Board of Supervisors Honors Group of San Diego Prosecutors for Excellence

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors honored seven prosecutors with proclamations recognizing their outstanding contributions to public safety through the successful prosecution of several high-profile criminal cases. The proclamations were announced at Tuesday morning’s board meeting.

“I’m very proud of the outstanding achievements of these Deputy District Attorneys,” District Attorney Dumanis said. “They truly represent the dedication and quality of our entire prosecutorial team throughout the office. Their exemplary work throughout complex and lengthy cases further demonstrates our commitment to justice and to keep our communities safer.”

The Deputy District Attorneys honored by the Board for their commitment to public safety include:

DDA Garrett Wong

During the infamous case of People v. Lopez, Maraglino, and Perez for the murder of Brittany Kilgore, DDA Wong had to deal with many complexities of a circumstantial evidence murder case where victim was murdered after the defendants tortured her for sadistic sexual purposes. DDA Wong was present at the crime scene in Riverside County and the autopsy, and he remained engaged with the case as it moved from investigation to trial. Wong’s mastery of the voluminous cell phone/GPS/cell site evidence and cross examination of the defense experts was essential to the successful prosecution of all three defendants. He also handled many other crucial elements including the testimony of the medical examiner which established the crime of torture through evidence of strangulation and other injuries to the victim’s body. All three defendants were convicted.

DDA Steven Schott

During the last year, DDA Schott has tried nine felony trials to verdict. He has tried multiple robbery cases, a residential burglary, and a high profile case, People v. Jones that involved the attempted murder of two San Diego Firefighters. Schott prosecuted the case under intense media scrutiny and the San Diego Fire Department expressed their gratitude for his preparedness and prosecution of the case. In addition to his regular Superior Court assignments, Schott also handles a large number of manslaughter and murder cases for the DUI Homicide team. He is frequently called out to the scene where his legal advice has proven to be a great asset to law enforcement.

DDA Gina Darvas

In the case People v. Young, DDA Gina Darvas faced lengthy investigative work before the case could be filed against a fake doctor who preyed on desperate cancer patients, charging them exorbitant fees for his bogus treatment. Once the case was issued, the defense attorney stalled through numerous continuances of the preliminary hearing that ultimately lasted nine days. Once the trial started over a year later, DDA Darvas worked nights and weekends for the duration of the trial which lasted nearly six weeks. Young was convicted of two counts of treating the sick without a license, but the jury hung on five of the counts, for which trial is set to commence in 2017.

DDA Shawn Tafreshi

DDA Tafreshi successfully prosecuted two cold case homicides. In People v. Burquez, Celaya, and Matthews, three defendants were convicted for the killing of 14-year-old Richy Carrillo. Tafreshi reviewed thousands of Facebook pages from City Heights Junior gangsters to develop a network of juvenile informants that provided valuable information. He also expertly used cell tower records, phone records, computer records, jail calls, and more. After a five week trial prosecution the defendants were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In the case of People v. Ortega, Tafreshi accomplished he conviction of the defendants for murdering Jesus Enriquez and attempting to murder his sister, Isabel Enriquez. The case was six years old when Tafreshi began working on it and he had to handle many complex legal issues, including complex DNA testimony and even the defendant’s hit order on a gang detective. Ortega was ultimately sentenced to 87 years-to-life in prison.

DDA Susan Gust

The case of People v. Dikes is one of the worst the Family Protection unit has seen, where the defendant married a woman with two daughters he molested. After countless hours of investigation, DDA Gust found five previous victims of the defendant in Alabama, who wanted nothing to do with this case at first; however, through her persistence and excellent rapport with them, the Alabama victims came to San Diego to testify against the defendant. Throughout the prosecution there were many challenges, including the attempted suicide of the 13 year old victim, whom Gust spent hours with afterwards until she was able to take the stand and describe the horrific acts.  After a six week trial, the defendant was convicted of 22 counts of various acts of child molest.

