District Attorney files charges, bail set at $2 million
By Lt. Drew Olson, Walnut Creek Police Department
On April 16, 2024, Walnut Creek Police Patrol Officers and Detectives arrested Marc Alexander Simon, a 27-year-old male from Walnut Creek, (born Christmas Day in 1996) in connection with an attempted kidnapping of a child at the downtown library on North Broadway. The incident occurred on April 11, and officers and detectives were able to identify the suspect and arrest him.
The case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office and the above charges were filed against Simon. Simon remains in custody at the County Jail with a bail set at $2,000,000.
Case #: 24-9848
Charges:
PC 288(a) – Two counts of lewd act upon a child,
PC 664/207(b) – Attempted kidnapping for child molesting,
PC 311.11(c)(1) – Possession of over 600 images of child pornography
Although the police department does not suspect there to be additional victims, we are releasing a photo of the suspect and asking the public to call us if you or someone you know has been victimized by him.
According to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, the five-foot, six-inch tall, 160-pound Simon is Hispanic, is being held in the Martinez Detention Facility. However, according to Vinelink, which obtains information from the Sheriff’s Office, Simon is listed as White.
If you or someone you know has information about this case, we encourage you to contact the Walnut Creek Police Department at 925-943-5844 or call the Anonymous Tip Line at 925-943-5865.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Read More
Stole over $5,100 in merchandise
By Pittsburg Police Department
Dedication and Hard Work Lead to Success
Officer Towner from the Pittsburg PD, who leads the commercial/retail enforcement unit, spearheaded a thorough investigation spanning several weeks into retail and shoplifting incidents at a local Bath & Body Works store in the Century Plaza at 4225 Century Blvd., resulting in a loss exceeding $5,100. During her investigation,
Officer Towner identified a consistent pattern and calculated approach followed by the suspect. Officer Towner successfully apprehended the suspect through her diligence and dedication during one of his attempted thefts. The suspect was arrested and booked for his crimes, and a large portion of the stolen goods was recovered.
This case highlighted the complexities of dealing with retail theft perpetrators and stressed the significance of collaborating with the local business community. Officer Towner’s unwavering commitment exemplified the Pittsburg Police Department’s dedication to public safety and combating retail crime.
Read MoreBy Sgt. Chris Souza, Special Victims Unit, Concord Police Department
CPD CASE #23-08633
On Monday, April 29, 2024, the Concord Police Department Special Victims Unit (SVU) arrested 41-year-old Chi Ngoc Vu for multiple counts of sexual assault. Vu is the owner of “Chi Hair Salon” located at 4701 Clayton Road in Concord. The sexual assaults occurred inside of the hair salon business.
The case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office who filed the following charges against Vu:
PC 261(a)(2) – Forcible Rape
PC 261.5(d) – Unlawful Sexual Intercourse
PC 287(c)(2)(C) – Forcible Oral Copulation
PC 287(b)(2) – Oral Copulation of Minor Under 16
Two Counts of PC 288(c)(1) – Lewd Acts on a Child
Vu remains in custody on $275,000 bail. The Concord Police Department has reason to believe that Vu may have victimized others.
We are releasing his booking photo and urge anyone with additional information to call Detective Huffmaster at (925) 671-5080.
According to localcrimenews.com, Vu is a resident of Pittsburg.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreBy Brentwood Police Department
On Wednesday April 24, 2024, around 11:45PM, Brentwood officers responded to 51 Sand Creek Road, the location of the Dollar Tree store, for a report of an alarm going off in the business. While officers were responding, Dispatch told officers that a safe was stolen from the business and the suspects had just fled from the scene in a car.
Brentwood officers who were circulating the area observed a car traveling at a high rate of speed in the immediate vicinity and the same car was subsequently found unoccupied in a nearby Court.
Officers began searching the area and found 27-year-old Alfredo Jose Barrera of Turlock, and 26-year-old Alejandro RamirezSilva of Ceres, hiding in nearby bushes.
Both Barrera and RamirezSilva were taken into custody, and the car they were associated to contained the stolen safe and burglary tools.
Barrera and RamirezSilva were placed under arrest for Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime, Possession of Burglary Tools, and other charges. Barrera also had outstanding warrants from another county.
Barrera and Ramirez Silva were transported to the Martinez Detention Facility for booking.
This successful investigation stands as a testament to the dedication and response of our officers in ensuring the safety and security of our community and businesses.
