firearms

Published on: April 17, 2018

Man Making Threats to His Former School Found with Weapons in His Home

A Long Island man is facing several weapons charges after police found a large stash of illegal firearms and military gear in his residence when his former high school reported that he had been leaving threatening voicemails.

32-year-old Robert Csak attended the Summit School in Nyack as a teen in 2002. The school specializes in working with children who have emotional and behavior problems and they provide a residential program.

On April 14 police received a call alerting them that the voicemail at the school contained six messages from a person, who was later suspected to be Csak, making alarming threats toward a staff member who had reportedly experienced an unpleasant encounter between himself and the Csak in 2002.

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Published on: January 27, 2018

Felon Father Found With Firearms in Reach of Children

by Staycie R. Sena

Four children were taken into custody by the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services on Tuesday when a child abuse investigation at their home uncovered illegal firearms and ammunition stored in the open and unsecured.

Paul Anthony Cruz, a father and convicted felon, was being interviewed by South Pasadena police at his home on January 23, due to suspicions that his children were being abused. A social worker from the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services was also present.

While inside the home and speaking to the father, officers allegedly discovered a semi-automatic assault-style rifle that was fully loaded inside of the bedroom of one of the children. The social worker took custody of the four children residing with Cruz; three youngsters and one 11-year-old boy.

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Published on: November 8, 2017

Suspect Threatens O.C. University with “Killing Spree” in YouTube Vlogs

by Staycie R. Sena

In an email exchange that turned sour, a former student of Soka University allegedly sent an instructor links to a menacing vlog he had recorded. In the video the man spoke of his desire to execute a mass shooting. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced that he was apprehended on Monday.

David Kenneth Smith attended Soka University, a private college in Aliso Viejo, nearly a decade ago. In 2008 he was accused of smoking marijuana and he was handed down disciplinary actions for his alleged infraction.

The instructor on the receiving end of the email exchange with Smith was involved in assigning the consequences for the marijuana use. Orange County Sherriff’s Department deputies reported that when the accused became discontented with the correspondence he sent a link to a YouTube video containing footage of himself laying in a bathtub while holding a semiautomatic pistol against his chest as he spoke about the university. In the video Smith discussed the way university staff was regularly unkind to him, and he claims during his enrollment there he was wrongfully fined for and accused of violations he did not commit.

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Published on: May 19, 2016

How To End Up in Jail

by Staycie R. Sena

In nearly twenty years of practice as an Orange County criminal defense attorney, I have seen the following too many times to recall:

He has been served with a temporary restraining order and wants to fight it. The says there’s no reason for it. They simply had a breakup and he said some mean things. There was no violence, no harassment and no threats. Imposition of the restraining order can have consequences- he could lose his job and his ex-wife could use the restraining order against him if she ever decides to take him back to court to get more child support. Shortly before the restraining order hearing he calls and says his ex-girlfriend wants to “drop” the restraining order. I ask how he knows this and he says “she called me”.

He should never have taken that call. Unless there is some specifically carved out exception such as “the parties may have electronic communication solely for the purposes of discussing continuing financial obligations,” a restraining order prohibits contact for ALL purposes.

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