DA O'MALLEY HOLDS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
HONORING THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
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On October 18, DA Nancy O'Malley and the
Alameda County Family Justice Center
hosted
the annual Day of Remembrance. The afternoon was not only a beautiful moment of honor and tribute to those who have lost their lives to interpersonal violence, but also a time of uplift and support to survivors and those looking for a way out of abusive relationships. years.
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The event called for the community to come together to stop domestic violence, as well as to empower women, children, and men who have survived domestic abuse. The ceremony also recognized the agencies, county departments, commissions, community-based organizations, and individuals whose work is essential in the ongoing effort to end domestic violence in Alameda County.
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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf
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On October 11, District Attorney Nancy O'Malley was the keynote speaker at the Certified Peer Support Specialist graduation. DA O'Malley partnered with RI International to realize her vision of providing the highest quality of education in peer support to a class of 18 men and women with varying forms of lived experience.
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The goal of the training was to equip these peer support specialists with the skills and certification that would enable them to enter the community employed in positions of advocacy and empowerment to peers that have had both direct and indirect experience with the criminal justice system.
To learn more about the Peer Support Specialist training, view the video below:
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COMBATING ILLEGAL DUMPING:
"EDUCATION, ERADICATION, AND ENFORCEMENT"
TREE PLANTING
IN EAST OAKLAND
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About 100 new London Plane (Sycamore) trees now line Railroad Avenue, between 85
th
and 98
th
Avenues. This is one of the geographic areas subject to the Alameda County Illegal Dumping Pilot, which was developed by a regional task force consisting of many partners including the DA’s Office, Supervisor Nate Miley’s Office, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Oakland, Public Works, Environmental Health, and numerous non-governmental organizations and local businesses.
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Special thanks to those providing support for the tree-planting effort go to Trees for Oakland, the Oakland A’s, McGuire & Hester, Argent Materials, the A,B & I Foundry, the Beautification Council and our many volunteers.
The efforts of this regional task force focus on a 5-E’s approach: Education, Eradication, and Enforcement. These beautiful Sycamores discourage illegal dumping by making the street more physically attractive. And over the long run, trees help sequester carbon and improve air quality, provide shade, reduce storm-water run-off, and improve the aesthetic environment for the families who live and work in the neighborhood.
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On October 26, safe disposal stations were set up at the Fremont, Alameda, and Pleasanton Halls of Justice as well as the Alameda County Family Justice Center in Oakalnd for Nation Drug Take Back. The community was given the opportunity to safely discard any medications and pet medications no questions asked. In total, 266 lbs. of prescription drugs were collected. The office thanks all who came out for doing your part in preventing not only misuse of these medications, but also the harmful environmental impact of them into landfills and water supplies.
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MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT REACHED
IN CIVIL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION CASE AGAINST
KING PAINT AND BODY INC. LLC
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DA O’Malley, along with 10 other California District Attorneys, announced that a judge in Alameda County has ordered Service King Paint & Body, LLC to pay
$2.35 million
as part of a settlement of a civil environmental prosecution alleging the auto body repair company mishandled hazardous waste and confidential customer information.
Service King, a Texas limited liability company, currently owns and operates 42 auto body repair facilities throughout California. In Alameda County, there are three Service King auto body shops. In the complaint filed in Alameda County, prosecutors accused Service King of illegally disposing of hazardous waste generated during its auto body repair operations, and of violating laws related to the storage and management of this hazardous waste. “The auto body repair industry generates many harmful waste streams and today’s settlement serves to provide a cleaner environment for California by preventing the contamination of our precious natural resources when hazardous waste is mismanaged and unlawfully disposed,” said District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley. “We are proud to work with our district attorney partners and environmental regulators statewide to enforce California’s environmental laws to ensure these hazardous wastes are handled properly.”
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DA O'MALLEY ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT IN
FALSE ADVERTISING CASE AGAINTS MY PILLOW INC.
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DA O’Malley has announced that her office, together the nine other district attorneys who make up the California Food Drug and Medical Device Task Force, recently settled a false advertising case against My Pillow, Inc. This is the second time in three years the Task Force has brought an action against My Pillow; the first also was filed in 2016 and resulted in a court-ordered judgment. By way of background, My Pillow manufactures and advertises for sale a number of bedding products, including pillows. The latest complaint alleges that some of the company’s recent advertisements were misleading because they made improper use of a purportedly scientific “sleep study” that had been performed on its pillow products. My Pillow claimed that the “sleep study” proved that its pillows resulted in better sleep for the study’s participants. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the “sleep study” was not actually placebo-controlled or double-blind, as required by the prior judgment, and was deceptively promoted in other ways. My Pillow voluntarily ended the “sleep study” advertising campaign after being contacted by the DA’s office. Without admitting liability, the company also stipulated to a second judgment. The judgment prohibits the company from using the “sleep study” in the future and imposes other injunctive requirements. It also requires the company to pay an additional $100,000 in civil penalties. “My office will remain vigilant in monitoring the marketplace for claims about health and wellness that are not supported by the facts or science,” DA O’Malley said. “When necessary, we will take legal action to ensure that California consumers are protected.”
