A lockdown was lifted at Chula Vista High School on Thursday after police arrested a student armed with a knife.

A criminal threats case was connected to a student on Wednesday, prompting Chula Vista school officers to investigate.

After a student ran away from officers and school staff while being questioned ib that case, the school was placed on lockdown as a precaution.

Chula Vista school officers caught and arrested the student, who was booked into Juvenile Hall for the criminal threats case and possession of a knife on campus.

No one was injured and the lockdown was lifted.

The Raquel Osete Orchard will soon be filled with trees bearing fruit and blooming plumerias, a tribute to the Miller Elementary student who was killed last year in a hit-and-run crash.

Raquel Osete, 10, often wore plumerias in her hair.

“As the plumerias bloom that will reflect her smile,” her father Michael Rosete said. “As the fruits are edible, they can talk about what a sweet person she was."

On Thursday, classmates dedicated their orchard and garden to the little girl who was killed while walking along Santo Road. Raquel and her friend were struck by a distracted driver in February 2016.

The driver was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run and will spend 11 years behind bars.

Even though the court case is over, the family is still dealing with the painful loss.

“We’re just trying to go day by day, step by step,” Raquel's mother Brandye Rosete said. “It’s almost like it was just an hour ago when Raquel went to Heaven.”

Brandye said there are days like Mother’s Day where it’s still a struggle to even get out of the bed.

Raquel was very involved at Miller Elementary from student mentoring to the violin and judo.

“She was in the fifth grade and all the little kids looked up to her,” her mother, Brandye Rosete said. “She mastered everything she did but she was very humble.”

“Raquel Osete was a bright light amongst our students and it impacted our community greatly,” Vice Principal Fred Hilgers said at Thursday's school assembly.

The family feels blessed for the support from the staff at the school.

Raquel was the youngest of five children. On Thursday, her siblings helped Brandye and Michael as they planted the trees and plumerias in rows with signs decorated by students.

A memorial garden made sense. When the family sees flowers in front of them or the color purple, they feel Raquel’s presence. The one family member who was always smiling.

“I know she’s just smiling from Heaven,” her father said.

Investigative leads helped officers arrest a man, suspected of burglarizing a house tented for termites in Carlsbad early Thursday morning, confirmed police.

Carlsbad police arrested 34-year-old Jonathan Scott of Escondido on a burglary charge. He was located on the 600 block of Rancho Santa Fe Road in San Marcos at around 10:30 a.m.

Scott was driving a 2002 Ford Ranger before he was arrested and booked into the Vista Detention Facility, said police. An investigation into the alleged burglary is ongoing.

On Thursday morning, Carlsbad police received a call from a homeowner who reported an intruder in his home. It happened on the 6300 block of Paseo Aspada between Paseo Corono and Carrillo Way.

A homeowner told police his house was tented for termites, and part of the tenting process included placing cameras inside the house to detect an intruder.

The camera system later alerted the homeowner to the intruder's presence, according to Carlsbad police.

Within minutes, officers were dispatched to the house and arrived at 6:14 a.m.

The homeowner told police he had been awakened by the security system. He estimated the intruder may have been in the house for about 40 minutes.

The intruder was last spotted on the camera surveillance system at about 5:50 a.m.

Carlsbad police secured the house and searched for any openings in the tenting that the burglar could have used to get in. The termite company discussed ways to safely enter the house with police and sent assistance to the scene.

A K-9 Unit from the Poway Office of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department was called for, said Carlsbad police. Police and the K9 went into the house at about 7:30 a.m., when the termite company deemed it safe.

The house was cleared and the intruder was nowhere in sight.

Camera surveillance footage inside the house revealed a man sneaking around while donning a white suit and respirator.

The value of stolen items was not yet clear. Before tenting, the homeowner followed excellent safety procedures and removed many valuables from the home, according to Carlsbad police.

Detectives, officers and crime scene investigators are still searching for more evidence.

Water rates in San Diego County, which are already among the highest in the country, are about to go up again.

A typical household here pays more than twice the national average, according to the County Water Authority. While the average American family pays less than $40 a month, local residents pay about $80.

Next year's rates increase by the County Water Authority will be nearly four percent both for treated and untreated water. This marks the lowest increase in five years.

