TS - Man suspected of murdering child in Blue Lake arraigned; due back in court next month

◼ Man suspected of murdering child in Blue Lake arraigned; due back in court next month
Leon Alyious Bigleggins was arraigned in Humboldt County Court Wednesday, less than one week after the death of Dylan Blount-Chambers.

Bigleggins, 25, faces charges of first degree murder, assault on a child and felony child abuse, all stemming from the death of four-year-old Dylan, the oldest son of a mother of three. Dylan was taken to the hospital by his grandmother last Saturday after she discovered him having difficulty breathing.

After failed attempts to resuscitate the boy, he was pronounced dead at Mad River Community Hospital. The next day, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office arrested Bigleggins, after detectives served a search warrant at a house on Sabertooth Road near Titlow Hill. The home was where Dylan's grandmother, Donna Blount, lived with Bigleggins, who was believed to be in a relationship with her.

Dylan had been staying at the home for a few weeks, and was often under the supervision of Bigleggins. Humboldt County Coroner Dave Parris said the initial autopsy for the body was completed yesterday and would be awaiting a final report from the doctor.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Bigleggins on August 10. His bail was set at $1 million.

TS - Convicted sex offender faces 6 years, deportation

Convicted sex offender faces 6 years, deportation

A Mexican national, who will face deportation for a second time after serving an expected six-year sentence, pleaded no contest Monday to allegations he sexually abused his 8-year-old daughter.

Isaias Felix-Romero, 33, pleaded no contest to the sexual abuse of his daughter-- referred to as Jane Doe-- according to Deputy District Attorney Arnold Klein.

Eight years ago Felix-Romero was convicted of unlawful intercourse with a 13-year-old minor, the mother of Jane Doe. Felix-Romero later married Jane Doe's mother.

The alleged sexual abuse occurred between July and August 2008 and were reported by the victim's grandmother.

In early September, Felix-Romero was arrested as part of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on Sun Valley Floral Farms.

ICE reported Felix-Romero has already been deported from the United States once, and he will be detained and ultimately deported by ICE after his sentence is completed.

”We definitely have flagged this case for follow-up, and a detainer will be lodged against the individual,” said ICE Communications Director Virginia Kice.

Felix-Romero's previous deportation may be reinstated, which would result in expedited removal. Because of Felix-Romero's criminal history and felony reentry, his case is subject to review by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Klein said he was pleased the case did not go to trial and that Jane Doe was not required to testify.

Erin Tracy can be reached at 441-0596 or etracy@times-standard.com, and Donna Tam can be reached at 441-0532 or dtam@times-standard.com.

Erin Tracy and Donna Tam/The Times-Standard
Posted: 01/13/2009 01:19:46 AM PST

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This report says he pled "no contest to allegations..." but does not say what the CHARGES (Penal Code Sections), and resultant minimum and maximum penalties were.
***
Reminiscent of the Martinez-Hernandez case except this time, it looks like the guy really is going to get deported.

But in 6 years he'll get to rape another 13 year old (actually younger, probably, and next time, he may not want to leave any witnesses behind.)

ER - Molestation charges reduced

Molestation charges reduced

A church youth pastor and teacher’s aide was held over on lesser charges than were originally filed against him, a Humboldt County Superior Judge ruled Wednesday.

Andrew Brian Belant, who was 25 when he was arrested on felony charges of child molestation March 1, was held to answer on seven charges of child molestation. Belant, who worked at the Eureka First Presbyterian Church, Jacoby Creek Elementary School, Eureka’s Lafayette and Lincoln Elementary Schools and the Humboldt Child Care Council, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Judge Marilyn Miles reduced three counts of oral copulation, including one alleging Belant threatened to retaliate against the alleged victim, to lewd and lascivious acts upon a child younger than 14. She also said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support a charge of forcible rape, as it didn’t occur on the date alleged in the complaint.

There is sufficient evidence to move forward on two counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child younger than 14, Miles said, but not enough evidence to support a similar charge alleged by a different victim.

Belant sat beside his attorney, Patrick Griego, in an orange jail jumpsuit and didn’t speak during the proceedings. He wore glasses, had short, balding hair and facial hair.

District Attorney Paul Gallegos said some of the children’s testimony regarding the charges of oral copulation were contradictory, and that he thinks the transcripts from the victims’ interviews may be inaccurate.

“The fault is on my shoulders,” he said, adding that the DA’s office recently switched to a different interview transcribing company that charged a less-expensive rate.