According to the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, as of April 26, RamirezSilva was no longer in custody and as of April 29, Barrera was also out of custody having been cited and released.
According to localcrimenews.com, Barrera had previously been arrested in 2021 by Modesto PD and in 2022 by Tracy CHP for driving with a suspended license for reckless driving and driving while using a cellular device.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreDoesn’t consult at least four local news publishers in his district before developing legislation
SACRAMENTO – A data extraction mitigation fee on major Internet corporations would raise $500 million to fund employment credits for news organizations across California under legislation Senator Steve Glazer, D-Contra Costa, outlined Wednesday at a press conference. Joining Senator Glazer were news publishers representing hundreds of community, and ethnic outlets.
Amid the backdrop of newsrooms continuing a downward spiral with staff layoffs, cutbacks in resources or outright closures, Senator Glazer said “we must create a new framework to ensure that newsrooms keep our citizens informed and democracy accountable to the people.”
The bill, SB 1327, is co-authored by Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, D-Santa Rosa, and Senators Catherine Blakeslee, D-Encinatas, Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, and John Laird, D-Santa Cruz.
Senator Glazer’s proposal would create a data extraction mitigation fee on the largest online companies, or platforms, with a minimum of $2.5 billion in revenues. The Data Extraction Mitigation Fee will be based on the value that online platforms derive by extracting personal and economic data from those who visit the company’s web pages.
“News organizations and their advertising revenues have been hollowed out by these online platforms,” Senator Glazer said. “They should mitigate this damage and this new bill will do exactly that.”
The data extraction mitigation fee closes a loophole that allows online platforms to avoid taxation on the value of the barter in which they engage with customers who, in effect, trade access to their personal data for the opportunity to use a website. While this kind of economic relationship has helped fuel innovation and access to information, it has also created what economists call “negative externalities” – or harm to third parties who are not directly a part of that exchange.
In this case, the harm is being done to local news organizations and, more broadly, to all Californians who depend on independent local news coverage of events that affect their daily lives and the democratic form of government – the foundation of our society.
“You cannot have informed voters if there is no one to tell them what their government is doing,” said Senator Blakespear. “We’ve seen the journalism industry devastated in recent years, and we need to do something about that. SB 1327 is a smart, sensible way to fund local journalism.”
Unofficial estimates indicate that a fee level equivalent to the current statewide sales and use tax rate could generate almost $1 billion per year. Of that amount, 39.5% would go to K-14 education as required by Proposition 98 and 1.5% would go to state budget reserves as required by Proposition 2.
In addition to the constitutional requirement to use a portion of the fee revenue for education and budget reserves, some of the revenue would also go to backfill the state’s general fund for revenue lost when the companies deduct the cost of the fee as an expense on their income tax returns. Some of the money would also go to the Franchise Tax Board for administration and collection costs. That would leave approximately $500 million annually to support local journalism.
While Congressman Mark DeSaulnier held a Zoom meeting with local news publishers in Contra Costa County to provide input on his proposed federal legislation in 2021, neither Glazer nor his staff reached out to at least four publishers in the county for input on his bill before developing it. They include Tamara Steiner, publisher of the Concord and Clayton Pioneer, Mike Burkholder, publisher of ContraCostaNews.com, Greg Robinson, publisher of The Press covering Brentwood, Oakley and Discovery Bay, and Allen Payton, publisher of the Antioch Herald and Contra Costa Herald.
As he did with DeSaulnier’s bill, Payton twice asked the state senator if he would include an exception in the tax code to allow non-profit owners of local media to continue endorsing or opposing candidates and ballot measures, and publishing editorials. But that was not included in the state legislation.
However, Glazer did gather support from other news organizations and sought their input prior to announcing his legislation.
Steve Waldman, president of Rebuild Local News, a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of more than 3,000 locally-owned and nonprofit, community-based newsrooms, said the legislation would be a major breakthrough for the news industry – and for communities that are starving for local news.
“We vigorously applaud Sen. Glazer’s proposed local news employment credit, which would truly revitalize community news in California,” Waldman said. “It is a transformative proposal. It would dramatically improve the capacity of newsrooms to cover their communities and is especially attentive to the role of medium and small-sized outlets.
Waldman added: “An employment credit places the incentives in the right place: hiring of local reporters. It’s non bureaucratic. It helps for-profits and nonprofits, print, digital and broadcast, urban and rural. It’s future friendly so new innovators can plug in too. And it does all this while being compatible with the First Amendment and the need to protect the editorial independence of news outlets.”