But the agency's rates have doubled in the last decade -- and could double again in the next ten years, said Water Authority officials.

The Water Authority is suing its main supplier, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California, for overcharging.

After winning in Superior Court, the Water Authority hopes MWD's appeal is shot down.

NBC 7's media partner Voice of San Diego calls the contractual relationship "a bad marriage."

MWD water is still cheaper than what local residents get from Imperial County and the desalination plant in Carlsbad. The Voice cites "poor planning and bad luck" for the situation in San Diego.

The area pays higher water "transportation" costs partly because in the early 1900s, San Diego didn't build a pipeline system to tap faraway rivers.

Besides that, there are no major groundwater basins in this region.

If the Water Authority loses in court, county residents could wind up paying more than $2,000 on average, in extra water costs over the next few decades.

City officials say that within the next ten years San Diego residents will start getting purified, recycled water. Once that happens, residents in the City of San Diego will spend less than customers in the rest of the county.

The Medical Board of California has filed an accusation against Dr. Daniel Hiser, now working as a family practice physician in La Mesa, saying the doctor “demonstrated incompetence in his care and treatment of patients” at the now-closed cosmetic clinic he owned.

The accusation describes the history of the board’s investigation into Hiser and provides details about five patients who were clients of the doctor’s Timeless Age-Defying Laser Clinic, Inc. (TADLC) located in Mission Valley. The clinic offered a number of services including Botox and cellulite-type treatments, chemical peels and hair removal.

NBC 7 Investigates found other clinics with the same name that are still in operation but are not owned by Hiser and do not appear to have any connection to his Mission Valley clinic.

Hiser “served as the Medical Director of TADL” from about 2007 to 2015 but “never performed any procedures, never evaluated any patients and never created any medical procedure protocols.”

The doctor, according to the medical board’s accusation, signed off on documents saying all treatments “were to be conducted under the general supervision of the physician,” but had no training or experience in any of those treatments. According to the accusation, Hiser said he was at the clinic one day a week and available the rest of the week by phone or teleconference but the according to the accusation, five patients reported never being seen by him.

The accusation says Hiser signed off on prescriptions for each of the patients. Hiser is accused of gross negligence in each case because, according to the accusation, the doctor allowed a registered nurse to care and treat patients without prior consultation with the supervising physician.

He is also accused of “furnishing dangerous drugs without an appropriate prior examination.” The accusation against the doctor describes how an employee of the state’s Division of Investigations went undercover, visited the clinic and purchased a medicine, one that can only be dispensed with a prescription, despite never being seen by a health care provider at the clinic or receiving a prescription.

Calls to Hiser’s family practice office in La Mesa were not returned, but the accusation does note that, during an interview in February 2017, the doctor “denied having any ownership interest in TADLC at any time, but admitted to serving” as its Medical Director. He “claimed to be unaware of the requirement of prescriptions for various products offered at the clinic, but admitted signing prescriptions for ‘supplies’ at the clinic.”

A partner in the clinic, identified as “M.N.” and described in the doctor’s accusation as a registered nurse is listed on California Secretary of State records as the Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer of TADLC.

By checking the clinic’s ownership records and the Board of Registered Nursing records, NBC 7 Investigates discovered “M.N.” is Michelle Renee Naughton, also known as Michelle Renee Brown. According to the Board of Registered Nurse records, Naughton originally created the clinic with another partner who is not a licensed professional. Hiser, according to the medical board records, was later invited to be part of the corporation and became a 51% owner of TADLC.

In June 2013 the California Board of Registered Nursing filed an accusation against Naughton for “treating patients without proper direction by a physician, and without prescriptions for the dangerous drugs injected,” according to board records.

According to Board of Nursing records, the nurse was accused of making extravagant claims on the clinic’s website including, listing that she had experience in “working in the medical esthetics with a spa emphasis.” According to the board, “there is no recognized practice as a medical esthetician in California”.

Naughton was placed on probation in December 2013 and received an early termination of her probation in October of 2016.

Naughton has not responded to phone calls and a letter seeking her response

NBC 7 Investigates is reporting on medical professionals accused by the public and the California Medical Board of wrongdoing in order to bring information to the public and increase transparency of medical practices in the San Diego region. Currently, this information is reported by the Medical Board on its website. It is not required to be disclosed by medical professionals to their patients.

