The Sun: San Bernardino political activist vindicated on child porn charge, record ordered destroyed
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/07/2012 01:19:16 PM PST
View: Sheriff’s report
SAN BERNARDINO – A Superior Court judge on Friday ordered the arrest record and criminal case file of a political activist be sealed and then destroyed in three years after finding him innocent of possessing child pornography.
Samuel Clauder, 61, a former Crestline resident who was working as an aide to Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, at the time of his 2009 arrest, spent 50 days in jail and has doled out $44,000 in the last three years trying to clear his name.
Vindication came Friday when Judge R. Glenn Yabuno granted a motion by Clauder’s attorney to seal Clauder’s arrest record and case file and destroy them after three years.
“I hope he’ll be able to regain his position in society,” said Clauder’s attorney, Rajan Maline, following Friday’s hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court. “He’s been saying he’s innocent from day one, and nobody believed him.”
San Bernardino County prosecutors requested the case be dismissed in September after Clauder’s son, Trey Stancher, admitted to a sheriff’s sergeant that he framed his father.
Sheryl Katz, a computer forensics expert from the El Segundo-based Elluma Discovery, whom Clauder hired to examine his computer hard drive at a cost of $20,000, concluded that the illegal pornographic images found on Clauder’s computer came from peer-to-peer networking software used on Stancher’s account.
Stancher and Clauder’s wife, Lana Clauder, who now goes by her maiden name of Pittman, told investigators they had no use of Clauder’s computer after he moved out of their house on April 16, 2008.
But Katz found Clauder’s computer had nearly 30,000 system events recorded, with daily use, between May 1 and July 7, 2008, when Clauder had not been residing at the house.
Stancher had told his mother in the spring of 2008 that he had found the illegal images on his father’s computer, and his mother reported it to the Sheriff’s Department, spurring an investigation and the criminal charges.
Crumbling case
Stancher told sheriff’s Sgt. Roberto Lomeli during a Sept. 20 interview at sheriff’s headquarters he did, in fact, save several child pornographic images to his father’s computer, which he said he found through Google searches.
“I just had uncontrollable hate for him,” Stancher is quoted as saying in Lomeli’s report. “I must’ve … not cared … been irresponsible … I wish I could just forget about him.”
To read entire story, click here.
Sergeant Lomeli did an excellent interview.
But why did it take 4 and a half years to find ALL these issues in Sam’s computer?
Was the forsensic audit done in a VERY limited way before charges were actually filed? It’s fair to say.
There is no argument that someone in SBSD did a TERRIBLE job on this case, I see no argument that can explain that away.
I’d say the County of San Bernardino should cut Sam a check for $44k for starters.
Another negative notch in SBSD’s jacket for QUESTIONABLE practices.
What a lack of leadership in the District Attorney’s office!
What say YOU Mike Ramos?? No comment? AGAIN? BTW- where are you?
We have District Attorney Mike Ramos, who has demonstrated ABERRATIONAL BEHAVIOR, a total INDIFFERENCE and NEGLECT of his DUTIES — engaging rather in “QUESTIONABLE” POLITICS and total ABUSE of his position (James Ramos will forever be a visual reminder and example of that)—
—and BOS Josie Gonzales is “consulting” with HIM about APPOINTING our next County Sheriff!!!
Josie should put on the BOS’s agenda AS TOP PRIORITY AND WITH URGENCY the need to dismiss DA Ramos and appoint someone else who will “serve the interests of all members of the community and to enforce the laws without prejudice, bias, or POLITICAL purposes.
AntiCorruptionUnit:
And why didn’t the DA drop the charges immediately after the interview? Instead, they waited nearly a month.
This sure looks like another of Mike Ramos selective prosecutions of his political adversaries.
#3
you’re being petty…a month is nothing- besides there is procedure to follow…
the accused had (wrongfully) waited over four years…let’s keep focus on the bigger picture
HEY MIKEY yet another strike against you, Do you hear it TICK TICK TICK TICK BOOOOOOOM see ya scumbag DA. I cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clauder was screwed plain and simple. Another Ramos political prosecution that has blown up.
Believe me there’s more to come. The Colonies case has become a cocktail party joke in the office. Ramos says he wants the case in court, but he’s scared shitless.
OoF oh I think it goes way beyond that. The forensic audit done by SBSD should have shown at least half or more of what Sam paid $20k for.
So it’s obvious Sam should have had the charges dropped a LONG time ago.
YOUR last line is spot on.
Much like the Rocha Family where they prosecuted the younger brother even though the older one stepped up and said he was the one who confronted the victim.
That boy sat in jail for a few months too. ONLY to be found NOT GUILTY.
What the public is now seeing is what some of us have seen for many years.
There has been some significant issues come up since the Colonies case became public that’s for darn sure.
It just keeps getting worse.
It would be worse if there wasn’t any blogs letting folks know what REALLY is happening.
We both know our beloved newspapers are DEEP in bed with the crooks.
Anonymous #4:
1) A month might be “nothing” to you, but let’s ask Samuel Clauder if it was “nothing.”
2) I recognize that there is “procedure to follow,” but when the DA’s office wants to act fast, they can. Look how quickly they issued the Paul Biane wanted poster, and held the grandstanding press conference.
Looks like the Feds might be giving Sheriff Hoopster and DA Mikey exactly what they deserve…
… the people say, use RICO to end this tyranny once and for all.
SBSD investigators and the DA’s office can’t help from looking incompetent when they are just following orders. Right, Mikey, u and the rest of then Postmus’ GOP empire were taking advantage of a bad situation, to crucify your political enemy, one Sam Clauder of Congressman Baca and the SBCo. Dem Central Committee.
But isn’t that why Sheriff Hoopster is having to bow-out, too many scandals means too many examples that it’s not incompetence, the problem is willful negligence, and the Feds are starting to see that it’s all just one big racquet, one big pay to play enterprise orchestrated by our local government officials?
“How does Mikey like Life (not cereal) now?”
Time to take early retirement (“Look, Mikey likes it”) ’cause I hear that the Law Enforcement Foundation in DC (any relation to the Law Enforcement News?) is looking for a former district attorney to round-out the staff of corrupt IE-types… not even the Devil of a CEO can save your ass now!
>>>>>>Schrader for Sheriff 2013…………Guzman for District Attorney 2013<<<<<<<