DDAs Chris Lawson and James Simmons

In the case of People v. Simpson, et al. DDAs Lawson and Simmons had a colossal undertaking with 18 defendants, hundreds of witnesses and complex legal issues. Between January 2012 and April 2014, members of the “Hit Squad,” a subset of a street gang in Southeast San Diego, committed 17 gang shootings primarily against members of rival Crip sets in San Diego. Led by defendant Dionte Simpson, members of the Hit Squad conspired to kill their Crip rivals, posting their plans, taunting and intimidating witnesses via social media. Through the use of wiretaps, surreptitious recordings, jail calls, and the large quantity of social media postings by members of the gang, DDAs Lawson and Simmons were able to establish conspiracy to commit murder and the little used gang conspiracy making these defendants culpable of the crimes the boldly bragged about online. Three separate preliminary examinations were held, each lasting several weeks,   after which 15 of the 18 defendants admitted various offenses, including the conspiracy charges, attempted murder and assault with a firearm. The remaining defendants, including the gang’s shot caller, Dionte Simpson, went to trial. After nine weeks in trial, Dionte Simpson, Nicholas Hoskins and Victor Ware were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and gang conspiracy, each facing life in prison.

CECO Bake-off Winning Recipe

CECO Treasurer Detra Williams, Bake-Off winner Margarita Flores, Bake-Off judge Tom Montgomery and CECO Vice President Nadia Moshirian-Binderup.

Come and get it! The San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization (CECO) Bake-off winning recipe is now ready to be served.

Margarita Flores, a Human Services Specialist with Access Customer Service Call Center, was crowned the 2016 champion earlier last month at the annual CECO Bake Sale at the County Administration Center. Flores won with her beautifully layered carrot cake cheesecake.

The competition and bake sale are a sweet way to fundraise and showcase great bakers. Dozens of employees donated homemade cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, biscuits and breads.

In the holiday spirit of giving, Flores shared her delicious recipe. It may seem a little tricky, but it’s really as easy as pie (with just more steps). Be sure to read through to the end before starting.

To help you out, Flores broke up the recipe into three sections: the carrot cake bottom, cheesecake middle and icing on top. She said while the carrot cake layer is in the oven, start on the cheesecake. And while the cheesecake layer is baking, start on the icing. This will cut down on time in the kitchen and you’ll be able to enjoy eating this scrumptious dessert that much sooner.

You can have your cake and eat it too! Fill your belly with carrot cake cheesecake and heart with the joy of giving. Make a donation to CECO this holiday season. Their annual campaign ends this week. Help them reach their goal! To learn how to donate to CECO, visit them online.

Margarita Flores’ Carrot Cake Cheesecake Recipe

Carrot Cake Ingredients:

• 1 cup ground walnuts divided and save ¼ for cake topping

• 1 cup of regular flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ¾ tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp ground ginger

• ¼ tsp salt

• ½ cup vegetable oil

• ½ cup white sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 ½ cup of shredded carrot

Carrot Cake Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 350.

2. Spray 9-inch spring form pan with baking spray.

3. In a large bowl mix together walnuts, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt by hand.

4. In a separate bowl whisk vegetable oil, sugar and eggs. Then add shredded carrots and whisk again.

5. Combine both bowls of ingredients and mix until well blended.

6. Add batter to spring form pan making sure it’s even.

7. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and wrap bottom and sides in heavy foil.

Cheesecake Ingredients:

• 24 oz. cream cheese

• 2/3 cup sour cream

• 2/3 cup white sugar

• 3 whole eggs

• 1 tsp lemon Juice

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 tbsp flour

Cheesecake Instructions:

1. Blend cream cheese, sour cream and sugar for 3 to 4 minutes until creamy.

2. Add eggs, lemon juice, vanilla extract and flour to cream cheese mixture and continue mixing for an additional 3 to 4 minutes until well blended.

3. Add cheesecake mix on top of the baked carrot cake.

4. Place spring form pan in a baking dish and fill dish with water halfway.

5. Bake for 1 hour at 350.

6. Remove spring form pan from baking dish and remove foil.

7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

8. Remove cake from spring. (Tip: run knife around side to ensure it doesn’t stick.)

Icing Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• ½ cup powdered sugar

• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

• pinch of salt

Icing Instructions:

1. Whisk ingredients together

2. Add icing to top of the cake and sprinkle with leftover ground walnuts.

3. Enjoy!

InTouch – Firm Values in a Season of Change

We’re heading into that “most wonderful time of the year.” I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely ready for it.