A woman was carjacked Thursday morning in the Cortez Hill area of San Diego.

The incident occurred around 9:06 a.m. on the 1500 block of 2nd Avenue, near Interstate 5, according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).

The suspect approached a woman as she was getting out of her car and ordered her to get back inside. When the woman refused, the man demanded her car keys and drove off.

Police said the woman was not injured. Her vehicle was a dark grey 2005 Mazda.

The man was around 5 feet 10 inches in height, approximately 135 pounds and had been wearing a red jersey.

At 10:10 a.m., police said there was a reported hit-and-run on 41st Street and National Avenue in the Southcrest area.

No one was injured.

The suspect had been driving a grey Mazda, but it is not known if the vehicle involved was the stolen one.

No other information was immediately available.

A woman was injured and taken to the hospital after a house fire in Vista Thursday afternoon. Firefighters also rescued a dog from inside the home.

The fire began at 3:51 p.m. on the 600 block of Melrose Place near N Melrose Drive, according to the Vista Fire Department.

Crews arrived on scene to find smoke and fire coming from the home.

A woman was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to fire officials. Her condition is unknown, at this time.

The fire was knocked down at 4:08 p.m. by the combined efforts of Vista and Oceanside firefighters.

A dog was also rescued. Firefighters performed CPR and provided the dog with oxygen.

Fire officials said the dog was alert and breathing.

At this time, the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.

Investigators believe Kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry, officials said. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him.

The FBI's scrutiny of Kushner places the bureau's sprawling counterintelligence and criminal investigation not only on the doorstep of the White House, but on the cusp of the Trump family circle.

A Torrey Pines State Reserve trail is getting a concrete makeover just in time for summer.

They are working to make the trail “literally rock solid," said Dana Howard, the Communications Director for the California Conservation Corps.

California Conservation Corps is fixing the Broken Hill trail, after last winter's record rainfall made a significant dent in it.

Each year, this group hires dozens of young people to fix trails, create dams to control future erosion and also carve out eroded paths throughout the entire trail, according to the group.

"The trails don’t just appear out of magic," Howard told NBC 7. "They come out of the hard work the Conservation Corps does."

The goal is to help the young adults, age 18 to 25, get work experience as corpsmembers while improving the state's outdoor trails.

In the park, the Broken Hill trail stretches nearly a mile long. Crews will work on the trail for six to 12 months before it is reopened to the public.

Currently, crews are placing large rocks along the trail most impacted by erosion. The workers haul rocks in wheelbarrows, while others shore up the trail with the rocks using hand tools and drystone masonry techniques, according to the group.

"This is really hard, back breaking kind of work," said Howard. "Quite frankly I think only young people could do [this] because they are hauling down rock by the wheelbarrow down this trail and hauling the wheelbarrow back up and filling it again."

With their grueling hard work, the Torrey Pines trail will offer hikers broader and safer access to the cliffs and the beach, explained Howard.

"Our whole goal is to give people access to nature," said Miana Yanez, who has worked as a corpsmember since October. "If they’re not around it, if they’re not in it, they’re not gonna care about it."

"And that’s how we get state parks and how we get people to care. And that’s how we expand State Parks and preserve more," added Yanez.

Last month, the corpsmembers installed redwood stairs on one segment of the trail, according to the group. This allows hikers to safely go down to overlooks and view the ocean.

Once the trail is finished, the group will work to revamp another Torrey Pines trail in the park.

A 59-year-old bicyclist struck and killed by a teenage driver near Fallbrook on Tuesday has been identified.

Paul Joseph Burke, a Fallbrook resident, was hit by a Ford Expedition, driven by 19-year-old Sulem Areli Garcia.

Garcia was driving on Old Highway 395, south of Pala Mesa Drive at an unknown speed when veered to the right.

She struck Burke as he was riding his bicycle on the right shoulder.

Paramedics attempted CPR on Burke but he was declared dead at the scene.

The cause of death was determined to be multiple blunt force injuries, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

Garcia was not injured in the crash, California Highway Patrol said. She was arrested and faces felony charges including DUI and vehicular manslaughter.

At 105-years-old, everyone wants to know how Raymond Chavez has managed age so gracefully.