Much like mitigation fees imposed on companies that put chemicals into the environment to make their products or develop projects that burden our roads and schools, this fee assigns the cost of saving local journalism to those firms whose economic activity is causing the news industry’s demise.
The program would also distribute at least $25 million annually for non-profit local news organizations that don’t benefit from tax credits. Half of that amount would be reserved for those news organizations with fewer than 10 full-time employees. Additional funds would be provided to journalism training programs.
To qualify for the tax credit, news organizations would have to have their primary circulation or distribution in California and their online news primarily consumed within the state. They would publish in the current and previous year and carry media liability insurance. Broadcasters would have to be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the state to claim the credit.
All qualifying news organizations would be eligible for tax credits based on the number of working journalists they have, the credits increasing with every new hire. News organizations that aren’t profitable would be eligible for tax refunds, as would non-profit news organizations.
Matt Pearce, president of Media Guild of the West, said in a letter of support that the bill hits the right tone in its support of smaller publications and outlets.
“The journalism jobs tax credit is well structured, nondiscriminatory in a way that avoids government favoritism, and incentivizes local journalist employment,” Pearce wrote. “Smaller publishers with fewer than 10 employees – which includes many of California’s ethnic media publishers – would, appropriately, receive a slightly larger share of support than larger newsrooms. Freelance journalists are appropriately recognized and economically supported at a level that would not incentivize workforce fissuring. Employers that provide benefits to their employees would receive more support than those that didn’t.”
Laura Rearwin Ward, publisher of the Ojai Valley News in Ojai, CA near Santa Barbara and Ventura, praised Senator Glazer’s proposal to fund small news publications through tax credits and a data mitigation fee.
“Senator Glazer’s bill gives support to those most in need — California’s print and digital local, independent, and ethnic media,” Rearwin Ward said. “And the data mitigation fee appropriately focuses on large online platforms, such as Google, which profit from the use of content they do not create, and user data they have utilized in a one-sided barter arrangement. This fee will mitigate the harm done to the California news industry through loss of advertising revenue. This fee closes a loophole that has allowed online platforms to avoid taxation on the value of that barter. The visible damage to California is clear to see — huge losses in professional local news reporting, resulting in news deserts and ghost papers.”
Lance Knobel, CEO and co-founder of Cityside Journalism Initiative, the nonprofit that publishes Oaklandside, Berkeleyside and Richmondside, said the legislation could be a game-changer.
“Senator Glazer’s local news employment credit tackles the core problem for local journalism in California: how can we sustain and even increase the number of reporters and editors working in our community? If passed it would be truly transformative for independent local news organizations like ours,” Knobel said.
Ken Doctor, Local Founder and CEO of Santa Cruz-based publication Lookout, said the proposed tax credits would be a critical lifeline for local news organizations.
“The best solution for California’s local news crisis is simple: more experienced journalists offering trusted and trustworthy reporting to and for communities up and down the state,” said Doctor, also an analyst with Newsonomics. “Sen. Glazer’s bill recognizes that payroll tax credits are the best way to fund such a revival, without having the state pick winners or losers. As the legislature debates how to fund such credits, the focus on them is the one essential going forward.”
“We have seen a dramatic devastation of the news eco system, and with it a coarsening of our politics that have led many to worry whether our democracy can survive,” Senator Glazer said. “In so many cases, stories are not being covered in communities, large and small. We often don’t know what politicians and other community leaders are doing – many of the checks and balances have vanished – because nobody is there to cover them. We want to restore accountability and strengthen our democracy by reviving newsrooms.”
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Read More
While speeding on Balfour Road; bonded out of custody; police seek witnesses
By Lt. Miguel Aguiar, Brentwood Police Department
On April 30, 2024, at around 9:26 PM, Brentwood officers responded to the report of a traffic collision involving multiple vehicles on westbound Balfour Road at McViking Way, between the two shopping centers along Fairview Way. Preliminary investigation revealed, the driver of a Chevy Silverado, identified as Zachary Alan Frances Rau, a 26-year-old male from Antioch, was reportedly driving at a high rate of speed, westbound Balfour Road before colliding with a Toyota RAV-4, driven by a 31-year-old male from Brentwood. The Toyota then collided with a Honda HR-V, driven by a 37-year-old male from Brentwood.
A passenger in Rau’s vehicle, a 26-year-old male from Antioch, sustained serious injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment and is expected to survive.
