Desert Local News - Index

Desert Local News - Desert Local News 'weekly' on demand print March 6th edition - Index

police & sheriffs report
Las Vegas Man Arrested
In Connection With Local
Area Robberies
Staff and wire reports
On March 4th, 2008, Investigators
from the Riverside County
Sheriff’s Department (Palm Desert
and Indio Stations) received
information from a citizen informant
that a Steven Hagle of Las
Vegas, Nevada was involved in
the bank robberies and was staying
at the Shilla Hotel in Desert
Hot Springs. The informant also
said that the suspect was driving
a Mercedes Benz.
Investigators located a stolen
Mercedes Benz, stolen from
Arizona, in the parking lot of the
hotel. Evidence linking Hagle to
the valley robberies were located
in the vehicle. Investigators authored
a search warrant for the
hotel room. As Investigators were
monitoring the room where the
suspect was believed to be, Hagle
came out of the room and was
taken into custody. A search of
the room also recovered evidence
linking him to the bank Valley
robberies. Sheriff’s Investigators
also worked with Detectives from
the Palm Springs Police Department
as one of the valley robberies
occurred in Palm Springs.
The suspect is Steven Hagle,
32 years of Las Vegas. He was
booked for three counts of robbery
and one count of attempted
robbery (one in Rancho Mirage,
one in La Quinta, one in Palm
Springs and one attempted robbery
in Palm Desert). Also arrested
was a Shawn Manning,
40 years of Solano Beach, CA.
Manning was in possession of
evidence linking him to the involvement
of the stolen Mercedes
and was also out on bail from a
previous arrest over the weekend.
Manning was also charged as an
accessory for each of
the robberies.
This investigation is on-going
as Hagle is suspected in other
possible crimes/robberies in other
states (Arizona and Nevada).
Anyone with additional information
related to these incidents
should contact either the Palm
Desert Sheriff’s Investigations
Bureau at 836-1600 or the Indio
Station Sheriff’s Investigations
Bureau at 863-8990.
California Department of Corrections
to Release Inmates Early:
DHS Officials Brace Themselves
By Leslie Andrews
Officials in Desert Hot
Springs brace themselves for
what is to come if the California
Department of Corrections
decides to release prisoners
early due to budget cuts and
prison overcrowding.
“About 5,000 will be released
back to Riverside
County,” said Mayor Pro
Tem Scott Matas in regards
to these two proposals from
the CDCR. He suggested that
CVAG (Coachella Valley Association
of Governments)
cities send Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger a message
that Desert Hot Springs and
the rest of the Coachella Valley
don’t accept such an idea.
What the governor has done
was propose a plan that would
release non-violent criminals
with less than 20 months remaining
on their sentences.
The plan will also create a
Summary Parole program under
which such inmates will
receive no supervision on parole
and such summary parolees
cannot be returned to state
prison without a new criminal
conviction. CDCR Secretary
James Tilton explained at a recent
teleconference that emer-
gency legislation is pending to
authorize the new program.
Inmates with fewer than
20 months remaining on their
sentences will be released
immediately and placed on
summary parole. As to future
crimes, no qualifying defendant
receiving a low term sentence
of 16 months or less will
serve any actual prison time.
Those receiving sentences of
24 months will serve only a
maximum of two months and
those sentenced to 36 months
will serve mo more than eight
months behind bars in state
prison.
According to Assistant
District Attorney Bill Mitchell
in a letter sent to the CVAG
Public Safety Committee,
the effect of these proposals
would have on local communities
would be devastating.
He stated, “The early release
of prisoners on summary parole
with no effective supervision,
in conjunction with the
virtual decriminalization of a
wide variety of felony offenses,
including auto theft, commercial
burglary, identity theft
and felony drunk driving, will
put public safety at risk.”
Desert Hot Springs City
Councilman Russell Betts
commented, “Fighting for
public safety and maintaining
prisons is one of the primary
responsibilities of our state
government, I would encourage
the governor to place
a higher priority on public
safety. These budget cuts are
extremely short sighted. They
carry a tremendous cost for our
community and others.” But is
Desert Hot Springs prepared to
take on these new challenges?
Betts continued, “I guess we’ll
have to be prepared. We will
have to apply for grants to hire
more police officers.”
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