TimesOC: Third former O.C. sheriff’s deputy pleads guilty in evidence-handling scandal

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Nov. 3. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you today’s TimesOC newsletter with the latest roundup of news and events.

In the fall of 2019 four Orange County sheriff’s deputies were fired and several others were under investigation in the wake of an audit that found ongoing, widespread lapses in their handling of evidence. The O.C. Sheriff’s Department then tasked itself with reviewing evidence in more than 22,000 cases spanning from March 2015 to March 2018.

There were allegations that some evidence wasn’t booked until after convictions or not at all, according to reports.

“These are not merely cases that have been affected,” Sheriff Don Barnes said in February 2020. “In every one of these cases, a person accused of a crime is owed their right to due process in the criminal justice system. In some cases, there is also a victim who wants to see justice served.”

This week 45-year-old former deputy Edwin Morales Mora pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. Mora, the third former deputy to make a plea, avoided a more serious felony count that had been called for by a grand jury in August 2020, according to reporting by our colleague Hayley Smith, because a Superior Court judge reduced the charge over the objections of prosecutors.

Court documents show Mora knowingly filed a false police report on Aug. 30, 2017, stating, “I booked [a] knife, methamphetamine, and glass smoking pipe into the sheriff’s locker in Santa Ana,” despite the fact the evidence had not been booked, Smith reports. According to a district attorney’s report from January, 44% of Mora’s reports stated he booked non-photographic evidence when he did not.

Mora’s sentence? One year of informal probation.

A pedestrian walks past the Orange County Jail and Orange County Sheriff’s Department Headquarters, right, in Santa Ana. This week a third former deputy pleaded guilty in an evidence-handling scandal.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

MORE NEWS

— Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson made a tentative ruling this week in favor of top drugmakers in a lawsuit brought by California counties that blamed the companies for the nation’s opioid crisis and sought funds to cover the costs of dealing with it. Wilson said the county governments hadn’t proved that the pharmaceutical companies used deceptive marketing to increase unnecessary opioid prescriptions and create a public nuisance, according to our colleagues Robert Jablon and Donald Thompson.

— The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $2.5-million settlement for two families suing over the unauthorized sharing of photos of the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash, in which their loved ones also were killed. Matthew Mauser, the Huntington Beach man who earlier this year appeared on “America’s Got Talent” will receive $1.25 million and siblings J.J. Altobelli and Alexis Altobelli will share another $1.25 million.

— Irvine resident Brian Hsu, 20, was arrested by the FBI Monday at his home after being charged with assaulting an American Airlines female flight attendant on an aircraft that had to divert to Denver because of his behavior on Oct. 27.

— A Costa Mesa man was arrested by the FBI on Thursday on suspicion of participating in what investigators describe as a fraudulent investment scheme that raised $13.8 million by promising investors returns of up to 10% through real estate.

— Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials are working to ease concerns in the school community following the arrest of two minors in connection with an altercation at Costa Mesa High School last Friday in which one student reportedly displayed a weapon.

— U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has blocked the city of Orange from evicting homeless services provider Mary’s Kitchen for six months due to concerns that clients would be put at risk by the ongoing pandemic and coming rainy season. Carter wrote in his decision that the city’s promises of replacement services are not well thought out.

SPORTS

— Although currently headquartered in Costa Mesa, the Chargers have announced plans to build a new office and training facilities in El Segundo on a 14-acre site that was part of a campus operated by defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp.

— Ethan Garbers of Newport Beach gave it his all Saturday when he took to the field as replacement quarterback for injured UCLA QB Dorian Thomspon-Robinson, but his team’s defense allowed the University of Utah Utes to beat the Bruins, 44-24. Garbers, a Corona del Mar High grad, transferred to UCLA from U. of Washington in January.

UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers (4) throws a pass against Utah during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday.

(Associated Press)

LIFE & LEISURE

— The backbone of any organization is its army of volunteers and Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar boasts many such members who wanted to find their own way to raise funds in support of the gardens. To that end, they’ve launched a $24 cookbook filled with recipes gathered from participants in their monthly potluck get-togethers known as the First Monday Coffee.

Volunteers of Sherman Library and Gardens have created a cookbook called “First Monday Coffee,” after a decades-long First Monday volunteer meeting. A Holiday Gift Faire at the gardens will be held on Nov. 4 where the cookbook will be on sale.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

— After nearly a month’s delay caused by the oil spill off Huntington Beach, the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center Tuesday released more than 100 mallards back to the wild in Newport Beach at an unlikely setting — the backyard of the Beach and Bay Mobile Home Port on West Coast Highway.

Male and female mallards, who were indirect oil spill victims, exit their holding boxes as they are released to their natural habitat in the Semeniuk Slough in west Newport Beach on Tuesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)