Valley parolees out of custody despite violent crime allegations

California’s Department of Corrections says AB 109 has “helped California to close the revolving door of low-level inmates cycling in and out of state prisons.” That means only the worst offenders are sent to prison now. But shockingly, as we uncovered, as many felons transition from prisoners to parolees, you will come face to face with them more than before.

If you left your home nearly anytime this year, you may have run into a man named Lawrence Moreno. Maybe while grocery shopping, picking up a gift for a friend, pumping gas, or playing at the park with your child. That’s because although he’s technically serving a prison sentence, he’s no longer in prison.

Moreno is one of 450 parolees living in the Coachella Valley.

He’s known to law enforcement as “Little Chubbs.”

In 2007 he was convicted of kidnapping and carjacking a man at gunpoint, and was sent to prison and served time. This calendar year alone, he violated his parole at least two times. And instead of being sent back to prison, he went to jail for a few days, and was released back into the Coachella Valley.

Moreno was considered such a high risk, he was outfitted with a GPS tracking bracelet. But authorities say he cut it off after shooting his own girlfriend this July, just days after he’d been released from jail on one of those parole violations. He was immediately re-arrested.

“So when our officers walked out of the jail,” explained Indio Police Department Sergeant Dan Marshall, “they in essence thought there would be no bail because there was a parole hold set on Mr. Moreno.”

A “parole hold” is a no-bail status that should have ensured Moreno would stay behind bars to face the shooting charges.

Instead, Moreno was brought before a judge and granted bail of $100,000. He paid a bail bondsman just one percent of that. $1,000 to be a free man again.

He was re-fitted with another GPS bracelet and the worst-case scenario happened.

“Within two days, he had shot his girlfriend and now she’s paralyzed and (he) shot another individual as well,” says Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

How was Moreno able to post bail while on parole, and get out and allegedly, shoot his girlfriend a second time?

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin says, parole withdrew their ‘hold.’

‘I think it was terribly irresponsible. To withdraw a parole hold without telling anyone. I cannot for the life of me, understand why the police department was not given notice,” said Hestrin.

But parole says the answer is simple.

They don’t have to because it’s the law. Adopted in 2013 after AB 109 and ‘realignment’ as a way of implementing the law meant to keep our state prisons from being overcrowded with low-level criminals.

Parole would not provide an on-camera interview with us, but explained it this way, via e-mail:

Before AB 109 “Essentially, there were two parallel legal systems—one for parole violations and the courts for new crimes. That meant there were two different people deciding the fate of a parole violator,” wrote Bill Sessa, Information Officer, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The new law eliminated one system, and put the parolee’s fate in the hands of the same judge who would hear about those new crimes.

“It’s great to do things to save money,” responded Hestrin. “It’s great to be efficient, but not at the expense of people’s lives and the safety of the public.”

Parole would not officially disclose how often the policy of lifting ‘holds’ is carried out. But we spoke with local agents who tell us parolees in the Coachella Valley are arrested on new felony charges “frequently.”

Some estimated as often as two times a week.

Still, Sessa, the spokesperson from CDCR said, “The ONLY time we lift a parole hold is when a violator is being charged with a more serious crime….since that was the reason for the policy, it’s safe to say that the policy is very effective—100 percent effective—since in all cases where we have lifted a parole hold, the violator is now facing more serious charges that, if convicted, would improve public safety by putting him in custody for a long time.”

Unfortunately, it gives that violator a window to bail out, just like Moreno, who police say, used the opportunity to try to finish what he started.

“If people that are dangerous to society can freely get out of jail, the system is broken,” says Marshall.

Yet parole asserts the “changes in statute…make the public more safe from violent criminals.”

“I don’t know if I’d agree with that,” says Marshall. “This person was released, and then they went right back to the same person and shot them again. I don’t know how we could look at that situation and say it’s keeping our streets safer.”

“Unfortunately it takes something like this to get everyone’s attention,” says Hestrin, “and we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Parole is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as: “The release of a prisoner temporarily (for a special purpose) or permanently before the completion of a sentence, on the promise of good behavior.”

“When they commit a new crime, which has got to be at the very top of the list of things that you can’t do,” says Hestrin, “they’ve got to go back into custody. Plain and simple.”

Hestrin now says he’s met with State Parole and plans to make changes in the local D.A.’s office. Every time a parolee is brought in on new felony charges, prosecutors will automatically file a bail enhancement and never rely on a ‘parole hold.’ He’s also meeting with local police chiefs and the Sheriff to make sure everyone knows about Parole’s policy.