It’s been a roller coaster of a year. For many reasons, but certainly the election looms over it all.

At their heart, elections are about competing visions. If we all wanted the exact same thing out of our government, we wouldn’t need to vote. So elections are fundamentally about differences. People feel strongly about them.

But this election cycle, more so than in any other I recall, I felt those divisions, and the passions that surround them, hardening people into rival camps. Sides that seemed to have little understanding of each other and no common ground. We simply cannot let that happen.

One of my greatest sources of pride in our organization is our notion of One County, a mindset that means working across department lines to realize our highest-level goals. We’ve also embraced “collective impact,” a term that describes the way we boost our achievements by teaming up both internally and with community partners who share our vision. Our Diversity and Inclusion initiative is meant to build awareness of the variety of perspectives we’ll find in the people we work with – and work for.   

These concepts and actions are all related. They don’t ignore differences, but instead stress recognizing individual strengths and pulling them together for the common good.

They’re not feel-good slogans. They’re part of our County culture and critical to how we operate.

It’s too early to know exactly what the national change in leadership will mean for us here at the County level. We can deal with change. In recent years, we weathered the Great Recession with far less pain than many agencies felt. We rose to the challenge of public safety realignment.

We did those things by staying focused on our main goals and standing by our principles. They’ll continue to guide us now. Not just practices like fiscal discipline, but principles like respect.

Respect is the R in our HEART customer services qualities, and we define it as “treating everyone with dignity and courtesy.” That’s not just something we aspire to. I expect every member of our organization to offer dignity and courtesy to every co-worker and customer. No exceptions. I encourage any employee who feels deprived of respect to come forward and discuss it with your supervisor, your HR representative or the Office of Ethics and Compliance, whichever is appropriate.

I’ll admit, respecting opinions that differ from our own is often hard. However, it gets easier the more we learn about each other. We can be proactive in building that understanding. Reach out to people, hear them out, give their views a fair shake. That can all go a long way toward bridging some of the stark divisions we’ve seen emerge this election. It won’t always work. But all successes require taking a chance.

By the nature of our work as public servants, we’re familiar with a cross-section of the population in a way few others are. I take comfort in knowing that much of what I’m saying here reflects what you’re already doing each day. I just want to make clear in a time of transition what remains constant.

We’re in the business of doing what we can to help all members of our county, to make their lives better. And you all do a remarkable job of delivering on that. A lot of that work involves building relationships, from interpersonal to inter-agency.

The holidays are a time we pause and focus on our own relationships: with our families, our friends, our community ties. As the year draws to a close, I want to offer you my thanks for your continued dedication to the people we serve, my assurance we’ll stand by our values, and my best wishes to you and your loved ones for a joyful season. 

Recent InTouch columns

Make Time for Yourself

Our Election, By the Numbers

All InTouch columns

Display Chronicles Advances in Public Health

He’s created dozens of eye-catching displays at several County buildings using our artifacts and historical photos.

Jay Johnson recently unveiled a new exhibit at the Health and Human Services Agency health complex at Rosecrans Street.

The wall display, located in the main hallway, showcases some of the tools and equipment used to improve public health since 1850.

Here are some photos to give you a better picture.

Below are videos of other displays Johnson has developed.

• The Old Building Speak (CAC)
• If Walls Could Talk (COC)
• Bottled Up: Unearthed Artifacts Now on Display (Cedar/Kettner Garage)

PerkSpot Alert: Discounts on Custom Holiday Cards

Updated Nov. 30, 2016: This deal has ended.

Picture this: big savings on holiday cards. Get discounts on festive cards with family photos at Vistaprint through PerkSpot this month. That is definitely something to smile about!

Vistaprint has up to 60 percent off custom orders including wall calendars, canvas prints and coffee mugs—great gift ideas for grandma and grandpa, your significant other and close family friends.

