VICTORVILLE • The Victorville courthouse was locked down for about half an hour Friday morning after a judge ordered a group of protesters to leave his courtroom.

More than 30 De Jure California Republic members from San Bernardino County, who say their mission is to restore the power of the American people, showed up to support Gilbert Hernandez Scott and Yvette Barragan, a Victorville couple charged with abusing their children.

When called to appear for their case, Scott and Barragan refused to step across the bar, which separates the gallary from the area where court proceedings are held. They also demanded that Judge John Tomberlin relieve their attorneys so they could represent themselves.

The judge advised the defendants on the pitfalls of self-representation in court.

But when Tomberlin told them to cross the bar, some of the protesters in the gallery stood up and began shouting at the bench, said Carlos Rodriguez, who was waiting in the gallery for a different case.

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VICTORVILLE • One out of every three civil cases at Victorville Superior Court has been sent to a courtroom in San Bernardino to relieve the massive case backlog in the High Desert.

But some attorneys say the transfers put an unfair burden on local litigants who have to travel farther for the public service and pay additional legal fees.

About two months ago, San Bernardino County Presiding Judge Douglas Elwell began ordering the transfer of civil cases from Victorville to Judge Marsha Slough’s courtroom in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Victorville simply doesn’t have any more courtrooms, Elwell said, even if it manages to get additional judges.

“I’m relieving the Victorville court of the significant portion of its civil case congestion,” he said. “The entire citizens of the Victor Valley are better off when there are 50 percent more judges handling the cases. That’s my assessment.”

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VICTORVILLE • A Victorville mother convicted of starving her disabled son to death got off with the 359 days she served while awaiting trial because evidence showed Child Protective Services repeatedly told her the victim was doing fine.

Victorville Superior Court Judge Jules Fleuret put Rosondra Marie Clay, 30, on five-year supervised probation for involuntary manslaughter, following the plea agreement and a probation officer’s recommendation.

Clay, who was originally charged with the murder of 5-year-old Kevin Baldwin, accepted the prosecution’s offer and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge on April 2.

After postponing the sentencing for a week to review facts of the case, Fleuret said Thursday the plea agreement was appropriate.

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VICTORVILLE • Prosecutors dropped felony charges in what they believed to be the first criminal case in the High Desert against an alleged medical marijuana dispensary.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office filed the charges against Kenneth Elswick, 47, and Harvey Wolfe, 63, last year in the midst of the county’s effort to crack down on medical marijuana. The owners of California Association of Patient Collectives and Dispensaries in Phelan were charged with selling marijuana.

But Deputy District Attorney Kurt Maier told the court Friday morning his office dismissed the case because he was not ready to go to trial.

Elswick rushed out of the courtroom as soon as Judge John Tomberlin declared the dismissal.

“I never wanted this. I never thought it was going to turn into a witch hunt,” Elswick said, trying to fight back tears. “I’m a good person. I’ve never committed any crime in my life. I’ve never done anything wrong in my life.”

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VICTORVILLE • A local hotel owner convicted of stealing more than $800,000 from Orbitz.com was sentenced Tuesday to 270 weekend days in jail.

Victorville Superior Court Judge Lynn Poncin also ordered Ashka Patel, 28, to pay restitution to the online travel company.

The prosecution alleged Orbitz’s losses totaled about $863,000, whereas Patel claimed the amount was closer to $500,000. She agreed to give up $680,000 authorities seized from her three bank accounts after her arrest. Patel’s restitution hearing is set for July 15.

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VICTORVILLE • An ex-Victorville sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday morning for soliciting bribes and sexual favors in exchange for reduced charges.

Victorville Superior Court Judge Jules Fleuret sentenced Matthew Linderman, 34, to the maximum prison term under  the law.

Because Linderman is eligible for half-time credits, he could get out in 10 years if he’s not disciplined in prison. He will have to register as a sex offender when he gets released.

His hands and ankles cuffed, Linderman appeared in court wearing a protective custody jumpsuit with stubble on his face.

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VICTORVILLE • A couple awoke to the sound of breaking glass from downstairs in their Kemper Campbell Ranch apartment.

Alice Sauls said her husband, Joel Auest, told her to call 911 before he ran downstairs. Upset and terrified, she couldn’t dial the phone, Sauls testified Tuesday, recalling the early morning of Oct. 4, 2003.

Auest soon came back into the bedroom, followed by a slender, young man wearing blue medical scrubs.

“You’re gonna have to calm down ma’am,” the stranger told Sauls, according to her testimony. “You’re gonna have to have my baby.”

The intruder approached Sauls and struck her in the head with an object in his hand, Sauls said. She went downstairs to get help after the man went out to the balcony, Sauls testified. Later Auest came downstairs with blood dripping from his head.

The couple was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center where Auest died three days later from blunt force trauma to the head.

The prosecution began presenting its witnesses Tuesday in the trial of Melvin Douglas Cannon, accused of murdering 55-year-old Auest — a crime that shook the tranquil Victorville ranch community more than seven years ago. The 23-year-old is also charged with the attempted murder of Sauls, burglary and other allegations.

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VICTORVILLE • A repeat felon convicted of beating an Iraq War veteran to death with a ball-peen hammer was sentenced to 81 years to life in prison Tuesday morning.

Victorville Superior Court Judge John Tomberlin sentenced Johnny Acosta, 47, to the maximum possible  for the 2009 murder of Trevor John Neiman.

More than 50 family members and friends of Neiman — most of them wearing black commemorative T-shirts — packed the courtroom as eight of them delivered victim impact statements.

“I will never again see my son give me his ‘stink-eye’ look and a grin. We will never again hear him laugh or crack a joke,” Neal and Lorale Neiman, the victim’s parents, wrote in their impact statement letter. “I will never again see him tear off into the desert on his dirt bike while I yell at him to be careful. ... I will never get to bounce his children on my lap or baby-sit and spoil my grandbabies.”

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VICTORVILLE • Jim Stasiak said he was surprised when a judge ordered a former employee to repay the $29,939 she embezzled from his company.

Justice had been served.

Or so he thought.

Stasiak was stunned when he found out it will take 41 years and three months to get all of the money back. And that will be without interest.

“I will be 88 years old when I get paid back,” said Stasiak, president of JSC Companies.

Wanda Lee Hernandez, Stasiak’s former employee, was convicted in November of grand theft by embezzlement, forging company checks and stealing cash and personal items. Victorville Superior Court Judge Miriam Morton sentenced her to 180 weekend days in jail and ordered her to pay $60 a month.

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Diane Bach became a robbery victim — twice in some ways.

Two armed men assaulted Bach’s family in her Victorville home in 2008. Bach’s daughter suffered a head injury, and her daughter’s boyfriend was shot in the stomach. Bach said she vividly remembers an image of a gun pointed at her granddaughter.

Receiving a “wastebasket full” of subpoenas, the family headed to court last March to testify at a preliminary hearing of one of the suspects. Sitting across from the defendant, who would later be convicted, Bach identified the assailant and described what she saw, heard and felt that night.

To protect defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights to confront and cross-examine their witnesses, crime victims have to testify in court, reliving their horrific experiences. Some victims say they are victimized again during the trial.

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