Political consultant Melahat Rafiei pleads guilty to attempted wire fraud

• April 14, 2023

A former executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County pleaded guilty today to a felony charge for attempting to defraud one of her political consultancy firm’s clients.

Melahat Rafiei, 45, of Anaheim, entered her plea to attempted wire fraud in Los Angeles federal court. Sentencing was set for Oct. 13, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Ms. Rafiei appeared in court today and per her plea agreement entered her plea before the judge. She is proud that the work she has done was instrumental in bringing down the Anaheim cabal,” said Alaleh Kamran, Rafiei’s attorney. “It is worth noting that her plea was not to bribery charges, but to attempted wire fraud.”

Rafiei, the principal and founder of Progressive Solutions Consulting, a Long Beach-based political consulting firm, admitted that she agreed to bribe two members of the Irvine City Council — both on cannabis-related matters, court papers show.

The two councilmembers were not named in the plea agreement, nor were any allegations against any councilmembers documented in the agreement. No current councilmembers were serving at that time.

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Political consultant Melahat Rafiei agrees to plead guilty to attempted wire fraud
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Rafiei was a longtime leader in Orange County’s Democratic Party and formerly served as secretary of the California Democratic Party and state representative to the Democratic National Committee.

According to her plea agreement, from April to June 2018, Rafiei agreed to give at least $225,000 in bribes to Irvine City Council members in exchange for their introducing a city ordinance that would allow Rafiei’s clients to open a retail cannabis store in Irvine.

In April 2018, Rafiei presented a business opportunity to an individual who was then employed in the medical cannabis industry and offered to introduce the person to an Irvine politician, who was not identified in court papers, prosecutors said.

The next month, Rafiei met with the unnamed elected official to discuss introducing an ordinance in Irvine that would legalize retail medical cannabis and ultimately benefit the individual’s business, court papers state.

Following the meeting, Rafiei asked the person’s business partner to pay her between $350,000 and $400,000 in exchange for getting the cannabis ordinance introduced, according to her plea agreement.

Irvine only allows marijuana testing laboratories in industrial, medical and science districts. No other type of commercial cannabis business is permitted.

In September and October of 2019, Rafiei falsely represented to a commercial cannabis company owner that, in exchange for a payment of at least $300,000, she would work to pass a cannabis-related ordinance in Anaheim that would benefit and be specifically tailored for the company owner’s business, her plea agreement says.

However, Rafiei already had been working on such an ordinance for other paying clients, court papers show.

Rafiei then falsely represented to the victim that she would keep only $10,000 of the payment in exchange for her purported work. In fact, Rafiei intended to keep $100,000 of the payment, prosecutors said.

Rafiei faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.

City News Service and Staff Writer Yusra Farzan contributed to this report.

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CIF-SS boys and girls track and field rankings, April 12

• April 14, 2023

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The 2023 CIF-SS boys and girls track and field midseason rankings, released Wednesday, April 12.

CIF-SS TRACK AND FIELD MIDSEASON RANKINGS

(Compiled by PrepCalTrack)

