kray Strange of Carthage, New York, was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said the other two men worked to “catfish” victims by posing as teenage girls online. In a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors, they wrote that several of the minor victims were targeted “because Dasko provided their names and publicly available online information.”

Dasko’s defense attorney, Marcus Bourassa, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that his client’s conduct differed from the other two defendants, who “were operating on a different scale” by directly baiting victims in the catfishing scheme.

Bourassa, who sought a seven-year sentence for Dasko, also said his client accepted responsibility early by immediately seeking sex offender treatment from the outset of the case.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez, Dasko wrote that while he “earnestly loved teaching and coaching,” he could not “fault anyone who is disgusted with my career choices in light of my crimes here. I share their disgust with myself.”

Dasko pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of distribution of child pornography.

At his sentencing hearing, Dasko read a letter he’d authored to the victims, in which he wrote “I’m sorry that I will never be able to make amends to you. I am sure you all carry this unwanted burden on your shoulders every day and will continue to do so for the rest of your lives. … I always will and I deserve to carry a great burden for what I have done to you.”

Lopez, who imposed a 188-month sentence, also heard from the mother of a teenage boy who was 13 years old when he shared sexually explicit content of himself with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl.

The woman said her son continues to suffer from feelings of humiliation and self-loathing, as well as fear that images of himself may be circulating online.

“It is impossible for me to adequately communicate the sense of shame this has brought to my son,” she said. “Watching my once happy, bubbly, outgoing boy be engulfed in despair fills me with a despondence that I have never known.”

Assistant U.S. attorney Amanda Griffith said the victim and his mother “are a microcosm of the dozens and dozens of children that were impacted.”

The San Diego County Office of Education confirmed Dasko is listed as a substitute for the Del Mar, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe and Solana Beach school districts, and at one point worked in the San Dieguito Union School District.

Coaches at the San Diego Ice Arena confirmed last year that Drasko helped coach the 12-under team.

“Forty years. Never had anything like that happen in my program,” said Joel Henderso, president of the San Diego Ice Arena Oilers Hockey Club.

Henderson said Drasko was reported to the U.S. Center for Safesport and was removed from SDIA programs as soon as they found out.

“It’s shocking and terrifying because these are people we think we trust who are teaching our kids a sport,” said the older sister of one of Drasko’s players. “It’s eye-opening how careful we have to be in places we think we might not have to.

During that investigation, prosecutors a the Philadelphia teacher was found to be communicating online with another person who went by the name “Mr. Pickles,” who the U.S. attorney‘s Office contends is Dasko.

Prosecutors said the teacher and “Mr. Pickles” exchanged more than 3,600 messages over the course of a year, the majority of which revolved around “sexually exploiting children they knew or met online.” They also traded image and video files, though the complaint states that the content of many of these files could not be viewed by law enforcement.

However, the complaint states that last year, “Alex” sent “Mr. Pickles” a sexually explicit video he had acquired from a teenage boy, which “Mr. Pickles” then sent to the Philadelphia teacher.

Prosecutors said that upon Dasko’s arrest, he admitted he was “Mr. Pickles.” The complaint states that he also admitted “that he would solicit others for images of minor males who were naked.”

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