Things have been a little rough lately and we’re trying to give you all a little break with artsy photos of rainfall, pretty flowers and other worthwhile distractions but that doesn’t keep our alarm bells from going off.
Our alarm bells are gentle tone alerts signifying incoming email or texts and it’s usually a good indicator that something is amiss when they sound like the introductory chimes to “Tubular Bells.” (Google Ref. opening theme used for the soundtrack to the horror film The Exorcist.)
They went off this morning as Walnut Creek and Lafayette PD officers beat the brush near Acalanes High School in search of a man with some outstanding warrants pending. Apparently, it was quite an effort out there and early risers in the area began to ping us. Anyway, that’s what it was and, no, we don’t believe they found the man they were looking for.
Local police had more luck with their search for an Orinda man who has come to their attention before, finding 44-year-old David Justice outside a Lafayette smoothie bar a couple of days after he allegedly choked a relative who had helped him raise bail after a SWAT team took him into custody on a pending rape and child molestation case back in 2020.
Justice was arrested April 25 on suspicion of attacking his relative in the Orinda home he had been ordered to stay in since he was released on $500,000 bail back then. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly given that Orinda is a relatively small town, we’d been getting inquiries from locals familiar with his case who queried us on his bail and custody status – something, you know, we have no control over.
He is apparently back in custody with a court hearing set for later this month.
Also arrested and in a bit of trouble is an Alamo man indicted for allegedly running a $39 million Ponzi scheme tapping more than 100 victims, officials announced. Derek Vincent Chu, 41, was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 28, and has been charged with eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
Prosecutors say that between 2013 and 2020, Chu raised $39 million by soliciting investments for the purchase and resale of basketball tickets and luxury suites at Oracle Arena in Oakland, the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Chase Center in San Francisco. Chu allegedly gave investors false information on how investor funds would be used, how investors would be repaid and whether investments were backed by collateral.
Officials allege that Chu mixed investor funds with his personal and business accounts and used it to pay investors back. The indictment also alleged that Chu used about $7.3 million in investor funds for personal expenses including paying credit card debts, making cash withdrawals, paying for travel, luxury automobile and jewelry purchases and paying utilities bills.
Chu was arrested Tuesday morning. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud and 10 years in prison for each count of money laundering and is due in court May 10.
And just to round things out was this week’s news that several local men were among those arrested in a Bay Area-wide sweep of local gang members led by police in San Francisco. Those represented included alleged gang members from Concord, Hercules, and San Ramon and, while the gang’s connection to any local crimes remains to be determined, the arrests may curtail future mention of “outsiders” visiting the 24/680 to ply their trade.
so thats what that was……
There goes the neighborhood…or Not in my backyard. Perhaps both.
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Bad boys bad boys
David Justice, what an ironic last name. Imagine how they make fun of this poor fella in jail! He certainly does not match up to the real D Justice who slammed 305 home runs in his career!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISzwjCFSxbM
Firestone 11R
For those considering a move and possible career change in Los Angeles.
Submitter was a former member and, no, we don’t know how many of those “skid extractions” he made in his career.
Old school look at old school police recruiting. Funny in parts, ironic in others. Intended for entertainment purposes only, right?
NEWS24/680