BOYS DIVISION 1

1 Long Beach Poly

2 Great Oak

3 Cajon

4 Vista Murrieta

5 Long Beach Jordan

6 Redondo Union

7 Warren

8 Trabuco Hills

9 Paloma Valley

10 Los Alamitos

BOYS DIVISION 2

1 Mater Dei

2 Westlake

3 Ventura

4 Thousand Oaks

5 Canyon/CC

6 Simi Valley

7 South Torrance

8 Royal

9 Santa Barbara

10 Shadow Hills

BOYS DIVISION 3

1T JSerra

1T Cathedral

3 Santa Margarita

4 Harvard-Westlake

5 Servite

6 Orange Lutheran

7 Monrovia

8 Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks

9 Moorpark

10 St. Francis

BOYS DIVISION 4

1 Oaks Christian

2 Serra

3 Alemany

4 Foothill Technology

5 Sierra Canyon

6 Muir

7 Providence

8 Crespi

9 La Salle

10 Chadwick

GIRLS DIVISION 1

1 Vista Murrieta

2 Long Beach Poly

3 Long Beach Wilson

4 Etiwanda

5 Orange Vista

6 Chino Hills

7 Quartz Hill

8 Ayala

9 Newbury Park

10 Redondo Union

GIRLS DIVISION 2

1 Culver City

2 Calabasas

3 Ventura

4 JW North

5 Mater Dei

6 Dana Hills

7 Canyon/CC

8 Thousand Oaks

9 Golden Valley

10 Westlake

GIRLS DIVISION 3

1 JSerra

2 Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks

3 Mission Viejo

4 South Pasadena

5 Santa Margarita

6 Harvard-Westlake

7 La Canada

8 Corona del Mar

9 Yorba Linda

10 Monrovia

GIRLS DIVISION 4

1 Oaks Christian

2 Serra

3 Rosary

4 St. Mary’s Academy

5 Sierra Canyon

6 Archer School for Girls

7 Marlborough

8 Providence

9 La Salle

10 Viewpoint

​ Orange County Register 

This is why a nonprofit brought 20 college students to Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

• April 14, 2023

Amid the hustle and bustle at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach‘s Lifestyle Expo on Friday, April 14, was a group of about 20 college students in bright orange T-shirts.

They watched itently as pit crew members from the Arrow McLaren NTT IndyCar Series team spoke about their positions and how they got into motorsports careers.

But the group didn’t happen upon the pit crew by accident.

RELATED: For more Day 1 coverage, click here.

Rather, they were part of a program put on by Path to the Pits, a relatively new nonprofit that aims to train a more diverse roster of motorsports employees, who have historically skewed older, White and male.

Path to the Pits and McLaren Racing Engage — a new sect of that company aimed at diversifying talent in the industry — announced a new partnership in late March.

“We’re committed as an organization to grow accessibility and inclusivity in motorsport and the paddock, and to do so requires investment and creative solutions,” Kate O’Hara-Hatchley, McLaren Racing’s head of diversity, early careers and development, said in a March announcement. “Partnering with Path to the Pits helps us do both.”

The partnership essentially launched at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, with the college students — mostly men, with a smattering of women, but also predominantly people of color — getting an immersive experience. That experience includes touring the paddocks, networking and career guidance from Arrow McLaren’s professionals.

“It’s all about providing exposure to racing and the careers in motorsports for young people from underserved communities,” Vicky Martinez Muela, founder, president and CEO of Path to the Pits, said in a Friday interview. “We are really focused on increasing gender and racial representation in motorsports.”

The partnership also marks McLaren Racing Engage’s first partnership with a North American nonprofit, Martinez Muela said. This is the first time Path to the Pits has brought students to the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Students who are part of the nonprofit’s program will also attend the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in June.

“The access they have directly to the Arrow McLaren team members is unprecedented,” Martinez Muela said. “There’s nobody who has access like we do — where they really get a chance to ask questions and understand some of the career paths.”

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That exposure is among the most crucial aspects of the program, she added, noting that many people are often excluded from even experiencing a race in person because of financial limitations.

“A race experience is typically $500 for a weekend,” Martinez Muela said. “How many of our young people from underserved communities can afford a ticket to the race, food, transportation and parking?

“If you can’t see it,” Martinez Muela added, “you can’t be it.”

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County swimming records, leading times, April 14

• April 14, 2023

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Leading times in O.C. swimming and diving marks through April 13. Submit updates to [email protected].

