Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

Car fire on Highway 4 jumps to hillside burning 30 acres in Antioch, Sunday evening

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Car on fire on the side of eastbound Highway 4 near the Highway 160 offramp, Sunday, July 16, 2017.

Story and Photos By Allen Payton

A car caught fire on the side of eastbound Highway 4 just west of the Highway 160 onramp and interchange, Sunday, July 16, 2017 at approximately 6:00 p.m. The fire then jumped to the grass on the adjacent hillside and quickly spread up the hill. Fire crews were able to bring the fire under control, but not until it had consumed approximately 30 acres. See more photos and video at www.facebook.com/cocoherald.

The car fire jumped to the hillside.

 

Emergency crews arrived and began fighting the fire.

 

As crews battled the fire, it continued to quickly spread up the hill.

Oakley man drives stolen vehicle wrong way on Hwy 4 between Antioch and Brentwood, causes Sat. night crash sending eight to hospital

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Screenshots from KRON4 News video of Highway 4 crash between Antioch and Brentwood, Sat., July 15, 2017.

Car stolen in Concord

By Brandon Correia, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa CHP

Saturday night, July 15, 2017 at about 8:07 p.m., Contra Costa CHP was advised of a head-on collision at HWY4 at Sand Creek Road in Brentwood, with the report of injuries. Upon CHP arrival, it was learned that multiple parties had suffered major injuries. It was determined that one of the vehicles involved was a reported stolen vehicle out of Concord from the same day, a 1994 gold Honda Accord – License#7RAE887 – and that …the gold Honda was traveling the wrong way on HWY4. Two parties had to be air-lifted to trauma centers.

A 2015 Honda Odyssey van with seven occupants was traveling westbound on HWY4, just west of Sand Creek Road. The stolen gold Honda Accord entered the westbound lanes of HWY4, traveling wrong way-eastbound in the westbound lanes-from Lone Tree Way. The suspect vehicle was reported at a high rate of speed and passing multiple vehicles in the wrong way direction until ultimately colliding head-on with the Honda Odyssey. HWY4 was briefly shut down for the investigation.

Injured people from the 2015 Honda Odyssey are listed as follows: The driver, a 30-year-old Asian male adult, out of San Francisco, sustained moderate injuries. Passengers: a 34yr old Asian female adult, out of San Francisco, sustained minor injuries. A female baby, 1yr old-out of San Francisco, just for precaution. A 61-year-old Asian Adult female, out of San Francisco, sustained major injuries but is in stable condition. A 2-year-old Asian Female baby, out of San Francisco, sustained minor injuries. A 72-year-old Asian Adult female, out of San Francisco, sustained minor injuries. A 10-year-old Asian female juvenile, out of San Francisco, sustained minor injuries. All injured parties from the minivan were taken to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek.

The suspect vehicle’s passenger, a 22-year-old white male adult, out of Oakley, was transported to Eden hospital in Dublin with major injuries but is in stable condition.

The suspect driver, 24-year-old Rafael Duarte (DOB-11-16-92), out of Oakley, was transported to John Muir Walnut Creek for minor injuries. Upon his release from the hospital, Duarte was arrested and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility for the following charges; Felony DUI, possession and driving of a stolen vehicle, unlicensed drivers license, no vehicle insurance, and driving wrong way on the highway causing injury.

Asked about the victims of the collision, Brandon Correia, Public Information Officer for Contra Costa CHP said, “they’re all in stable condition. The passenger in the gold Honda had major injuries, but they’re not life threatening.”

This is an ongoing investigation and if anyone witnessed this collision or has information regarding it, please contact CHP-Contra Costa in Martinez at (925) 646-4980.

See video of the crash scene on KRON4.com.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

Heritage High graduate Paul Blackburn makes it to the majors, pitching for the A’s

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Opens college doors for over a dozen high school players

By Luke Johnson

After his second MLB start, it was hard for Paul Blackburn to believe it happened in real life.

“I still feel like I’m dreaming out here,” he said in a postgame interview.

Photo by Michael Zagaris.

The Oakland A’s newest pitcher spent his youth all over Eastern Contra Costa County. He was born in Antioch, grew up in Oakley and went to high school in Brentwood.

His coach at Heritage High School, Kevin Brannan, said Blackburn is responsible for the program’s influx of college-bound players.