"I don't drink, I don't smoke," said Chavez. "I exercise, I'm a member of a fitness club I go to two times a week. And, there's other things I do, that I can't remember," he laughed.

Chavez is the oldest surviving veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He has been a resident of Poway for most of his life.

On Thursday, the Poway Postal Service threw a birthday celebration to honor Chavez.

Dozens of people showed up to watch the post office give Chavez a plaque displaying stamps in his honor. He was also given a giant birthday card signed by 105 postal workers, a tribute to his age. Cake was served to everyone as well.

Organizers gave speeches, calling Chavez the national treasure of Poway. They added there are plans to make a public statue in his honor.

"What a surprise to see all of my friends here," said Chavez. "I'm very proud. It's a day I'll never forget."

Police are investigating after a man followed a 12-year-old girl in the Tierrasanta area of San Diego on Wednesday evening.

According to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), the girl noticed the man following her as she was walking on the 4000 block of Santo Road around 5:45 p.m.

She crossed the road multiple times and the man continued to follow her, also crossing the road.

That's when the girl confronted the man and told him to stop following her, police said. The man told the girl he wanted to talk to her, but she told him to leave her alone and walked away.

Police said the man continued to follow her.

At this point, the girl confronted the man again and struck him when he approached her a second time. She then ran away and hid from him.

When the suspect stopped following her, the girl ran home and told her family, police said. 

The suspect is described to be in his late 20s, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with a medium build. He was wearing a gray zip-up hoodie over a white t-shirt and blue jeans with gray Nike athletic shoes. He also had cheetah-framed sunglasses on top of his head.

Police said he may have a green tattoo on the back of his neck.

At this point, this was the only incident reported in Tierrasanta, but police said residents should still be vigilant.

“It’s a luxury truck with a four-wheel drive capability that at the time, I thought I needed,” Jim Biggie said. 

When Jim bought the truck from Perry Ford in Poway, he paid almost $3,000 for an extended seven-year warranty. Jim said everything went great, the price was right and the dealership treated him well when he went to get a new bed liner. 

“The service department was very responsive, the truck was done on time and I went away a happy camper,” Jim said. 

Less than six months later, Jim made a big decision. 

“I decided I didn’t want that truck, I don’t know what I was thinking but it was too big, too hard to park, nothing wrong with it,” Jim said. 

So, Jim traded the truck in at another dealership for an SUV and then asked Perry Ford for his money back on the extended warranty. 

“If you get rid of the vehicle, for whatever reason, you only pay for the part that you use,” Jim said, referring to the rules of the Ford extended warranty. 

Perry Ford asked Jim to send them paperwork, proving the car was traded in and paid off. Jim did and they said his refund would take eight-to-ten weeks. 

“So I waited and waited,” Jim said. 

Nearly 14 weeks later, Jim said he still didn’t have his refund back. Jim said he called Perry Ford eight times. Jim said he didn’t know if he would ever get his money. 

Jim contacted NBC 7 Responds and we reached out to Perry Ford. The dealership got back to us and it didn’t take long for Jim to get his money, a check for $2,425.75. 

Buying an extended warranty has its pros and cons. To read more about whether you should purchase that warranty or not, click here. 

The Medical Board of California has filed an accusation against Dr. Daniel Hiser, now working as a family practice physician in La Mesa, saying the doctor “demonstrated incompetence in his care and treatment of patients” at the now-closed cosmetic clinic he owned.

The accusation describes the history of the board’s investigation into Hiser and provides details about five patients who were clients of the doctor’s Timeless Age-Defying Laser Clinic, Inc. (TADLC) located in Mission Valley. The clinic offered a number of services including Botox and cellulite-type treatments, chemical peels and hair removal.

NBC 7 Investigates found other clinics with the same name that are still in operation but are not owned by Hiser and do not appear to have any connection to his Mission Valley clinic.

Hiser “served as the Medical Director of TADL” from about 2007 to 2015 but “never performed any procedures, never evaluated any patients and never created any medical procedure protocols.”

The doctor, according to the medical board’s accusation, signed off on documents saying all treatments “were to be conducted under the general supervision of the physician,” but had no training or experience in any of those treatments. According to the accusation, Hiser said he was at the clinic one day a week and available the rest of the week by phone or teleconference but the according to the accusation, five patients reported never being seen by him.