BOYS SWIMMING

200-yard medley relay (O.C. record 1:29.97, Santa Margarita 2023) — SM 1:29.97

200 free (O.C. record 1:33.26 Shoults 2016 SM) — Cehelnik (SM) 1:38.65

200 IM (O.C. record 1:45.42 Okubo 2014 Uni) — Verdolaga (SM) 1:48.72

50 free (O.C. record 19.69 Cavic 2002 Tus) — Chang (MV) 20.80r

100 butterfly (O.C. record 47.13 Cavic 2002 Tus) — Verdolaga (SM) 47.75

100 free (O.C. record 43.85 Buyukuncu 1994 Wood) — Cehelnik (SM) 44.68

500 free (O.C. record 4:12.87* Shoults 2016 SM) — Maksymowski (Nor) 4:33.79

200 free relay (O.C. record 1:22.76 SM 2023) — SM 1:22.76

100 back (O.C. record 47.50 Buyukuncu Wood 1994) — Teh (CL) 49.99

100 breast (O.C. record 53.40 Pellini DH 2017 ) — Wu (SM) 55.80

400 free relay (O.C. record 3:01.96 SM 2022) — SM 3:03.23

Diving — Schneider (CVC) 589.70

GIRLS SWIMMING

200 medley relay (O.C. record 1:39.04 SM 2022) — SM 1:47.40

200 free (O.C. record 1:43.01 McLaughlin SM 2015) — A. Kozan (SM) 1:45.82

200 IM (O.C. record 1:53.90** E. Eastin CL 2015) — O’Dell (SM) 1:57.32

50 free (O.C. record 22.53 Engel CL 2013) — Salvino (SM) 22.77r

100 butterfly (O.C. record 51.53 McLaughlin SM 2015) — C. Stinson (SM) 55.36

100 free (O.C. record 48.63 A. Spitz NH 2019) — A. Kozan (SM) 49.47r

500 free (O.C. record 4:37.30 Evans ED 1988) — O’Dell (SM) 4:42.90

200 free relay (O.C. record 1:29.61* SM 2023) — SM 1:29.61

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100 back (O.C. record 51.85 Tran Edi 2010) — O’Dell (SM) 53.28

100 breast (O.C. record 59.73 O’Dell SM 2023) — O’Dell (SM) 59.73

400 free relay (O.C. record 3:14.80* SM 2022) — SM 3:16.84

Diving — Roselli (MD) 563.60

Legend: r = relay leadoff, * =  overall national high school record, ** national private high school record

Please send updates to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on Twitter

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, April 14

• April 14, 2023

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, April 14

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

FRIDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

BORAS CLASSIC SOUTH

Cypress 15, San Dimas 3

Villa Park 2, Santiago/Corona 1

​ Orange County Register 

Sacramento tries to turn another ‘temporary’ fee into a permanent one

• April 14, 2023

There’s no such thing as a temporary tax, at least not in California. That’s the only conclusion that can be drawn from Assembly Bill 241, the latest attempt to renew a “temporary” increase in vehicle registration fees.

This temporary tax began its existence about 15 years ago with the passage of Assembly Bill 118, titled the California Alternative and Renewable Fuels, Vehicle Technology, Clean Air and Carbon Reduction Act of 2007. The law raised the “smog abatement fee” from $12 to $20 and directed the money into two new accounts in the state treasury, the “Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund” and the “Air Quality Improvement Fund.”

The tax in AB 118 was set to expire in 2016, but state lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 8 in 2013 and extended the tax increase until 2024. They also quietly removed a provision that imposed some accountability for the spending by requiring the California Energy Commission and the Air Resources Board to “assess alternative fuel use” to see how the program was progressing. No assessment necessary, the Legislature seemed to say, we just want the money.

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Now Assembly Member Eloise Gomez Reyes has introduced Assembly Bill 241 to extend the tax again, until 2035, and expanding the program so the money can be spent differently. This time the bill is called “Clean Transportation Program – Air Quality Improvement: Funding.”

While that sounds very poll-tested and appealing, the truth is that the bill continues a tax increase and allows the Legislature to hand out the money for “projects” that comply with the program’s vague goal, to “drive new technology investments.”

In the spirit of no accountability, “projects” costing less than $75,000 can be approved without the bother of a noticed public meeting of the commission. The executive director or a designee can simply approve the spending.

This is just a taxpayer funded pot of money for politicians to hand out. It’s likely the cash will go to favored supporters, and probably to fund projects that private investors had already turned down.

Government-funded “innovation” at best is high-tech crony capitalism; at worst it’s a wasteful game that diverts taxpayer dollars from the basic public services that taxpayers count on government to provide.

​ Orange County Register 

Riverside County’s Mike Hestrin and Chad Bianco swing and miss (again) on crime

• April 14, 2023

Republican politicians need to get some new material.

On Wednesday, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin and Sheriff Chad Bianco held a news conference to complain about crime and called on the state to revisit criminal justice reforms so more people can go to prison.

“They don’t care what we think, they care what voters think,” said Sheriff Bianco, according to ABC 7. “Until we can get the voters fed up and the voters start calling them, it is not going to change.”

Bianco should take the lack of voter interest in the tough-on-crime message as a hint that most Californians don’t actually think the sky is falling.

A walk through some history is important.

In 2011, California passed Assembly Bill 109 to send more low-level offenders to the local level to handle.

The following year, Californians approved Proposition 36 to bring reasonable reforms to the “three strikes” system so that no one is sentenced to life imprisonment over a non-serious crime.