“What he did was put Heritage on the map,” Brannan said. “Now I’m getting calls in preseason [from scouts] finding out, ‘Hey, who do you have this year?’…He definitely opened the door for a lot of kids.”

Blackburn is the first professional athlete to come out of Heritage High School (est. 2005). Before he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2012, only two Heritage baseball players went straight to four-year colleges. However, since he graduated, that number has inflated to 25. This figure consists of colleges that are Division I-III according to Brannan.

“There have always been a lot of great athletes that came through here, and I’m sure there will be a lot more,” Blackburn said.

Brannan said he used to beg for scouts to look at his athletes, but now he has them constantly contacting him – eager to come to games. In the past two seasons alone, nine Heritage baseball players have received Division-I scholarships.

“Back then, a kid would go to one showcase and maybe not have his best performance,” Brannan said. “But now scouts come to multiple games and a kid will have more opportunities than just that one at bat.”

In two MLB appearances, Blackburn has pitched 13 and 2/3 innings with a 0.66 ERA. His next start is Saturday in Oakland against the reigning American League Champions Cleveland Indians.

Tackling the Taboo II, symposium on Black men’s mental health in Antioch, Saturday, July 15

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By Dr. Lawrence A. Rasheed

In observance of Black Mental Health Awareness Month, we are continuing our series of symposiums, “Tackling the Taboo.” In this series, we touch on issues that often go ignored within the Black community, especially issues related to Black males.

Young Black men in America are the most despised, most stereotyped, most disregarded, most policed and most feared people in this country; more likely to be poor, more likely to be undereducated, more likely to be unemployed, more likely to be discriminated against, more likely to live without their fathers, more likely to suffer from mental health issues, more likely to be locked up in prisons, and more likely to be murdered than any others in America.

Usual and easy responses to the plight of Black males in America always include historic indignation, protest and demands that raise public awareness – the stuff “moments” and not “movements” are made of. However, what is lacking is a comprehensive, well-conceived, sustained response, which requires massive community building efforts, direct-actions with and on behalf of young Black men and boys, and redirecting dollars from incarcerating Black men to educating and developing Black youth. Together, these actions will develop and support Black men and boys to become strong, positive, powerful, contributing, compassionate and courageous citizens.

Finally, there is a proper response. G.R.I.O.T. (Greatness Rediscovered In Our Time) and P.O.W.E.R. (Providing Optimal [W]holistic Educational Resources) are the much-needed, missing and best response to the issues of Black men and boys in East Contra Costa County and America.

On Saturday, July 15th, 2017 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Delta Bay Church of Christ, located at 913 Sunset Drive in Antioch, we will be discussing Black Mental Health issues facing our Black Male Community. This free event is being moderated by Dr. Richard Hanzy, who will be joined by several black male thought leaders such as Dr. Lamont Francies, former SF Police Captain Cornelius Johnson, and Author LeRon Barton.

Please register by clicking here, or call Dr. Lawrence Rasheed at (925) 726-6162. The best way to improve the conditions of young Black men and boys in America is not simply to protest them, but to invest in them – https://gofund.me/tacklingthetaboo.

Hogge wins Hetrick Memorial, first career win for Floyd at Antioch Speedway

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Bobby Hogge IV’s #2 Jerry Hetrick Memorial A Modified feature win was his 70th career win at Antioch Speedway. Photo by Paul Gould

By Don Martin, II

Bobby Hogge IV scored the victory in the 25 lap Jerry Hetrick Memorial for the All Star Series A Modified division Saturday night at Antioch Speedway.  Bobby joined elite company as this was his 70th career win at Antioch.  Only J.D. Willis and Scott Busby have more Antioch wins as both have 72.

Rookie Robert Floyd #02 won his first Wingless Spec Sprint Main Event in a thrilling late race finish. Photo by Paul Gould

Hogge won his heat race earlier in the evening and shared the second row with previous winner Nick DeCarlo for the special race.  Incoming point leader Bobby Motts Jr. had mechanical problems early in the race and finished last in the 19-car field.

Later, Eric Berendsen rolled his car.  DeCarlo offered Hogge his biggest challenge, but not even he could stop Hogge by the time the checkered flag flew.  Multi time Petaluma Speedway champion Michael Paul Jr. finished third ahead of Busby and Trent Wentworth.