The driver of the Toyota RAV-4 was unconscious and unresponsive when officers arrived on scene. He sustained major injuries and required extrication from the vehicle before being airlifted to a local hospital, where he is being treated for his injuries and remains unstable.
The driver of the Honda HR-V was not injured.
Rau was treated a local hospital for minor injuries and subsequently arrested and booked at the Martinez Detention Facility for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, causing injury.
The names of all others involved, and any additional information are being withheld at this time and the investigation is ongoing.
According to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, Rau is white and as of 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, he had bonded out of custody.
Anyone with further information or if you witnessed the collision and have not already been interviewed, please contact the Brentwood Police Department Traffic Safety Unit at (925) 634-6911.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreDeadline for tickets: Monday, April 29
Join in on the 73rd National Day of Prayer as prayers are offered for our nation, state, cities & communities, schools, churches, families & youth, homeless & others in need, military & veterans, first responders, hospitals & medical personnel and businesses.
Space is limited to the first 85 attendees. RSVP and purchase tickets for $32.50 which includes tax and tip, at eventbrite. No profit is being earned from the sale of tickets as all proceeds will be paid to the restaurant.
Read MoreOpen House Saturday, April 27
This large, beautiful home has 6 bedrooms, 2 bonus rooms, and 4.5 bathrooms. One highly sought-after feature here is an en-suite (in-law) bedroom on the first floor. The kids can grab some blankets, popcorn, and get nice and cozy in the darkly painted theater room to immerse themselves into an amazing and safe movie experience! While, at the same time, you can escape to your primary suite for a relaxing experience as you soak in the large, jetted tub followed by a movie of your choice in your bedroom-sized retreat.
You will note the class and pride of ownership with upgraded cherry-wood kitchen and bathroom cabinets, 18 square marble tile foyer and kitchen floors, bordered by exquisite Venetian Mosaics, as well as the overall meticulous maintenance. The fireplace can be used by your choice of wood or gas. There are other great features like a water softener (owned), dual zone HVAC serviced annually by Champion, a finished/painted 3-car garage, a sink and cabinets the laundry room, and more! Nestled in the well-maintained Sterling Gate community, this beauty is very near walking trails, shopping, restaurants, and is in the Heritage High School district.
Very quiet inside!
See more photos and details by clicking here.
(Advertise your home for sale on the Herald websites. Email info@antiochherald.com or call (925) 457-5324).
Read MoreBail set at $2 million
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
A former accountant for a paver company in Richmond has been charged with a six-count felony complaint related to embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft, and tax evasion.
53-year-old Angela Fae Brown from Olivehurst, CA in Yuba County was arraigned today on charges in Contra Costa Superior Court. Between September 2017 and November 2022, Brown engaged in an embezzlement scheme that bilked over 800-thousand dollars from her employer, Viking Pavers in Richmond. Brown used her accounting skills to exploit financial vulnerabilities in the company to illegally enrich herself for nearly five years. She did this by:
- Pretending to be the owner of Viking Pavers and creating a fake online account with a payment processing service linked to her personal bank account.
- Generating hundreds of phony invoices for services and sending them electronically to the fake account she controlled.
- Brown paid these fake invoices with the company’s funds through the online payment processing platform — which funneled the money into her own account.
- Brown’s trusted employee status — and access to various financial controls — allowed her to conceal her embezzlement scheme for a long time.
A manager eventually suspected Brown’s fraudulent actions and confronted her. Richmond Police who, along with financial forensics analysts from the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, investigated Brown’s actions. She was arrested on April 19th, 2024, and is currently in custody at the Martinez Detention Facility. Her bail is set at two-million-dollars. District Attorney Diana Becton said, “In white collar crimes, it’s of paramount importance for our Special
Operations Unit to use forensic tools to recover stolen funds; funds some have gone to great lengths to conceal.”
Case No. 02-24-00513 | The People of the State of California v. Brown, Angela Fae
- PC 530.5(a)-felony: Identity theft
- PC 186.10(a)-felony: Money laundering
- PC 487(a)-f: Grand theft of money, labor, or real or personal property exceeding $950
- PC 529(a)(3)-felony: False personation
- PC 186.10(a)-felony: Money laundering
- RT 19705(a)(4)-felony: Concealing property with intent to evade tax
— Special Allegation PC 186.11(a)(2) : aggravated white-collar crime – taking more than $500,000
Read More