PerkSpot offers benefits and discounts to County employees through hundreds of service providers and retailers, from movie theaters to florists and jewelers. Using PerkSpot is both easy and free. Simply go to SDCounty.PerkSpot.com and shop. If you are new, click on “Create an Account” to register.

Each month, one of the most popular PerkSpot deals will be highlighted on InSite.

HHSA Director Among Public Officials of the Year

Governing magazine put Nick Macchione in a group of just eight officials recognized nationwide. Read the profile

Smile! You Just Shopped for a Cause

We all know how easy and convenient shopping online is. But did you know there’s a way to make it even more gratifying? And it requires nearly zero effort on your part.

Shop AmazonSmile and a portion of your purchase will be donated to the San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization (CECO). You can support CECO and their 60th anniversary efforts when you shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (and, really, year-round).

AmazonSmile functions the same as Amazon, but the online retailer donates 0.5 percent of the product price of eligible purchases to a charity of your choice (read: CECO!).

Using AmazonSmile is easy:

1. Go to smile.amazon.com (different from the regular Amazon link).

2. Sign in to your Amazon account or create one.

3. If it is your first visit, pick your own charitable organization. Type “San Diego County Employees' Charitable Organization” or “CECO” as your charity. You can also visit this link and CECO will already be chosen for you as your charity.

4. Shop as you normally would! (You will see eligible products marked as “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” on product detail pages.)

5. Bonus tip: Save the AmazonSmile link as a favorite and always shop from there.

There are several other ways to support CECO throughout the year. Make a biweekly donation via payroll deductions for as little as $2 per pay period. See CECO pledge instructions. Or you could make a one-time donation by contacting your CECO Department Representative or a member of the CECO Executive Committee.

What's Your Thanksgiving Tradition?

Thanksgiving means a lot of different things for different people. Maybe for you it means playing football all day with family. Maybe it means going to Grandma's every year or camping out over the long weekend. Perhaps it's something as simple as turkey, mashed potatoes and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. 

Whatever it means to you, we want to know. Tell us your Thanksgiving traditions in the comments! 

Probation Pays it Forward for Thanksgiving

Six area families will have a bountiful holiday thanks to the Probation Department. Chief Adolfo Gonzales and Probation officers delivered Thanksgiving meals to families in need last week.

Probation partnered with San Marcos Elementary in San Marcos, Lincoln Acres School in National City and Montgomery Elementary School in Chula Vista to select the families. Principals from the schools, which Probation recently adopted, selected students with stand-out records in the classroom. One student hasn’t missed a day of school in a few years.

For Chief Gonzales, the mission is personal. Growing up, Gonzales said his own family received donated Thanksgiving meals from the Salvation Army.

“Ever since I’ve had the opportunity to give back, I have,” said Gonzales.

The donations are also about strengthening Probation’s ties with the community.

“We’re building safer communities by developing relationships with the families who we work with,” Gonzales said. “We’re hoping the children will not become our clients in the future, but instead become our employees.”

How are you paying it forward this holiday season? Tell us in the comment section below. 

Help to Count the Homeless

Last year, there were 8,692 homeless men, women and children in the San Diego region, the fourth largest homeless population in the nation behind New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Has the number changed? You can help us find out.

The Board of Supervisors is once again encouraging County employees to volunteer and spend a few early hours early in the morning to help count the homeless. The annual Point-in-Time Count will take place Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 from 3:45 a.m. to 7 a.m.

The Board believes this is such a worthy cause that County employees who participate will be paid on County time.

The Point-in-Time Count is part of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless’s WeALLCount campaign. The annual count gives a snapshot in time of the number of people experiencing homelessness throughout the San Diego region. The numbers help the region apply for federal funding and identify solutions on how to best serve this at-risk population.

Last year, the 497 County employees who participated accounted for about a third of all volunteers. The Board hopes even more will hit the streets and participate in the 2017 Point-in-Time Count.

Volunteers will work in teams in specific locations and simply tally how many homeless people they see.

If you are interested in participating, review the registration guidelines and FAQs and then obtain approval from your supervisor via the supervisor approval form.

Once completed, you can register for the WeALLCount campaign on the Task Force’s website. After you register, you will complete a short LMS training.