Anthony Russo, a 52-year-old deputy assigned to the Coordinated Custody Management Unit within the Corrections Division, is under investigation for his actions, Sgt. Jeff Hammond said.

Russo was arrested Wednesday near the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, and released on a $50,000 bond the same day, according to jail records.

According to a department statement, an undercover investigator posing as a 15-year-old communicated with Russo electronically. The deputy allegedly shared explicit material and “during these conversations, Russo shared explicit material and communicated his intent to meet with the supposed minor to engage in sexual acts,” Hammond said.

He is accused of two felonies: of sending harmful material to a minor, and contacting a minor to commit a felony act. He is also accused of child annoyance of a minor under the age of 18, a misdemeanor, records show. He was slated to appear in court on Jan. 24 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

The former deputy is scheduled for a court appearance on Jan. 24 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

According to the statement, he resigned from his position following the arrest. There was no mention of other actions by Russo leading to the investigation as of this report.

The post RivCo Deputy Accused Of Arranging Sex With Minor Arrested, Resigns appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

A Thompson Middle School teacher was arrested by Murrieta police Wednesday on suspicion of child sexual assault.

Wayne Kenneth Conklin, 50, was taken into custody at 7:45 a.m. near Madison Avenue and Kalmia Street and was booked into Southwest Detention Center, jail records show. He is being held on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, sexual abuse of multiple victims, and dissuading a witness — all felonies.

According to an announcement Wednesday from the Murrieta Police Department, allegations against Conklin surfaced July 16 and stemmed back to 2016.

Officers “became aware of an alleged sexual abuse against minor children that was reported to have occurred in 2016 at a residence in the City of Murrieta,” according to the MPD announcement.

The case was assigned to the police department’s Detective Bureau, which determined that Conklin sexually abused two children in 2016. Information about the alleged victims was not available.

According to his bio on the Murrieta Valley Unified School District website, Conklin graduated from Cal State University San Marcos in 1999 and got an internship at the district. He later earned his teaching credential and has worked at Thompson Middle School for 23 years.

With his arrest, the MVUSD placed Conklin on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of his case. According to an MVSUD statement, he is not allowed on any school district property.

The statement said the district is working cooperatively with Murrieta police.

“The district takes every reported act of misconduct seriously,” according to the MVUSD statement. “The top priority of the district is the safety of all students and staff. We hold this responsibility at the highest level and are grateful for our partnership with the Murrieta Police Department.”

Conklin has no felony convictions in Riverside County. In 2009, he was convicted of misdemeanor disturbing the peace, court records show.

Anyone with additional information pertaining to the case can contact Murrieta Police Detective Eric Velazquez at 951-461-6340 or evelazquez@murrietaca.gov.

The post Thompson Middle School Teacher Suspected Of Sexually Abusing Children appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

A convicted serial killer on California death row for murdering a dozen people in the 1980s and ’90s confessed to the 1986 murder of a 19-year-old woman in Los Angeles County, the police announced on Tuesday.

William Lester Suff, 70, confessed in May 2022 to stabbing Cathy Small to death and dumping her body on a South Pasadena, Calif., cul-de-sac, where her body was discovered by police on Feb. 22, 1986, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced at a news conference on Tuesday. Why the announcement came more than two years after the confession was not clear.

Ms. Small’s body was found in the morning wearing a nightgown, and she died from multiple stab wounds and strangulation, Lt. Patricia Thomas said.

Ms. Small’s body was identified three days later by a man who had read about the killing in the news and had called detectives to say he was concerned that the victim could be his roommate.

He told detectives that she had worked as a prostitute in the Lake Elsinore area and had lived at his house for a few months, Lieutenant Thomas said.

The man said that Ms. Small left their house on the night of Feb. 21, 1986 wearing a nightgown. Ms. Small, he added, told him that a man named Bill was paying her $50 to join him on a drive to Los Angeles.

Ms. Small’s roommate never saw her again, Lieutenant Thomas said.

Ms. Small’s killing went unsolved for nearly four decades despite multiple leads, Lieutenant Thomas said. However, a DNA test conducted in 2020 on previously untested evidence — including Ms. Small’s clothing and a sexual assault test kit — ultimately linked Mr. Suff and another unknown male to the killing, she added.

Mr. Suff, the authorities said, is a serial killer sitting on death row at San Quentin. Known as the “Riverside Prostitute Killer” and the “Lake Elsinore Killer,” Mr. Suff was convicted in the murders of 12 people in Riverside County, Calif., including Lake Elsinore, and sentenced to death in July 1995.

He carried out those murders over a two-year period from 1989 to 1991 and had been on the loose until January 1992, when he was arrested during a “routine traffic stop,” Lieutenant Thomas said.

Mr. Suff’s murderous rampage began at least 12 years before he killed Ms. Small. He was convicted in 1974 and sentenced to 70 years in prison for murdering his 2-month-old daughter in Tarrant County, Texas.

Mr. Suff was released on parole to California 10 years later, Lieutenant Thomas said.

It was unclear why and under what conditions he was paroled.

Over the course of two days in May 2022, detectives extracted a full confession from Mr. Suff.

He told detectives that in 1986 he was living in Riverside County and had a job at a computer repair shop. Ms. Small, he said, came into the shop one day and gave him her telephone number.

Later that day, Mr. Suff said he called and asked her to join him on a trip to “go pick up his boss” in Pasadena, Lieutenant Thomas said.

He picked her up that night and made the drive. Upon arrival, Mr. Suff said they got into an argument.

Mr. Suff told detectives that he became enraged when she knocked the glasses off his face and that he stabbed her in the chest as she sat in the front passenger seat.

Then, he told detectives, he pushed her body out of the car onto the street and drove away. He also corroborated photos of the crime scene shown to him by detectives.

Mr. Suff will not be charged for killing Ms. Small because he is already on death row, the authorities said.

The authorities on Tuesday said that the confession brought long overdue justice to Ms. Small’s family. Ms. Small left behind two small children, the authorities said.

She also had a younger sister, Deana Larson, who in a letter read aloud by officials Tuesday described Ms. Small as a “protective big sister, a loving mother and a good daughter.”

“Cathy was funny, smart and caring,” Ms. Larson wrote in the letter. “She had a big heart and would do anything for anyone.”

Ms. Larson, who was 10 at the time of the murder, said that Ms. Small had been “seeking sobriety” at the time of her death.

“But before she could take another step forward, her life was ended,” the letter said.

The post Nearly 40 Years Later, a California Serial Killer Confesses to Another Murder appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.