Rookie Robert Floyd scored a thrilling victory in the 20 lap Wingless Spec Sprint Main Event.  Floyd also won his heat race.  Bryan Grier led eight laps before spinning from the lead.  Alan Miranda had the lead from there in search of his first career victory.  Floyd began pressuring Miranda during the final few laps before charging by on the back stretch on lap 19 to take the lead.  Floyd scored the popular win in the car of the late Jimmy Lavell.  Miranda settled for second.  Grier charged back through the pack and made a late pass on Rick Panfili to finish third.  Heat race winner James East finished fifth.

Petaluma Speedway champion Matt While #3 won the Limited Late Model feature in his first appearance at the track. Photo by Paul Gould

Matt While grabbed the victory in the 20 lap Limited Late Model Main Event.  While is the reigning champion at Petaluma Speedway, and this was his first visit to Antioch.  While outran new point leader Kimo Oreta for his win.  Jim Freethy continued his streak of all Top 3 finishes so far this season as he held off Mark Garner and heat race winner Mike Gustafson for a third place finish.

Melissa Myers won the 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event.  The two-time division champion was making her first appearance of the season, and she won her heat race before battling Brent Curran for the impressive win.  Curran gained some ground on point leader Chris Long in the championship battle.  Long was black flagged for his bumper.  After getting that fixed, Long returned and lost a driveline on the track.  He was still scored ninth.  Robert Niven finished third in the 18-car field.  Chris Bennett came back from an early spin to beat Randy Metzler for fourth.

Danny Wagner picked up the win in the 20 lap Dwarf Car feature.  The two-time champion managed to hold off David Michael Rosa, who settled for second for the second straight week.  Wagner’s heat race produced two of the rollovers the track had for the night.  Point leader Mike Corsaro was the first victim, and Chris Becker rolled at the end of the race.  Both drivers were done for the night, which will impact the championship battle.  Brandon Anderson finished third, followed by Toby Brown and two-time Street Stock champion David Rosa. Dave Mackey won the 12 lap Bay Area Hardtop Main Event.  Mackey won the battle with heat race winner Kimo Oreta for the victory.  Ron Ruiz held off recent Chico winner Jason Armstrong to finish third.

Two-time Hobby Stock champion Melissa Myers #33 and her co-pilot in the winner’s circle. This was her 18th career win at the speedway. Photo by Paul Gould

All Star Series racing continues this Saturday as Wingless Spec Sprints return along with DIRTcar Late Models, B Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Dwarf Cars.  For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Race Results

A Modified

Heat Winners (8 Laps)-Michael Paul Jr., Shawn DeForest, Bobby Hogge IV.  Main Event (25 Laps)-Bobby Hogge IV, Nick DeCarlo, Michael Paul Jr., Scott Busby, Trent Wentworth, Jake Dewsburuy, Sean O’Gara, Trevor Clymens, Mike Salazar, Gary Hetrick.

Limited Late Model

Heat Winners (8 Laps)-Mike Gustafson, Terry DeCarlo Jr.  Main Event (20 Laps)-Matt While, Kimo Oreta, Jim Freethy, Mark Garner, Mike Gustafson, Jon Haney, John Evans, Terry DeCarlo Jr., Buddy Kniss, Jeff Kendrick.

Wingless Spec Sprint

Heat Winners (8 Laps)-Robert Floyd, James East.  Main Event (20 Laps)-Robert Floyd, Alan Miranda, Bryan Grier, Rick Panfili, James East, Bob Newberry, Jeremy Newberry, Dusty Green, Abigail Gonderman, Shannon Newton.

Two-time Dwarf Car champion Danny Wagner #11d returned and earned his second Main Event win. Photo by Paul Gould

Dwarf Car

Heat Winners (8 Laps)-David Rosa, David Michael Rosa.  Main Event (20 Laps)-Danny Wagner, David Michael Rosa, Brandon Anderson, Toby Brown, David Rosa, Charlie Correia, Brian Gray, Jenna Frazier, Devan Kammermann, Mario Marquez

Hobby Stock

Heat Winners (8 Laps)-Chris Long, Brent Curran, Gene Haney.  Main Event (20 Laps)-Melissa Myers, Brent Curran, Robert Niven, Christopher Bennett, Randy Metzler, Jordan Swank, Frank Furtado, Ken Rhoades, Chris Long, Gene Haney.

Bay Area Hardtops

Heat Winner (6 Laps)-Kimo Oreta. Main Event (12 Laps)-Dave Mackey, Oreta, Ron Ruiz, Jason Armstrong.