The accusation says Hiser signed off on prescriptions for each of the patients. Hiser is accused of gross negligence in each case because, according to the accusation, the doctor allowed a registered nurse to care and treat patients without prior consultation with the supervising physician.

He is also accused of “furnishing dangerous drugs without an appropriate prior examination.” The accusation against the doctor describes how an employee of the state’s Division of Investigations went undercover, visited the clinic and purchased a medicine, one that can only be dispensed with a prescription, despite never being seen by a health care provider at the clinic or receiving a prescription.

Calls to Hiser’s family practice office in La Mesa were not returned, but the accusation does note that, during an interview in February 2017, the doctor “denied having any ownership interest in TADLC at any time, but admitted to serving” as its Medical Director. He “claimed to be unaware of the requirement of prescriptions for various products offered at the clinic, but admitted signing prescriptions for ‘supplies’ at the clinic.”

A partner in the clinic, identified as “M.N.” and described in the doctor’s accusation as a registered nurse is listed on California Secretary of State records as the Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer of TADLC.

By checking the clinic’s ownership records and the Board of Registered Nursing records, NBC 7 Investigates discovered “M.N.” is Michelle Renee Naughton, also known as Michelle Renee Brown. According to the Board of Registered Nurse records, Naughton originally created the clinic with another partner who is not a licensed professional. Hiser, according to the medical board records, was later invited to be part of the corporation and became a 51% owner of TADLC.

In June 2013 the California Board of Registered Nursing filed an accusation against Naughton for “treating patients without proper direction by a physician, and without prescriptions for the dangerous drugs injected,” according to board records.

According to Board of Nursing records, the nurse was accused of making extravagant claims on the clinic’s website including, listing that she had experience in “working in the medical esthetics with a spa emphasis.” According to the board, “there is no recognized practice as a medical esthetician in California”.

Naughton was placed on probation in December 2013 and received an early termination of her probation in October of 2016.

Naughton has not responded to phone calls and a letter seeking her response

NBC 7 Investigates is reporting on medical professionals accused by the public and the California Medical Board of wrongdoing in order to bring information to the public and increase transparency of medical practices in the San Diego region. Currently, this information is reported by the Medical Board on its website. It is not required to be disclosed by medical professionals to their patients.

The way hate groups operate and organize has changed in San Diego and across America, going from being highly visible to often hidden.

Experts who have tracked these crimes tell NBC 7 Investigates it’s becoming tougher to gather intelligence or anticipate organized hate crime activities. Hate groups used to organize marches, promote "hate" rock concerts to fire up their membership and actively recruit in communities, including high schools.

Now, according to law enforcement experts, the groups have gone cyber. But, while how they operate has changed, their targets have not. It’s still about race, sexual preference and religion; people who are “different.”

San Diego has a long history of hate. The region was the birthplace of vicious white hate groups, home to haters from the Klu Klux Klan and anti-Gay/LGBT groups.

Longtime civil rights attorney James McElroy points out that in “San Diego we have had a long history of extremism going all the way back to Tom Metzger and his organization White Aryan Resistance, and then we had all the border vigilantism and the Marine who was made a quadriplegic by skinheads out in Santee”.

McElroy is referring to the case of Lance Cpl. Carlos Colbert of Camp Pendleton. The black marine was paralyzed from the neck down after being beaten by five white men.

In 1989 McElroy led the Southern Poverty Law Center’s efforts in a successful $12.5 million civil lawsuit against Metzger’s White Aryan Resistance, or WAR for the beating death of an Ethiopian graduate student. Three members of WAR beat the student to death with a baseball bat. Metzger lived in Fallbrook at the time.

Oscar Garcia has experience in investigating hate crimes as well. He’s run the San Diego County District Attorney’s Hate Crimes Unit for eleven years. In that position, he said he has watched how hate has evolved over time, beginning with East County’s reputation a decade ago.

“It was fair to say they had a bad reputation for the notorious hate crimes that occurred out in that area,” Garcia said. Now hate incidents and hate crimes are spread over a much wider area, “from South Bay to downtown San Diego to the beach areas to North County,” he said. “We still have some in East County of course but it really is all throughout the county.”

FBI statistics show hate crime events increasing in the region. According to the agencies latest data, there were 84 hate crimes reported in San Diego last year, up from 73 in 2015.

