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Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon on Friday responded to railroad company Union Pacific’s (UP) concerns regarding train burglaries in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of LA.
In December 2021, Adrian Guerrero, UP’s state director of public affairs in California, sent a letter to the district attorney pointing to rising retail theft crime in LA County over the past year as part of the reason train thefts were occurring more frequently and asking for assistance in addressing it on UP railroads. UP says it experienced a 160% increase in criminal rail theft in Los Angeles County over the past year.
Last week, UP urged Gascon to “reconsider” Special Directive 20-07, which allows many misdemeanor cases to be declined or dismissed prior to arraignment unless “factors for considerations” exist.
Shredded boxes and packages are seen at a section of the Union Pacific train tracks in downtown Los Angeles Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Gascon, however, said UP filed fewer criminal cases to the district attorney’s office in 2021 than it did in 2020 or 2019.
“In 2019, 78 cases were presented for filing. In 2020, 56 cases were presented for filing. And in a sharp decline, in 2021, 47 such cases were presented for filing consideration, and over 55% were filed by my office,” Gascon said in his letter to UP. “The charges filed included both felony and misdemeanor offenses alleging burglary, theft and receiving stolen property.”
LOS ANGELES TRAIN THEFTS: UNION PACIFIC URGES DA GASCON TO ‘RECONSIDER’ DIRECTIVE DISMISSING MISDEMEANORS
Gascon added that out of 20 cases that were declined, 10 “were not filed due to the insufficiency of the evidence presented to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is our ethical standard to file a criminal case.” The other 10 were not filed because they “involved offenses such as allegations of unhoused individuals within 20 feet of the railroad tracks and simple possession of drugs for personal…
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Source : foxnews