Marsh Creek Road repair work during daytime, Mon.-Fri. from July 10-20

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Expect delays

Contra Costa County Public Works Department will perform work on Marsh Creek Road from Deer Valley Road to the Clayton City limits from July 10 through July 20, 2017. The work will occur Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to shape slopes and shoulders along the road edge where mudslides occurred during the winter storms.

The work may be rescheduled based on weather conditions. Electronic message boards will alert drivers of the scheduled work. There will be traffic control through the work area and drivers can expect delays of 10-15 minutes.

Guest Commentary: Current fire/EMS service model is broken in East County

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By Bryan Scott

Across our nation one essential service that government provides is responding to calls for help.  Taxes are paid with the expectation that a reasonable response will be provided when members of the public need the police, the fire department, or emergency medical assistance.

Across our nation the first response to a 9-1-1 call is usually the police or fire department. The arrival of this first responder means that someone trained to handle a crisis is taking charge of the situation, be it a crime, a fire, or a medical emergency.

The time for this initial response is typically three-to-five minutes.  The City of Brentwood specifies a response time goal of three-to-five minutes for all emergency calls in their General Plan.  Service models everywhere include this goal.

In East County, it is intended that East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) provide the first response for medical emergencies.  The May, 2017, ECCFPD 90% Response Time was 10 minutes 26 seconds for Brentwood West, and 9 minutes and 53 seconds for Brentwood East.

In cases where necessary follow-up assistance arrives later, once the first responders have assessed the situation, and perhaps stabilized it.

When the need is for emergency medical service this secondary response is an ambulance from a private business.  Contra Costa County provides this ambulance service for most parts of the county, including the service area of ECCFPD.

By contract this business, American Medical Response (AMR), has agreed to response time goals.  For the service area of ECCFPD (except Bethel Island) the contract states that an ambulance must be onsite for Priority 1 (Potentially Life-Threatening) Emergencies within 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an international standards organization that has developed response time standards for fire and emergency medical response organizations.

In the NFPA 1710 standard describing a fire district’s response to a medical emergency it says that, at a minimum, the fire district must be able to “… arrive within a four-minute (240 seconds) response time to 90 percent of all emergency medical incidents.”

This applies to the fire district whether they provide a fundamental First Responder (AED) trained staff or Basic Life Support (BLS) trained staff.

The NFPA 1710 standard describes the same response time for fire calls, “the fire department shall establish a time objective of four minutes (240 seconds) or less for the arrival of the first arriving engine company at a fire suppression incident, …”.

This public safety response model works when there is a first response in the four-to-five minute range, and a secondary response at 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

The response model does not work when both first and secondary responses arrive at the same time, or within a minute of each other.

Last month Brentwood residents needed to call 9-1-1 for help 338 times.

In the Brentwood West area the response time was 1,190 minutes longer than the nationwide goal, using the 90% response time numbers.  Collectively that’s nearly 20 hours late in one month.

For Brentwood East the response time was 900 minutes longer than the nationwide goal, using the same 90% response time numbers.  In this aggregate case help arrived 15 hours late in a single month.

As with the financial investment disclaimers we see, these numbers are averages and may not reflect your individual performance, or the time it takes for you to get help, should you need it.

This public safety response model is plainly broken.  Government needs to take action to fix it.

Bryan Scott is a Brentwood resident and Co-Chair of East County Voters for Equal Protection, a non-partisan citizens action committee whose aim is to improve funding for the ECCFPD.  He can be reached at scott.bryan@comcast.net, or 925-418-4428.  The group’s Facebook page is  https://www.facebook.com/EastCountyVoters/.  

Pittsburg man sentenced to over 21 years for felony insurance fraud, other crimes

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Faced but was acquitted of charges in murder-for-hire plot against nine jurors while in jail

Charles Waldo. Photo from Contra Costa District Attorney

Martinez, CA – The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday that after an extensive four-year investigation, a long jury trial and a conviction by a jury of 37 separate counts relating to 19 separate incidents that occurred over a seven-year time span, Charles Waldo was finally sentenced on June 27, 2017 for his crimes. Waldo was the owner of a recycling business.