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Click
here
for more information on the Consumer, Environmental & Worker Protection division
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TRUNK OR TREAT
AT THE JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTER
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The DA's Office had a great Halloween evening during this year's "Trunk or Treat". The event was held at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center parking lot where members of the office decorate the backs of their vehicles to give the community a new and fun experience by trick-or-treating car to car.
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Members of the DA’s Office spoke to the community at the Courageous Women’s Event at the St. Mary’s Center in Oakland supporting women and children domestic violence survivors.
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PEOPLE V. FRANCISCO JESUS HERNANDEZ
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On October 16, 2019, a jury found Francisco Jesus Hernandez guilty of two counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder, attempted arson causing great bodily injury, a multiple murder special circumstance, and various personal use of a firearm enhancement.
On August 8, 2016, the three victims were all occupants in a single-cab pickup truck. They drove to a residential neighborhood off of 98
th
Avenue in East Oakland, where the driver began burning rubber and spinning donuts. The defendant and his seventeen-year-old son retrieved firearms, and the defendant shot the driver and middle passenger multiple times, killing them. The defendant approached the truck to check for survivors and found the third victim cowering on the passenger floorboard. Defendant pulled him out of the truck. When the victim begged for his life, the defendant told him, “You came with them, you will leave with them.” After the defendant and his son pistol-whipped the victim, the defendant said, “Son, you know what you have to do,” and the son then shot the victim in the face, chest, arm and hand. A third unknown suspect doused this man and the truck with gasoline. The defendant then forced this victim who was still alive back into the truck, and one of the three lit the truck on fire. The attempted murder victim was able to run from the burning truck on fire, shed his burning clothing, and hide until police and paramedics arrived. The strength of the evidence in this case is attributable to multiple courageous neighbors who came forward and identified the two defendants.
The defendant will be sentenced January 10, 2020, and faces Life in Prison Without the Possibility of Parole. Before trial, Francisco Hernandez Junior pled no contest to the willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder of the surviving victim and admitted a personal use of a firearm enhancement. He will be sentenced on November 15, 2019, to an indeterminate term of 17 years to Life in Prison.
This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Stacie Pettigrew with the assistance of Inspector Carl Bonner and Victim-Witness Advocate Liliana Bueno.
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PEOPLE V. ELADIO SALASCABALLERO
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On October 8, 2019, defendant Eladio Salascaballero was convicted by a jury of PC 288.5(a), continuous sexual abuse of a child, and two counts of misdemeanor child molestation (PC 247.6(a)(1)).
On multiple occasions from 2005 to 2013, the defendant sexually assaulted and molested Jane Doe. Doe bravely confronted her abuser and testified about the horrific sexual abuse she suffered for years as a child. The jury deliberated for fifteen minutes before returning a verdict of guilty on all counts.
This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney John Robinson with the assistance of DA Inspector Jim Morris and Victim-Witness Advocate Nicole Santos.
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PEOPLE V. MICHAEL GONSALVES
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On October 18, a jury found defendant Michael Gonsalves guilty of felony fraudulent possession of personal information and misdemeanor grand theft.
On November 30, 2017, Fremont Police Department officers were dispatched to the Lucky’s store on Mowry Avenue in Fremont after receiving a report of a man using a suspicious check. When officers arrived, they discovered three men on scene, and a copious amount of personal identifying information in their possession. All three men were separately charged with identity-theft related crimes, one of whom was the defendant in the instant case. The defendant possessed a debit card that did not belong to him, as well as a re-encoded hotel key card with a credit card number belonging to another victim. Additionally, the defendant possessed three cell phones, which the arresting officer collected as evidence and lab for forensic analysis. Upon analyzing the data extracted from the cell phones, Detective Boyd discovered over 10 victims.
The case was prosecuted by DDA Maryam Ahmad with the assistance of Detective Amy Boyd with the Fremont Police Department.
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For more information on the steps you can take in preventing falling victim to financial and cyber fraud, please visit our consumer ID theft and fraud division page
here
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"Second Chances", Parts 2 & 3 of the Justice For All podcast, is now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play Music. To learn more and listen to all episodes, visit
https://justiceforall.alcoda.org/
or click your preferred streaming service below:
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Questions for the DA's Office?
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Do you have a question for the District Attorney?
If you would like to see a particular question answered in our next newsletter, please email us at
[email protected].
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HEAT Watch: HEAT Watch is the anti-human trafficking program run by the DA's Office. It coordinates the response to help fight trafficking in the Bay Area and beyond.
Point of View: The well-known legal educational tool written and published by the DA's Office.
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