Month: May 2016

Judge orders lifetime of monitoring for ‘dangerous child predator’

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (May 6) determined that a former Metairie resident with four convictions of possession of child pornography, who authored letters expressing his desire to sexually abuse children, is a dangerous child predator and must submit to lifelong restrictions once he’s released from prison.

Jonathan Ruiz, 34, must wear a GPS monitor on his ankle, register as a sex offender and remain under state supervision for the rest of his life, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Nancy Miller ruled after hearing testimony and reviewing a Sex Offender Assessment Panel packet of information about the man that a prosecutor presented in court.

“The court does find the content of that package extremely disturbing and clearly indicates, in this court’s mind, that Mr. Ruiz will upon release from (the Department of Corrections) in some fashion offend again,” Judge Miller said.

She based the decision on evidence presented by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office through a Sex Offender Assessment Panel. Called SOAP, the Louisiana Legislature in 2009 created the three-person panels under the state Department of Corrections and Public Safety, to determine whether inmates convicted of certain sex offenses are dangerous child predators or sexually violent predators.

Prosecutors present the panels’ findings, testimony and other evidence to judges to determine whether restrictions should be instituted before the inmates are released from prison and into the population.

Dr. Matthew Gamble, a psychiatrist appointed to evaluate Ruiz as part of the SOAP process, testified he found the letters Ruiz wrote in prison containing graphic sexual descriptions involving young children, to be “extremely worrisome.” He said Ruiz is one of only two out of hundreds of inmates he’s assessed who need the tightest lifetime restrictions.

While he was confined to the Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie from 2006 through last year, Ruiz wrote letters asserting he had sexually abused children, whom he called “toys,” and desired to do so again when released from prison, according to evidence presented in court.

Corrections officers began screening his non-legal letters after finding pictures Ruiz drew of children in sexual poses, some of which he hid in his legal documents, according to testimony.

He tore photographs of children’s faces from magazines and used them with the bodies in his drawings, leading corrections officers to ban him from magazines that contained photos of children, according to testimony. His letters also included detailed drawings of a compound that he intended to build in a remote location where he could abuse children secretly, according to the evidence.

“Sexual impulse control has continued to be a problem, even in the penitentiary setting,” Gamble testified. He said he has “a high degree of concern” that Ruiz would re-offend after he’s released from prison.

Through an attorney, Ruiz denied the accusations. The letters were written as “fiction,” and there was no evidence that Ruiz has ever sexually abused a human being, his attorney said.

In addition to theft-related offenses, Ruiz was convicted of three counts of possession of child pornography in Jefferson Parish and one conviction attempted possession of child pornography in Livingston Parish.

Ruiz’s most recent conviction in Jefferson Parish was 2006, when he received a nine-year prison sentence for three counts of possession of child pornography. At the time, Ruiz lived in the 200 block of Radiance Street in Metairie, where his parole agents and Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies performing a residence check found sexually explicit photographs of children in addition to stolen property, according to the arrest report.

After he was released from prison for those convictions, he moved to New Orleans and failed to register as a sex offender, leading to his April 13 guilty plea in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and when he’s released, he’ll have to comply with the conditions that Judge Miller set on Friday in deciding he is a dangerous child predator.

In addition to a lifetime of GPS monitoring and sex offender registration, Ruiz must regularly report to parole agents and submit to random, unannounced residential inspections. All of his electronic communications and internet use will be monitored as well.

Judge Miller found that the state, which carries the burden of proof in SOAP proceedings, proved “by clear and convincing evidence” that Ruiz is a child sexual predator. She found that child pornography is a sexual offense against children, and that Ruiz has a mental abnormality, which is another element of the SOAP law.

Assistant District Attorney Matt Clauss prosecuted the matter.

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Grand Isle fisherman who crashed boat into shrimp dock sentenced to 20 years in prison for DUI

A Grand Isle commercial fisherman with six actual convictions of driving under the influence was sentenced on Friday (May 6) to 20 years in prison for his most recent DUI conviction.

Rockey Burnham, 44, was convicted as charged of his second fourth-offense DUI on April 20. Fourth-offense DUI is the most serious offense available to prosecutors under Louisiana law. Burnham was arrested on April 28, 2015, after he crashed a boat he was piloting into moored vessels and the shrimp dock owned by Dean Blanchard Seafood.