After being convicted of multiple felony counts of insurance fraud, embezzlement, grand theft, vandalism, perjury, elder abuse, illegal gun possession and arson, among other things, Judge Barry Baskin sentenced Waldo to 40 months in county jail followed by 21 years and 8 months in state prison, one of the longest sentences obtained for insurance fraud in the history of Contra Costa County.  Mr. Waldo must register as a California convicted arson offender pursuant to Penal Code 457.1.  He has also been ordered not to contact one of his victims and to pay $22,500 in fines.

According to a 2014 report by NBC Bay Area News, “the District Attorney’s investigation into Waldo began in the spring of 2012 when its office received information about a vehicle arson and a suspected fraudulent car insurance claim, Deputy District Attorney William Murphy said. The investigation revealed multiple fraudulent insurance claims of arson and vandalism on five cars over a five-year period beginning in July 2007 with losses from the vehicles exceeding $100,000, Peterson said. Further investigation revealed Waldo was suspected of embezzling over $100,000 from a former employer and stealing a $38,000 generator from his former employer’s business.

As the manager, Waldo reportedly ‘forced out’ other employees so he could hire his associates, and then directed the new employees to commit other crimes, including stealing recyclable metals and an electrical transformer, prosecutors said. At one point, Waldo was traveling with employees from the business when a police officer attempted to pull him over for speeding. Waldo escaped after traveling at speeds of over 100 miles per hour, Murphy said.

He also allegedly ordered the workers to help build a 2,000-square-foot addition to his Pittsburg home while they were supposed to be working for Waldo’s employer.”

Waldo was also accused by the “Investigators from the California Department of Insurance…that he committed worker’s compensation insurance fraud, along with tax code violations.”

“After his employer fired him, Waldo allegedly drove to his employer’s business, and to the homes of several employees, and punctured the tires of their cars. He also continued to claim unemployment benefits for a year even though he had found other employment.”

According to a CBS new story in 2014, Waldo was also “charged with plotting to kill nine witnesses set to testify against him.

Prosecutors say investigators found a hit list that included the witnesses’ names, in what order they were to be killed, and suggestions to kill them in car crashes, with drug overdoses and in robberies ‘gone bad.’”

However, he was later acquitted of those charges.

Multiple agencies assisted the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office with this investigation including: the CA Department of Insurance, the CA Highway Patrol, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Geico Insurance Company, Progressive Insurance Company, and Hertz Equipment Rental. Allen Payton contributed to this report.

Jose Canseco returns to Bay Area to play for Pittsburg Diamonds

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Jose Canseco with a young fan during an autograph signing at Winter Chevrolet on Friday, June 23, 2017.

By Jesus Cano

America’s favorite pastime is alive and well in Eastern Contra Costa County. The Pittsburg Diamonds have played at City Park since 2014, and this week welcomed back to the Bay Area, former Major League slugger Jose Canseco, as he spent the weekend of June 23rd with the independent professional baseball team.

Canseco is best known for his tenure with the Oakland Athletics from 1982-1992, where nailed 209 homeruns and 647 RBIs. He and Athletic’s first baseman Mark McGwire formed the Bash Brothers. Along with that, he captured a World Series ring in the 1989 Battle of the Bay that was overshadowed by the infamous Loma Prieta Earthquake.

Canseco is no stranger to the city of Pittsburg, as this is his third year suiting up for the Diamonds. He states that his favorite part of being back in the East Bay is being able to be around the young players the Diamonds house.

“I try to help them out with all aspects of the game,” Canseco said. “A lot of players actually recommend coming out to Pittsburg to play so I’m really excited for this weekend.”

The Diamonds have been part of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs since their inaugural season in 2014 when they were named the Pittsburg Mettle. In 2015 when ownership switched to hands of Khurram Shah, they commenced under the Diamonds brand paying homage to the team that played in the same area back in the 60s.

Shah wants everyone to be aware that Pittsburg is home to a minor league baseball team. Even if he brings Canseco out for a couple games, he hopes to generate life-long fans after this unique experience.

“We’re trying to build a fan base,” Shah said. “We want to see a repeat of people coming to ballpark consistently.”

Pittsburg took two out of the three game series against the Vallejo Admirals during Canseco’s weekend with the team, where the Diamonds improved to 11-9 on the season.

Shah highlights infielder Vinny Guglietti to be one of the top guys on the team. The Connecticut native is batting .420 with five homeruns and 27 RBIs. Wes Wallace is another player that makes a huge impact according to Shah as he is hitting .364 and five homeruns. Shah states Tyler Stirewalt is starting to showcase his pitching ability. Stirewalt has 1.92 ERA so far, this season.

