“Catch and release” jail system puts repeat criminals on the streets
Jessenia Oertel’s truck looks immaculate now, but when she got it back this July…
“It was sickening to look at and even more so to be inside,” she sighs.
One morning Oertel, a dance teacher at Palm Springs High School, woke up to drive her Dodge to work, “and sure enough I had to call the police, and it was stolen,” she says.
Police caught the thief just four days later, blocks away from Oertel’s home.
“The first time they called me, they said that they released him because the jails were too crowded. I was like, Ok, sure…”
She thought it sounded crazy, but it was true.
It’s called being “fed-kicked.” A non-violent inmate gets released from local custody while waiting for trial, or even after sentencing to prevent jail overcrowding.
A 2013-2014 grand jury report from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Corrections Division noted that “realignment…resulted in early releases called ‘Fed Kick.’ This new class of inmates are ‘more sophisticated’ according to testimony from randomly selected correctional deputies from all five (5) jails.”
Ernie Couto, the man who stole Oertel’s car, was fed-kicked three times this year.
Since last November, police implicated Couto in 15 different cases from Indio to Palm Springs. They included doing drugs at the Musicland Hotel, stealing motorcycles from condos, illegal camping and burglary while on bail
In one case in Palm Springs over the summer, Couto went to a home on the pretense that he’d lost his cat. He said he was a welder and offered to do some ironwork. Then as he and the homeowner walked back through the house, Couto slipped a wallet containing credit cards and a passport into his pocket, and made up a story about having to go. The homeowner personally tracked down surveillance video from locations where the cards were used to hand over to police.
In fact, police say Couto got caught shoplifting the same day he got picked up for stealing Oertel’s car.
When she hears that, Oertel laughs. “This guy doesn’t learn his lesson.”
“This is something that’s rare that unfortunately we’re seeing more and more of due of a variety of factors,” offers Palm Springs police Lt. Mike Kovaleff.
Instead of prison, criminals, especially those who are committing so-called “drug crimes” get probation and “mandatory supervision.” Couto violated both multiple times.
“In the past,” Kovaleff says, “These people would have been locked up for a longer period of time and they wouldn’t be out reoffending.”
Couto was caught with drugs on several occasions.
“You know, the sentencing and the rehabilitation,” Kovaleff says, “I don’t know how that is working in the courts, but it’s clear to me that some of these individuals are not getting rehabbed.”
So what’s different now?
District Attorney Mike Hestrin says a few things.
“In our opinion, what we’re seeing is a result of AB 109 and Prop 47. Because what’s happened, if you take those two things together, if you take those two laws together is you’ve taken the teeth out of the criminal justice system.
Numerous arrests, numerous prosecutions, over and over again,” says Hestrin. “We’re seeing the same people. The crime rate is going up. How in the world is this saving any money?”
“Once we ship them off to the Riverside County jail, then there’s a price associated with that,” explains Kovaleff. “There’s a price of the work by the DA’s office, and a price associated with the Public Defender’s office.”
Kovaleff estimates the department’s detectives racked up 100 hours investigating Couto’s crimes, and dozens more hours dealing with him after they picked up him.
“Ultimately the taxpayers are (paying for this),” says Kovaleff.
But how is Couto paying?
On June 29, he pleaded guilty to drug possession, car theft and identity theft, and a judge sentenced him to 8 months behind bars. But he went free on July 1, serving a total of just 60 days before he was picked up again for good on Aug. 21.
“We’ve done our part, we’ve arrested him, we’ve taken him to jail, and unfortunately he’s being released,” says Kovaleff.
“These days for a simple meth possession, possession of heroin, cocaine, we’re giving them a citation. Sometimes we cite them in the field, sometimes we take them to the jail and they’re released from there on a citation, so they’re maybe serving six hours before they’re out on bail,” Kovaleff adds.
“It is a statewide trend,” says Hestrin. “Some would say it is a nationwide trend. But certainly in California we are seeing it.”
On Oct. 9, Couto pleaded guilty to another batch of cases. He got five years on one, and three years on another, to be served concurrently and at half-time. He already had credit for two months, so the most he’ll serve is two years in jail. And if he gets “fed-kicked,” Couto will be out much sooner.
“There’s nothing that prevents them from wanting to do it again,” laments Oertel. “They’re back on the street with little to no time. And hey, ‘I’ll do it again then,’ because, ‘why not?'”
By the numbers
How much money gets spent to “put away” a career criminal? What’s the cost to victims and taxpayers?