What is described as the “bias motivation” for the 84 events in San Diego breaks down this way:

• 31% were anti-Black
• 19% anti-gay(male)
• 11% anti-lesbian/bisexual/transgender
• 10% anti-Islamic
• 8% anti-Hispanic
• 6% anti-Jewish
• 5% anti-White
• 5% anti-Arab

McElroy, still on the board of the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, an organization that tracks hate incidents nationally, says it’s a similar trend across the country. He said, “part of the reason for the increase in harassment, intimidation, bigotry, the rise of white nationalism, is because of the changing demographics of our country.”

In the San Diego region, SPLC pinpoints groups, including “Holocaust deniers” in Poway, “anti-LGBT” in San Marcos and “black separatists” in Lemon Grove. 

According to a longtime hate expert and former sheriff’s investigator, there are two white hate groups, one located in Santee and the other in the Lakeside area, which has elements of the original White Aryan movement. She said they are a motorcycle gang that calls itself the Peckerwoods.

“There are known documented national hate groups that do have local chapters here in San Diego,” Garcia said.

According to him, hate websites now drive hate crimes and with those sites comes anonymity, making tracking and securing convictions much more difficult.

“We really haven’t had identified, prosecutable cases where we can actually say this person did the crime for the benefit of that documented gang or hate group,” he said.

McElroy, NBC 7 Investigates law enforcement sources and investigators agree with Garcia’s take on the problem.

“The internet is a great recruitment tool when it comes to organized hate groups,” McElroy said.

According to the experts, it has completely changed how the movement recruits and spreads racist propaganda. Including websites like Stormfront.org which features people like David Duke, a well-known Ku Klux Klan leader based in Louisiana.

McElroy said Stormfront “is one of the most virulent anti-everything sites you are ever going to see.”

On its home page, Stormfront boasts it supports the "new embattled white minority,” and has millions of posts from users.

Metzger has moved to the internet as well, looking for money and seeking recruits.

It’s a powerful teaching tool for hate groups McElroy said. “They got educated in racism, if I can use that term, from the Internet.”

NBC 7 Investigates contacted Stormfront for a response to the story but never heard back.

Metzger declined to comment for the story but in an email to NBC 7 Investigates said, “you are free to pass along to the D.A and Morris Dees both they can kiss my White Ass just like I have told them many times is the past.”

Dees co-founded the SPLC in 1971.

There is something else the Internet is driving. Garcia calls it “the lone wolf attack, which is something we know in intelligent circles is encouraged by leaders of hate groups.”

It replaces those hate concerts and rallies, according to McElroy.

“These people who may be considered lone wolves still feel a sense of community through websites like Stormfront,” he said. “We have to expose the lies that are out there, expose the lone wolf best we can and make them known to the public.”

Garcia notes hate groups now “are a little more sophisticated than perhaps traditional gang members because they know if law enforcement can link them to a hate group, it is easier to prosecute them for a hate crime.”

He said because of how hate crimes are committed these days, assistance is needed from the whole community. Garcia told NBC 7 Investigates there is a need for witnesses to remember a license plate, get a good description of the subject and most importantly make that call to the police. He added that many victims of hate crimes take twice as long to recover from the emotional trauma because it’s a human characteristic that was attacked and victims can’t change the color of their skin.

NBC 7 Investigates interviewed three of the foremost experts in our region on the issue: McElroy, Garcia and Morris Casuto, former director of the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego. For this story, interviews were also conducted with current and former law enforcement that are not being named because of the sensitivity of their work and the fear of reprisal in one case. In addition, information was used that was provided by investigators familiar with the groups currently operating in the San Diego region, the SPLC based in Montgomery, Alabama and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Requests to the ADL’s current leadership in San Diego and New York were never responded to.

A local man has pleaded guilty to charges of coercing two children into sending sexually explicit photos of themselves and threatening to expose them if they refused to continue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Joseph Daniel Saucedo, of Vista, allegedly posed as a teenage girl through the messaging app KIK using the name “Amy Jennings."

While posing as Amy, at first Saucedo would have normal conversations about everyday life with an 11-year-old Canadian boy. Later, Saucedo sent naked pictures of young girls and asked the boy to communicate with her older male friend as an exchange.