In 2014, Californians approved Proposition 47 to reduce a handful of drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors so that our prisons and jails won’t be full of really low-level offenders. Thanks to Prop. 47, half a billion dollars in reduced incarceration costs have been freed up and reinvested in crime prevention and drug treatment.

In 2016, Californians approved Proposition 57 to help incentivize prisoners to participate in rehabilitation programs so they can earn credits for earlier parole consideration. The horror.

Law enforcement groups generally opposed all of the previously mentioned reforms. They have been complaining about increased crime ever since 2011 and warned about a wave of crime specifically caused by criminal justice reforms ever since.

In 2020, they put forward Proposition 20 to reform the criminal justice reforms. If Californians shared the view of Bianco and Hestrin that criminal justice reforms were so bad, you might expect Prop. 20 to have done alright. Instead, it was rejected by nearly 62% of voters.  And, by the way, a majority of Riverside County voters.

How could this be, if crime is so bad?

Well, for one, the crime picture is somewhat muddy.

From 2012 to 2021, violent crimes in Riverside County did go up, from 6,989 to 7,511 in 2019 and then down to 7,201 in 2021. Property crimes fell from 68,176 in 2012 to 57,986 in 2019 and again to 50,113 in 2021.

That’s something; violent crime is bad and any increase of it is bad, but is that enough to draw any sweeping conclusions from?

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Over that same time period, the county’s population grew by about a quarter of a million people.

Nor is it clear that justice reforms are the driver of crime increases. It’s not like Riverside County or California are unique in seeing increased violent crime in particular — violent crime has edged up across the country since 2014, according to a December 2022 report from the Congressional Research Service.

Of course, is it possible that some of California’s current criminal justice policies could be tweaked to hold particularly troublesome criminals accountable? Sure.

But it’s also clear that Californians don’t support mass incarceration, do support greater investments in alternatives to incarceration and don’t buy the idea that sending more people to rot in prisons is the way forward. Hestrin and Bianco might not like that, but it’s the truth.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at [email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Bear who killed jogger gets stay of execution, though she’s a repeat offender

• April 14, 2023

A bear who killed a jogger last week in Italy has been given a stay of execution – even though the animal had previously mauled people.

The 17-year-old bear now will remain alive at least until May 11, after the tribunal in the city of Trento approved an ordinance sought by several wildlife protection agencies.

The animal – officially JJ4, but commonly known as Gaia – fatally mauled 26-year-old Andrea Papi on April 5 in a nature reserve near Caldes, a town in Italy’s mountainous northeast corner. His body was found a day later, after his family reported him missing.

DNA, including some found on a stick with which Papi apparently tried to defend himself, identified the bear as one who had attacked two hikers in the same area in June 2020. After that attack, her death had been ordered, but a court rescinded the order and declared that she should be monitored with a tracking device.

The battery in that device died a few days before the attack on Papi.

On April 12, Trento Governor Maurizio Fugatti signed the order to cull JJ4. Fugatti now has until May 11 to appeal the tribunal’s stay.

A statement on the website of the animal welfare group Anti-Vivisezione said that they petitioned the court to protect JJ4 because the order to cull was “an action that appeared more like a gesture of revenge against the bear than an effective search for everyone’s safety in a peaceful and informed coexistence.”

JJ4 had recently given birth and experts say her aggressive act may have been linked to a perceived threat against her cubs.

But the World Wildlife Fund, which had previously petitioned to keep JJ4 alive, told CNN they agree that the bear should be put down. It said seven people had been attacked by bears in Italy in the past 20 years; Papi was the first to be killed.

JJ4 is one of about 100 bears in the province of Trentino. Twenty years ago, there were three; then the European Union project Life Ursus began to reintroduce brown bears into the region. The original projection was that the bears would spread across the Alps, but most have remained in Trentino.

JJ4 was born in the region to a pair imported from Slovenia around 2000 as part of Life Ursus.

Fugatti’s office said that the project had “become unsustainable.” There are now three other bears with judicial orders to be culled.

In the previous attack attributed to JJ4, Fabio Misseroni, 59, and his son Christian Misseroni, 28, were attacked as they hiked on Mount Peller, 3 miles south of Caldes.

JJ4 is the sister of JJ1, a “problem bear” known as Bruno who attacked farm animals in Bavaria. He was killed in 2006 under a “shoot-to-kill” order from the government.

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