Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/orange-county-district-attorney/)
Roman Reyna agreed to pay $578,053 in restitution to the city for the cost of an upcoming special election to fill his seat on the council, and will have a lifetime ban against holding elected office, according to prosecutors.
Former District Attorney Tony Rackauckas quietly decided last year to not have prosecutors tell defense attorneys about 10 sheriff deputies suspected of lying about or concealing records about jail informants.
It’s first time in years Orange County DA officials have been known to place a politician under surveillance for alleged residency fraud.
In sworn testimony, Mayor Miguel Pulido was accused of running a side business personally renting out city-owned property and interfering with police decisions about which illegal pot shops to raid. Pulido denies the allegations.
Two top Santa Ana officials, including a former police chief, alleged under oath the city’s police union leader engaged in bribery of City Council candidates in 2016, saying Sgt. Gerry Serrano told candidates they had to agree to fire then-Police Chief Carlos Rojas in order to benefit from $400,000 in campaign spending.
At the request of District Attorney Todd Spitzer, police chiefs and the Sheriff are working on a policy for all departments to uniformly handle the new state law that creates transparency in law enforcement discipline records, but is opposed by many police unions.
Orange County’s new District Attorney, Todd Spitzer, said during his swearing-in ceremony Monday night there will be sweeping changes at the prosecutor’s office.
Midterm voters turned out in OC at the highest rate in decades and Democrats gained major wins in local Congressional and state legislative seats.
Democrat Katie Porter pulled ahead of Republican Congresswoman Mimi Walters, and DA Tony Rackauckas announced his office will be transitioning to Spitzer’s administration over the next few weeks. Here are the latest counts as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Spitzer said he plans to step up prosecutions of hate crimes, will meet regularly with communities that feel they’re treated unfairly by law enforcement, will not evaluate prosecutors based on conviction rates, and will hold police officers and prosecutors accountable.