The ban on employment would apply to those who are actively involved in arresting and deporting people between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 20, 2029 — the duration of President Donald Trump‘s second term — and would disqualify them from future employment as a police officer, peace officer, public school teacher or civil servant, among other jobs.

“I am introducing a bill today that draws a moral line here in California. We’re calling it like we see it, like we feel it, and respectfully, the GTFO ICE Bill — in other words, Get the Feds Out,” said Assemblymember Mark González, D-Los Angeles, apparently playing off another acronym that normally involves an expletive.

The official text of the proposed bill was not yet available on Friday, Feb. 6, but González, who is co-introducing the legislation with Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, said people who engage in permissible law enforcement activities as outlined under California’s sanctuary state law, known as Senate Bill 54, would be exempt from his proposed employment ban. (An example of an exemption would be if a law enforcement agent arrested a violent, convicted offender.)

The intent of the bill, he said, is to bar future public employment for agents who are on the ground and actively rounding up and arresting people as part of Trump’s mass deportation program.

“The message is very simple: If you choose to terrorize communities instead of serving them, California will not reward you with a public paycheck,” González said during a news conference.

González said details of the bill are still being worked out and hasn’t decided whether the restriction on future public employment in California should be a lifetime ban.

The news conference was held outside the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. The location was no accident.

It was there in 1942 that Japanese Americans were ordered to report and be transported to internment camps during World War II.

It was also there that federal agents carried out an immigration enforcement operation last August as Gov. Gavin Newsom led a kickoff rally in support of Proposition 50, the congressional redistricting measure which voters ultimately passed.

State Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, who is considering signing on as a co-author of the proposed legislation, said since Trump returned to office, “immigration enforcement has transformed into something unrecognizable — militarized authoritarian force that operates without warrants, without accountability, without any sense of humanity.”

Similar legislation was introduced last month by Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías, a Democrat from the Bay Area.

Her bill would disqualify someone from becoming a peace officer or working in school settings — as a teacher, principal, superintendent or other administrative positions, for example — if they worked for ICE between Sept. 1, 2025, and Jan. 20, 2029, or for corrections departments in Alabama or Georgia between Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2026.

Democrats in the Legislature are pushing a number of immigration-related bills this year.

The Senate recently advanced legislation that would make it easier for people to sue federal immigration officials if their civil rights are violated.

Sen. Tony Strickland — who, along with the rest of his GOP colleagues, voted against S.B. 747, the No Kings Act passed last month to make it easier to sue federal officials — criticized the effort at the time of the vote as “a little bit more about politics and a little less about policy.”

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Alexander Ravy Vanny, 35, of Hemet, was convicted in December of stalking, possession of child pornography, unauthorized use of protected electronic data, maliciously destroying a wireless device, witness intimidation, illicit eavesdropping, using a concealed camera to invade privacy, illegal use of a tracking device, interference with a traffic control device and possession of a firearm in violation of a protective order, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of perpetrating a felony while on bail.

The Indio jury assigned the case hung 10-2 in favor of convicting Vanny of kidnapping. Prosecutors initially considered retrying Vanny on that count but ultimately decided against it and allowed sentencing proceedings to move forward before Superior Court James Hawkins at the Larson Justice Center on Friday.

Deputy District Attorney Jess Walsh told jurors that Vanny was unquestionably guilty, engaging in criminal conduct before being fired by the sheriff’s department.

At the outset of the trial, Walsh recounted the offenses involving the two principal victims, a former sheriff’s Explorer scout identified only as “Leslie,” and the defendant’s one-time fiancee, a mother of two identified only as “Madeline.”

In the latter case, Vanny became obsessive, unable to cope with their split in the summer of 2024.

After she went out on a date, the then-lawman secretly followed her and the man, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, waiting until they were inside her Menifee residence, then setting up an audio device outside the bedroom window to record the sounds of her and the other man engaging in sex. After waiting a moment or two, Vanny forced his way into the apartment and challenged the man to a fight, according to the prosecution.

Court papers said when Madeline attempted to use her mobile phone to call 911, the defendant damaged it.

Among the most serious allegations was Vanny’s following Madeline to Chappies Bar in Hemet and demanding that she “leave and come home with him,” the prosecution said. When the woman rejected him, Vanny “forcibly threw her into his truck,” according to court documents.

“The defendant then drove her, without her consent, to his home … some 17 miles and 30 minutes,” the prosecution stated.

Defense attorney Quintin Swanson presented a different picture, describing his client as the gallant type, rushing to “save” Madeline from drinking and driving after the two of them had a spat.

She filed a restraining order against him, but in defiance of that order, Vanny continued to carry around his personal firearm.

Walsh said the deputy stuck “tracking devices” onto her car so he could monitor her travels at all times.

The defendant became sexually involved with 18-year-old Leslie, who looked upon him as a mentor, regularly exchanging texts with him, according to the prosecution.

Vanny procured video images of two teenagers engaging in sexual activity during a visit to an Orange County theme park and kept the matter, which was part of an investigation, on his personal mobile phone, intending to share it with the 18-year-old, Walsh said.

He said detectives documented the laundry list of offenses perpetrated by the defendant, including threats against Madeline, whom he tried to intimidate by telling her, “If you call the police, you go to jail.”

