September 2018
Volume 3, Issue 9
Dear Friends:
This is the time of year when children return to school. Child victims of human trafficking, however, will not be among them.

Instead of getting an education to build their future, many of these victims will be sexually exploited.
Spotlight: Human Resources Division
The Human Resources Division prosecutes no crimes.

But it is part of the engine that drives the District Attorney’s Office – mostly unseen but absolutely vital to its operation.

The 54-person division handles the hiring of new attorneys and other departmental staff, promotions, payroll and the processing of employees leaving the office.

“We serve the mission of the office by providing human resource services for the legal staff so they can focus on cases and all the other things needed for the District Attorney’s Office to serve the community,” said Alayna Elam, the division chief.

Nearly 1,700 job applications were processed by the division’s Exams Unit between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018.

For months before the recent Deputy District Attorney I exam, Human Resources Division staff met weekly with subject-matter experts to review job requirements and draft the exam.

They finalized exam schedules and logistics to accommodate the dozens of veteran prosecutors who interviewed more than 300 candidates seeking deputy district attorney jobs with the office.

They also reviewed applications to make sure candidates met job requirements and submitted necessary documentation, such as a valid State Bar of California membership card for attorneys.

While much of what the division’s staff does goes on behind the scenes, for job applicants and new hires, Human Resources Division employees are the first people they meet.

They not only check in applicants for job exams but also provide an orientation before a new hire sets foot in an office or courthouse as a District Attorney employee.

The office’s more than 2,000 employees also rely on the Human Resources Division to make sure they are paid properly, receive benefits, are promoted, transferred and trained and their paperwork is   processed as they retire or move on to other career opportunities.
Fraud Alert
  Significant Cases
New Medicare cards are being mailed nationwide to prevent fraud and identity theft, but seniors should beware of a scam arising from the distribution of these new cards.

Read the Fraud Alert and watch the video here .
  • An East Los Angeles woman pleaded guilty to running an immigration services scam that defrauded dozens of people out of more than $300,000. Find out how the woman was able to trick so many victims.

  • A Rialto woman could spend nearly four years behind bars for threatening a high school in Glendora. Learn more about what she did. 

  • A French national was sentenced to county jail after he hit pedestrians with his vehicle in downtown Los Angeles. Read here to find out what happened before the collision. 
Meet the Asset Forfeiture Training Team
They could be called the Asset Forfeiture Training Road Show.

Three deputy district attorneys and two investigators have travelled the length of California – even going behind bars – to keep law enforcement officers and prosecutors at the forefront of how to legally and ethically seize and forfeit ill-gotten gains from criminals.

The team, headed by Penny Schneider, the deputy-in-charge of the office’s Asset Forfeiture Section, trains hundreds of law enforcement professionals each year.

“The goal of asset forfeiture is to help take the profit out of a host of criminal enterprises – not just drug trafficking but also white-collar crimes and consumer frauds,” Schneider said.

State law requires that 1 percent of all criminal forfeitures be used to support statewide training on forfeiture laws and ethics.

Earlier this year, the team led a three-day Asset Forfeiture Summit in Orange County for 105 law enforcement executives representing 90 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Since 2008, the asset forfeiture training team has taught 46 classes in 35 locations throughout California, including Fresno, Folsom, Redding and Elk Grove. The out-of-county trainings are hosted by the California Narcotic Officers’ Association.

Once, the team trekked to the northern edge of California to instruct gang investigators inside Pelican Bay State Prison on how to seize criminal assets from inmates who continue to run criminal enterprises from behind bars.

The daylong seminars focus on the proper use of laws permitting the seizure and forfeiture of assets, criminal profiteering and narcotics-related forfeitures. They are presented through the office’s Criminal Justice Institute.
Child Abuse Summit
Special Assistant Jane Creighton talked about human trafficking during a breakout session at the office’s Child Abuse Summit. More than 200 people attended the daylong training session held Aug. 14 at The California Endowment. During her presentation, Creighton explained how prosecutors use state child sexual abuse laws to seek longer prison sentences for defendants who pay for sex with children. With evidence of a felony sex crime, a defendant may be sentenced to prison and required to register as a sex offender instead of being charged with misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution.
Did You Know...?
Fifty years ago, the District Attorney’s Office underwent a major reorganization that established the Bureau of Specialized Operations under then-Director and later District Attorney Joseph P. Busch Jr. This restructuring paved the way for the creation of countywide units dedicated to hardcore gang, major narcotics, cybercrime and human trafficking prosecutions. 
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office | (213) 974-3512 | info@da.lacounty.gov

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