The Diamonds’ next home game is Tuesday night, June 27 at 6:30 p.m., to begin another three-game series also against the Admirals. To learn more about the Diamonds visit www.diamondsproball.com.

Contra Costa DA announces three sentenced to prison for $6.0 million in wage theft, tax fraud and insurance fraud

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Owned restaurants including one in Brentwood

On Friday, June 16, 2017, the Honorable Charles “Ben” Burch sentenced defendants Yu Chen, Feng Gu, and Rongdi Zheng to three years and four months of state prison each and imposed a $6.1-million-dollar restitution order, including restitution for approximately $4.5 million in unpaid minimum wage and overtime, as well as approximately $1.5 million in unpaid taxes.

The investigation began in 2013 when investigators from the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, California Employment Development Department (“EDD”) and the California Department of Insurance (“CDI”) conducted surveillance of several restaurants in three counties.

On January 10, 2014, investigators from all three agencies, assisted by representatives from the Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”), Bureau of Field Enforcement, and law enforcement officers from Alameda, Contra Costa, and Placer Counties served simultaneous search warrants on nine locations, including four restaurants and several private residences.  The restaurants were the Golden Dragon Buffet in Brentwood, the Golden Wok Buffet in Roseville, the Kokyo Sushi Buffet in Hayward, and the New Dragon Buffet in San Leandro.

Investigators interviewed the employees and seized business records.  Many employees reported being recruited from outside the Bay Area.  Once they arrived, the employer kept them in crowded housing and bussed them to work six days each week for twelve hour shifts per day.  Auditors determined that the four restaurants underpaid minimum wage and filed tax returns that underreported payroll tax and sales tax.

In December of 2016, the Contra Costa County Grand Jury returned an indictment of several defendants related to the investigation.  That same month, investigators from the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office arrested Yu Chen, Rongdi Zheng, Feng Gu, Shao Rong Zhang, and Zhou Xian Chen related to the indictment.

On May 23, 2017, Defendant Shao Rong Zhang pled no contest to a misdemeanor charge of enforcing a policy on behalf of her employer that employees not report minimum wage violations, in violation of Labor Code section 1102.5.  Pursuant to the negotiated disposition, Judge Burch sentenced Ms. Zhang to one hundred and twenty days in jail and probation.

Also on May 23, 2017, Defendants Yu Chen, Rongdi Zheng, and Feng Gu pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate the minimum wage law, payroll tax fraud, sales tax fraud, and insurance premium fraud pursuant to a negotiated disposition that provided for the judge to choose the term of imprisonment in a specified range at the sentencing hearing.  Each of these three defendants were alleged to be joint owners of either the Brentwood or Roseville restaurants during some timeframe of the charged conspiracy.

On May 24, 2017, charges were dismissed against defendant Zhou Xian Chen.

On June 16, 2017, in Martinez, Judge Burch heard argument and then announced sentence.

Attorney Tomas Margain who represents two of the workers submitted a letter to the Court for sentencing calling the “the most egregious case of wage theft I have seen” in nineteen years of handling these types of cases.  He continued, “I was to commend the District Attorney’s Office and the law enforcement officials who worked on this case.”

Several workers from the restaurants spoke at the sentencing hearing and submitted written statements to the Court.  Worker M.T. wrote, “We were always getting yelled at and nothing we did was ever good enough for them.  They lived to instill the fear in us and they succeeded because we did not know any better and we did not know who to turn to.  This experience has damaged me emotionally.  I will never forget it.  I truly do not wish this upon anyone.  I would have family and friends ask me how my ‘experience’ in the U.S. was and I could not bring myself to tell them because I was so ashamed.  I lived in shame for the situation that I was in but, I know that I have to move forward and not look back anymore.”

Worker E.F. also submitted a letter, “I will never be the same.  At my current job there are moments where I must get a look on my face because my coworkers ask me if I am ok, If I need to go home, . . . I tell them all that I have lived through and that there is fear that this might happen to me all over again.  I want justice to be served so that this won’t happen to anyone else.  This shouldn’t happen to anyone else.”

Judge Burch cited the impact that these crimes had on real people in sentencing all three defendants to three years and four months in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Jeremy L. Seymour prosecuted the case.  The prosecution is a result of a multi-agency investigation effort led by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office that included case agents and representatives from four different state agencies including DIR, CDI, EDD, and the Board of Equalization.