Former High School Coach Sentenced for Sex Crimes With Student
Aaron James Mora, 25, of Oxnard, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in October to a felony count of sending harmful matter to a child. According to the district attorney’s office, Mora, a track coach at Oxnard’s Pacifica High School in 2022, began text messaging an underage female student on the team and sent inappropriate sexual images of himself to the victim. He will be required to register as a sex offender for life.
“A coach is a position of trust and confidence, and Mora exploited his position for sexual abuse,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Edward Andrews said in a statement. “I want to recognize the victim’s courage, and my hope is that lifetime sex offender registration will protect others in our community.”
Water Board Member Charged With Felony Water Theft
Charges have been filed against Daniel Conklin Naumann, 66, of Camarillo, for multiple felony counts of grand theft and theft of utility services. Naumann owns and operates Naumann Family Farms in Oxnard. He is also a publicly elected board member of the United Water Conservation District (United). For a portion of the charged offenses, Naumann was also an alternate board member of the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (Fox Canyon).
United and Fox Canyon manage and preserve groundwater resources for agricultural uses in Ventura County. Both entities establish water allocations and charge agricultural users fees to pump groundwater.
Investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office discovered diversion bypasses installed on two commercial water pumps that irrigated Naumann’s crops. The bypasses diverted pumped water to irrigation lines before the water reached flow meters that measured water use for billing purposes. Between 2019 and 2021, Naumann is alleged to have pumped $29,301 of groundwater without paying the required fees to Fox Canyon.
“California’s groundwater has long been in crisis because of over-pumping and drought,” said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. “Unlawfully avoiding the water fees and allocations necessary to preserve water only adds to this ongoing crisis. We will hold anyone who threatens our natural resources accountable, regardless of their position.”
Santa Barbara Man Charged With Luring Minor for Sex Acts
Samuel William Lafond, 35, of Santa Barbara, was arraigned on one felony charge of luring after a sting operation by the Child Exploitation & Human Trafficking Task Force (CEHTTF). Lafond pled not guilty at his arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court.
During the week of November 27, 2023, the task force hosted an undercover operation focusing on identifying suspects who were actively engaging in sexual conversations with underage children in internet chat rooms and on social media. During the operation, it is alleged that Lafond engaged in sexual conversations with an undercover officer, who he believed was a 14-year-old girl.
On December 5, 2023, Lafond allegedly traveled to Ventura County for the purpose of engaging in sex acts with a 14-year-old girl. When he arrived, he was arrested by the Oxnard Police Department’s Family Protection Unit with assistance from the CEHTTF. Lafond is a registered sex offender and had an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest.
Woodland Hills Man Pleads Guilty To Stalking Ventura County Women
On December 15, 2023, Derrick Toole, 59, of Woodland Hills, pled guilty to two felony stalking charges. The crime of stalking occurs when any person willfully, maliciously and repeatedly follows or willfully and maliciously harasses another person and who makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her immediate family.
In 2020 and 2021, Toole stalked two different women that he once dated. The first victim received a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Toole in 2019. After receiving the TRO, Toole continued to contact the victim by calling, texting and showing up at her new address uninvited, damaging her home door locks so they would not work, vandalizing her vehicle and placing a tracking device in her vehicle. The conduct was reported and documented by the Simi Valley Police Department.
While that case was being reviewed, Toole began dating his second victim. The relationship ended after a few months, and the victim began receiving messages from Toole insinuating that he knew her location. After a few days, this victim searched her car and found a location device in the glove compartment. Another GPS tracker was found on the undercarriage of the car. Toole also showed up uninvited to her home, pasted large posters of their text communication on her garage, shot a BB gun into her front yard in the middle of the night and overwhelmed the victim with text messages. He was also seen on a doorbell camera entering the property while the victim was away and driving by her home at all hours of the day and night.
Newbury Park Man Arraigned on Murder Charge After Attack on Parents
Twenty-one-year-old Newbury Park resident Scott Goldberg was arraigned on felony murder and felony assault with a deadly weapon charges stemming from an alleged hammer attack on his parents in November. His mother, Alison Marshall, died from her injuries. Goldberg pled not guilty in Ventura County Superior Court and denied all special allegations.
On the night of November 19, 2023, Goldberg, who lived with his parents, is accused of attacking his mother and father with a hammer. He first allegedly struck his mother upstairs, bludgeoning her in the head. Hearing the screams, Goldberg’s father tried to run upstairs to provide aid to his wife, but Goldberg turned towards his father, stepped down the stairs and hit him with the hammer.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the home and arrested Goldberg without incident. Marshall was rushed to Los Robles Hospital with multiple skull fractures and a brain injury. On November 28, 2023, she was released from the hospital to hospice care and succumbed to her injuries on December 1, 2023.
Goldberg’s next scheduled court date is set for February 28, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 37 of the Ventura County Superior Court. He remains in custody without bail.
Ventura Man Convicted for Selling Fentanyl, Methamphetamine
On December 26, 2023, Jason Quinn, 48, of Ventura, was convicted by a jury for two felony drug possession counts, one for possession of fentanyl for sale and one for possession of methamphetamine for sale. He was also found guilty of driving on a suspended or revoked license.
On May 2, 2023, Ventura Police Department officers, as part of the Ventura County Fentanyl Overdose and Crimes Units (VC FOCUS), conducted a traffic stop on Quinn for a suspended license and outstanding warrant. A K9 alerted officers to narcotics in the vehicle. Quinn, who is already on probation, was transported to his residence for a probation search. Detectives located two half-ounce bindles of fentanyl, six grams of methamphetamine, 47 grams of methamphetamine with THC, and drug sales paraphernalia such as a large scale and packaging materials. Text messages regarding drug sales were on his phone, along with a large amount of cash in his wallet.
According to the DA’s office, fentanyl is a highly addictive and often deadly synthetic drug, estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl is one of the most common drugs associated with overdose deaths in the United States.
In 2022, the Ventura County medical examiner reported 278 overdose deaths; fentanyl was found in the system of 181 of the overdose victims.
Quinn is on probation and pending sentencing on a 2021 case where he pled guilty on March 15, 2023, to one count of possessing fentanyl for sale and was given the Dangerous Drug Advisement. The advisement warns convicted defendants of the dangers of fentanyl and informs them they could be charged with murder if they sell drugs laced with fentanyl to someone and that person dies as a result of ingesting it.
“Even though the amount of drugs in this case were on the lower end for sales, it only takes a few grains of fentanyl to be deadly,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Ethel Hernandez in a statement. “We will prosecute those, such as Mr. Quinn, who continue to sell fentanyl and other illegal drugs to the fullest extent of the law.”
Quinn is scheduled to be sentenced on February 15, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. in courtroom 46 of the Ventura County Superior Court. He remains in custody with bail set at $50,000.