The U.S. Coast Guard investigated the boat wreck, while the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries handled the DUI investigation. The state agents concluded that Burnham did poorly on the field sobriety test, leading to blood work that yielded the presence of diazepam, nordiazepam and methamphetamine, according to evidence presented at the trial.

Fourth-offense DUI conviction carries a sentence of 10 years to 30 years in prison. After denying defense requests to toss out the conviction and to order a new trial, Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court opted for the 20-year sentence, to be served without the benefit of parole, probation or suspended sentence.

Judge Regan also told Burnham that he would recommend access to substance abuse programs in prison, “so that when you get out you don’t find yourself in the same situation you’re in today.”

Because he was on probation at the time of his arrest in this last case, Burnham faces an additional seven years if his probation is revoked. Five of those years are tied to a previous DUI conviction, while two are from a narcotics possession conviction. If his probation is revoked, Burnham would face the seven-year sentence in addition to the 20 years he received on Friday.

Burnham denied the latest charges. He alleged the boat he was maneuvering suffered from mechanical problems and that Wildlife and Fisheries agents did little to no investigating. The Jefferson Parish jury deliberated about 40 minutes in finding him guilty as charged.

His last conviction before this year’s was in 2011, for an arrest a year earlier for driving a trawler without authorization while under the influence of alcohol and crystal methamphetamine, crashing it into a dock. He pleaded guilty to DUI, unauthorized use of a movable and simple criminal damage to property.

As part of the plea arrangement in that case, a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison but suspended five of those years in ordering five years of probation. Burnham also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

He also was sentenced to two years in prison in 2011, for two narcotics-related offenses. He separately has DUI convictions in East Baton Rouge and Lafourche parishes, in addition to Jefferson Parish convictions.

Assistant District Attorneys Lynn Schiffman and Marko Marjanovic prosecuted the case.

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Kenner man’s probation revoked, gets 22-year sentence in gunplay case

A Kenner man who was convicted last week of four felonies, including shooting at his lifelong friend on a city street, was sentenced on Monday (May 2) to 22 years in prison.

Otis D. Washington, 26, also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine in connection with his April 26 convictions of aggravated criminal damage to property, aggravated assault and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

After a lifelong friend questioned him about a pistol he possessed, Washington began shooting at the victim as he left a store in the 1000 block of 3rd Street in Kenner on April 28, 2015, according to trial testimony. As the victim drove away, bullets shattered a back door window, punched through a door and struck the back of the front passenger’s seat where a pregnant woman sat.

The following day, the victim saw Washington at Jefferson Highway and Wilker Neal Avenue in River Ridge. Washington pointed the same pistol at the man, leading to the aggravated assault charge. Washington was barred from possessing firearms because of a 2010 simple robbery conviction, and yet did so on back-to-back days, leading to the two gun possession charges.

The victim contacted the Kenner Police Department only after Washington pointed the gun at him. Following the shooting, he said he hoped his mother and Washington’s mother would resolve the matter, he testified.

After denying a defense request for a new trial, Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Washington to 20 years for each of the two firearm counts, 10 years for the aggravated assault and 15 years for the criminal damage counts. He ran the sentences concurrently, for a total of 20 years.

At the time of his arrest in the case, Washington was serving two years of probation because of his conviction of unauthorized use of property valued at more than $500. He pleaded guilty to that charge less than three months before his arrest in the shooting case.

Kenner police arrested him for the earlier offense in October 2013, after observing him drive through a private parking lot on Williams Boulevard to avoid a traffic signal, while watching a pornographic movie on a DVD player, according to the arrest report.

Police learned that the DVD player and other items in Washington’s car had been stolen in a residential burglary in Kenner earlier that day. Mentz, who presided over that case, too, suspended a two-year prison sentence and gave Washington two years of probation.

But with last week’s conviction, Judge Mentz on Monday revoked the probation and ordered Washington to serve the original two-year prison sentence. That sentence was run consecutively with the new 20-year sentence, for a total of 22 years.

Prosecutors on Monday also filed a multiple bill under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, charging Washington as a third felony offender. Apart from two misdemeanor convictions, Washington’s background includes felony convictions of simple robbery, simple burglary and unauthorized use of movable property.

Sentencing range for the bill is 10 years to 30 years in prison. Judge Mentz is scheduled to consider the bill on May 19.

Assistant District Attorneys Angel Varnado and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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