Riverside County’s daily jail rate is $142.42 Ernie Couto spent 60 days in jail between November 2014 and August 21, 2015 and prior to sentencing on October 8. In one case which was adjudicated on June 29, 2015, Couto was ordered to pay $13,360 in restitution to his victims. Palm Springs Police Department detectives make an average of roughly $40/hour, with variables including qualifications, experience and education. Lt. Mike Kovaleff estimates at least 100 hours were spent by detectives investigating crimes involving Couto. Palm Springs patrol officers were called to handle issues with Couto at least eight times between March and August, including two times in May. Each time they spent at least 40 minutes, and sometimes upwards of two hours handling the calls. Couto was also contacted by officers from the Cathedral City, Indio and Palm Desert police departments. Public defenders in Riverside County make between $4,430.76 and $7,354.08 per month. Deputy District Attorneys in Riverside County make a minimum of $5,428.70 and a maximum of $16,062.06 per month depending on their level of experience and position. In one case involving a car theft from March, which was adjudicated on June 29, 2015, prosecutors and public defenders made at least 18 appearances in court related to Couto, including petitions to revoke his probation, and allegations of violations of his mandatory supervision. Riverside County Probation costs are billed to the offender at ranges from $16.42-$104.00 per month. In addition, they’re billed for required urine tests. A deputy probation officer 2 with a four-year degree and one year of probation experience starts out at $25.59 per hour in Riverside County. After three or four years of experience, that individual will top out at $35.27 per hour. Beth Stevens, Probation Division Director for Riverside County says “defendants do make payments. However victims and restitution fines are paid first, and receive the greatest allocation. The cost of probation is one of the last things paid off.” Probation officers encourage probationers to get jobs so they can pay fines and victims restitution, however, it’s challenging to find employers willing to take risks on individuals with criminal backgrounds. In another case, Couto was also ordered to pay for mandatory supervision at a cost of between $591.12 and $3,744.
Fewer “fed-kicks” so far this year, but fewer inmates are getting booked for crimes, too.
3,108 lower-risk individuals have been released from Riverside County jails so far this year. That’s compared with 10,895 in all of 2014.
Riverside County has a jail bed capacity of 3,914, which includes five locations: Blythe, Banning, Indio, Riverside and Murrieta.
When deciding who to release early as part of the federal mandate to prevent overcrowding, Riverside County Assistant Sheriff Jerry Gutierrez says “We take a look at who’s the best of the worst. Obviously we don’t want to release anyone early, but we’re under a federal court order to do so, and we have no choice.”
Although those numbers appear to show a significantly fewer number of Riverside County inmates are being released early compared with last year, Gutierrez says the implementation of Proposition 47 brought a change across the state. He California jails have seen an average of 15 percent reduction in bookings. This could be attributed to several things, including the classification of crimes as misdemeanors that were previously felonies, which allows for in-the-field citations written.
“We released fewer, but the population has still remained at max population because of realignment,” says Gutierrez “A good percentage of our beds are occupied by the realignment population… The jail population also reduced to mirror that population,” says Gutierrez. “Except in Riverside County, because we have fewer jail beds, so we’re still at maximum capacity.”
#Serialburglar Ernie Couto was “fed-kicked” at least three times since his first arrest in November 2014. He bailed out at least three times, and was “cite-released” at the jail twice. He was also issued additional citations that did not involve any time spent in jail.
Have you ever wondered how many cases Riverside County prosecutors deal with compared with other areas in Southern California? This data from the Riverside County District Attorney’s office shows a caseload comparable to Orange and San Bernardino Counties, and significantly higher than Los Angeles County.
List of Crimes
The criminal charges against Ernie Couto in Riverside County didn’t start until November of 2014, and started off fairly minor, but within six months, he was accused of much more serious “non-violent” crimes, like car theft. Most charges are convictions, some were dismissed as part of plea bargains, and three cases are still pending.
November 13, 2014 Illegal camping
December 15, 2014 Petty Theft
January 16, 2015 Possess controlled substance
February 13, 2015 Shoplifting, Possess controlled substance, possess paraphernalia
February 22, 2015 Petty Theft
March 8, 2015 Receiving stolen trailer/vessel, possess controlled substance, stolen property
March 13, 2015 Camp without authorization
March 17, 2015 Stolen property, identity theft
April 29, 2015 Possession controlled substance, petty theft
May 2, 2015 Grand theft
May 13, 2015 Car theft while on bail, stolen property
July 15, 2015 Car theft with priors, convicted twice of felony, receive stolen trailer/vessel, stolen property
July 19, 2015 Burglary while on bail, impersonate to obtain credit, prison prior
July 31, 2015 Car theft with prior conviction while on bail, prison prior
August 21, 2015 Car theft, car theft with prior conviction