Swanson acknowledged his client “started a stupid relationship with the cadet, who was an adult,” while engaged to marry Madeline. The two were living together at the time, and the cheating led to their breakup.

Despite the separation, the attorney told the jury his client continued to pay some of his ex-fiancee’s expenses, including rent for her apartment.

Vanny was first arrested on June 22, 2024, and booked into the Banning jail but posted a $1 million bond and was released. He was placed on paid administrative leave, but within a few months, he was fired from the department.

While on bail, Vanny was separately charged with a slate of new offenses. He had been a sworn peace officer since he was hired by the sheriff’s department in 2016.

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MURRIETA, CA — The Murrieta City Council Tuesday will consider an ordinance identical to one passed nearly a year ago by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors intended to crack down on catalytic converter thieves by establishing specific regulations and penalties lacking under state law.

“The theft of catalytic converters has been an increasing problem throughout Southern California in recent years, with the city of Murrieta experiencing at least six thefts per month,” according to a statement posted to the council agenda for Tuesday. “The purpose and intent of this ordinance is to curb the theft of converters throughout the city.”

Council members are slated to conduct an initial hearing on the proposal, Ordinance No. 606-24, and if approved, it would return for a second reading and final approval next month.

The measure is identical to one approved by the county Board of Supervisors for application throughout unincorporated communities in September 2023.

The principal proponents of the county ordinance, Supervisors Kevin Jeffries and Yxstian Gutierrez, noted that catalytic converter theft was among “the fastest growing crimes in the country.”

There were nearly 400 converter thefts countywide in 2023, roughly double the number in 2022, according to public safety officials.

Catalytic converters are used to filter emissions to cut down on the volume of pollutants discharged by cars and trucks. They’re located within a vehicle’s exhaust system and average about $1,200 apiece. Components include metals like palladium, platinum and rhodium, which command per-ounce prices ranging from $1,000 to $14,000. Thieves take the converters to scrap metal dealers and sell them.

The Murrieta ordinance would make it a misdemeanor offense to unlawfully possess a catalytic converter detached from a vehicle. A person caught with one would have to provide “verifiable valid proof of ownership,” or risk facing criminal charges.

Bills of sale, auto body shop documents indicating that the converter was removed by owner consent, email messages between the possessor and previous owner showing there was an agreement to relinquish the device, pictures of the vehicle from which the converter was removed and other evidence would be required to establish appropriate possession under the ordinance.

Without that paper trail, a person caught with a converter may be charged, slapped with fines between $1,000 and $5,000, as well as possibly do time in county jail.

Similar measures are in effect in San Bernardino County and municipalities in the region, including Eastvale and Upland.

Local law enforcement officials have supported specific regulatory action aimed at converter thefts because of what they’ve described as an absence of clear state provisions that address the activity.

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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.

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The man, Ricardo I. Flores, also known as Koyote the Blind, faces eight felony charges, including rape by force and aggravated sexual assault, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. The authorities said the acts occurred from 2012 to 2023. If convicted, Mr. Flores could face up to life in prison.

Mr. Flores, 59, who is being held in jail without bail, was arrested on Aug. 7 as he re-entered the country after a visit to Mexico, according to the Riverside County Sheriff. In a news release, the sheriff’s office said that some of the alleged crimes took place at an address that matched the location of Xicoco Shamanic Arts, an organization led by Mr. Flores in the city of Moreno Valley, about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.

The authorities said they believed there could be more victims and encouraged anyone with information to come forward.

Mr. Flores was arraigned on Aug. 9 in Riverside Superior Court. His next scheduled court appearance, on Aug. 23, will be a continuation of the arraignment, according to a statement from Riverside Superior Court.

A spokesman for the Riverside District Attorney’s Office said in an emailed statement that it did not comment on cases still under investigation or awaiting trial. The Riverside County Public Defenders Office, which is representing Mr. Flores, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Mr. Flores describes himself in online profiles as an exiled shaman — a person who claims to have access to spirits — originally from El Salvador. He also says he is an accomplished magician and yogi.

As Koyote the Blind, Mr. Flores has led a number of organizations and has written books and offered teachings revolving around esoteric spiritual ideas, according to his online biographies. Central to his teachings is a “healing system” and “ancient healing energy” called “Aka Dua.”

In various venues, Mr. Flores has also referred to teachings related to sex. On podcasts and blogs, he discusses his mastery of “Sexual Alchemy” and “Sex Magick.”

A bearded man who often appears in photos and videos in a bowler hat and colored beads, Mr. Flores has mainly resided in recent years on the grounds of Xicoco Shamanic Arts, a registered charitable organization.

In addition to appearing in YouTube videos and on podcasts, Mr. Flores has in recent years offered workshops and retreats at Xicoco that can cost participants thousands of dollars. According to social media posts, the activities sometimes involve dances around a large tent.

Xicoco’s website says it “hosts Sweat Lodges, Vision Quests, and a Medicine Wheel.”

Mr. Flores has promoted esoteric ideas for decades. His talks and books draw on a number of different thinkers and spiritual traditions, including magicians and mystics like Aleister Crowley and Carlos Castaneda. He also often invokes Indigenous groups like the Toltecs, a civilization that lived centuries ago in what is now Mexico.

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