And though the oral copulation charges were reduced to charges of lewd and lascivious acts, the sentencing range for both are the same — three, six or eight years in prison.

“It really has no impact on what his prison sentence is likely to be,” Gallegos said.

The four male victims are between 9 and 13 years old and knew Belant through after-school programs and from his role as a junior youth pastor. Three witnesses from law enforcement testified, and parts of the children’s interviews were read and referenced in court.

District Attorney Investigator William Honsal, who served a search warrant on Belant’s home around the time of his arrest, testified that when he arrived, a program that erases software was running on one of two computers in Belant’s room.

Honsal said after conferring with another investigator with expertise in that area, he learned the program completely deletes the content of hard drives in emergency situations. Honsal photographed the screen before pulling the computer cord from the wall, he said.

Though the alleged victims didn’t testify in person during Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, they would have to if the case goes to trial, Gallegos said. Most cases are resolved before that point, he said, but at the same time “you always want to prepare for trial.”

Belant is scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment April 29.

By KAREN WILKINSON, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Apr 16 2008, 10:33 PM · Updated: Apr 16 2008, 11:52 PM

TS - Alleged child molestation case takes hit

TS Alleged child molestation case takes hit

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Marilyn Miles held up charges of lewd behavior with a minor against accused child molester Andrew Belant Wednesday, but told the district attorney that the evidence didn't support felony charges of sexual assault on the dates outlined in the complaint.

The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office case against Belant didn't perfectly line up with testimony from the alleged victims outlined during the preliminary hearing, meaning prosecutors must try to rebolster some of their claims later.

Belant, 25, was a youth pastor at the Eureka First Presbyterian Church and an after school aide at Jacoby Creek School. He was arrested in March and charged with two counts of molesting a child under 14 years old, and was later charged with 15 additional counts stemming from alleged acts with a total of four children. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Miles said that District Attorney Paul Gallegos had evidence to hold up lesser charges of lewd and lascivious behavior -- but not the more serious felony charges. She threw out a second complaint of forcible rape against one of the alleged young male victims.

Miles made clear that she was making no finding on whether illicit behavior occurred on other dates. Statements made by four minors during previous interviews allege that repeated molestation did happen.

Belant was brought into the courtroom handcuffed and in an orange jumpsuit, was seated next to his attorney Patrik Griego, and then uncuffed. Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputy Ben Nord testified that he'd learned Belant had also been an aide at Lafayette Elementary School, where he met one alleged victim.

Nord said that the 11-year-old boy told the deputy in a March Child Abuse Services Team Interview that Belant had touched his genitals more than 10 times over an unspecified period of time, and also performed oral copulation on the alleged victim seven times. A second alleged 10-year-old victim from Lafayette, in another March interview, also told investigators that Belant had touched him inappropriately.

But under cross examination by Griego, and upon reviewing an interview transcript, Nord said the first victim never gave a specific time that the alleged oral copulation occurred.

”John Doe 2 was having a difficult time explaining these events,” Nord said.

Miles commented that the complaints she had before her didn't allege any crime occurred in 2007, as much of the evidence suggested, only in 2008. She stressed the importance of specific dates and events in her consideration of the complaints.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Detective Troy Garey, who arrested Belant, testified that another alleged 11-year-old victim had told him during a CAST interview that he'd been sexually abused twice by the man he'd gotten to know in his role as youth pastor.

”He said he was terrified, shocked,” Garey said.

Another boy told Garey in a separate interview that he'd been inappropriately touched by Belant more than 20 times, including at a movie theater and during overnight church-related trips.

But again, under questioning by Griego, Garey said that while his report said the boy had been orally copulated, the transcript of the interview did not contain that specific allegation.

DA Investigator William Honsal said that when a search warrant was served at Belant's house on March 1, investigators found a computer that was allegedly running a program to delete all material on the hard drive. Honsal said it was quickly shut down, but had already apparently performed five of seven sweeps over the disk, which may make any information extremely difficult to retrieve.

Outside the courtroom, Gallegos said that the case didn't align with the evidence presented Wednesday, possibly because of the inherent difficulty in compelling testimony from minors in sexual assault cases.

”That certainly requires me to go back to determine if there was a misrecollection of statements,” Gallegos said.
He said the prosecution will be allowed to present evidence to show crimes were committed on other dates.

John Driscoll/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 04/17/2008 01:24:09 AM PDT