Once the boy refused, Saucedo sent him a photograph of his house, told the victim he knew where he lived and threatened to shame him.

The victim was then contacted by the male friend of the suspect multiple times using FaceTime. He also received sexually explicit images of that man in messages.

In January, 2016, Saucedo contacted the victim again as “Amy” and threatened to release an inappropriate video online.

After an investigation into Saucedo’s online accounts that police had linked to child pornography, they also found evidence linking him to a similar case in Florida.

Saucedo had posed as a modeling agent to a 16-year old girl online through Instagram and made similar demands, according the indictment.

He posed as a modeling agency looking for "bikini and nude models" and claimed, "obviously the pay is great."

When the girl refused Saucedo's overtures, he posed as "Amy Jennings" again and threatened to blackmail the girl. This caused the victim to turn to Saucedo for help with "Amy." He demanded nude photos in exchange.

If his victim failed to meet his demands, "Amy" would publish the inappropriate photos. Saucedo continued to harass the girl for photos for almost a year, from August 2015 to June 2016.

According to the federal court complaint, 130 images and 66 videos were found on Saucedo's KIK account. Most of them contained child pornography.

“As parents we need to be aggressively monitor what our children are doing online, and as prosecutors, we will aggressively go after predators who are coercing, extorting and harming our kids,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

Saucedo was charged with production, attempted production and receipt of photographs of minors.

If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 25 years in prison.

His sentencing is set for Aug. 25, 2008 at 9 a.m.

Potential victims are asked to call Polly Montano, Victim-Witness Coordinator at (619)546-8921, Duffy stated.

The controversy over an anti-bullying policy protecting Muslim students has reached a new level, with offended parents now suing the local school district.

Some parents are suing the San Diego Unified School District to stop what they call an Anti-Islamophobia program, recently adopted by the school board.

The policy calls for a safe environment for Muslim students, who the District says are often the target of bullying. The district has an anti-bullying policy protecting all students, and some parents say a policy specifically for Muslims is not necessary.

"Under the guise of this anti-bullying program, defendants have fallen in with the aforementioned religious organization, (CAIR, Council on American Islamic Relations) to set up a subtle discriminatory scheme that establishes Muslim students as a privileged religious group ... Students of other faiths are left on the outside looking in," alleges the complaint.

The executive director of CAIR-San Diego says the Council for American Islamic Relations says it isn't about privileging one religious group, but ensuring a safe environment for everyone.

“We're not there to be treated better than anyone else,” said Hanif Mohebi, the executive director of CAIR–San Diego. “All we're saying is to be sure that when we’re trying to provide a safe environment for all, that includes the Muslim American community.”

Mohebi was surrounded by supporters at a news conference Thursday. He said a survey taken by Muslim students statewide showed 55 percent say they've been bullied. “Fifty five is about twice the number of the national level of students being bullied. So definitely this is much more than any other community.”

Some of those who filed the claim against the District also held a news conference. Attorney Charles LiMandri from the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, said the anti-bullying program is “a pretext because we have not been shown any evidence there really is a bullying problem in Muslim children, particularly in San Diego.

LiMandri also questioned the district's "entanglement" with CAIR, which he called an extremist political Muslim advocacy group. “Their mission and purpose is to spread the influence of Muslim in the United States, which is appropriate for them to do that as a political group, but not in our schools. The courts are very clear about that.”

Mohebi said CAIR is a civil rights and liberty organization.

"I am appalled, I am not happy with people who have no shame to label people with no facts," said Mohebi.

He went on to say, “We are not politically trying to change anything, ok, or make any political statement. We are responding to students being bullied and providing information for educators to deal with that. There's no politics in that.”

Limandri said the district has reached out to him, and it's possible the two sides can work together on the program, to avoid this issue from going to court.

The Padres notched another win on Thursday night to take the series against the New York Mets. The 4-3 victory was the icing the cake for starting pitcher Dinelson Lamet who made his major league pitching debut. In five innings of work the righty only allowed three hits. The Dominican pitcher finished the night with eight strike outs after throwing 91 pitches. Not too shabby.

On the offensive side the Friars got on the board early in the first inning. With the bases loaded, Cory Spangenberg singled to left field and brought in Yangervis Solarte. Mets starting pitcher Jacob Degrom was once again in a bases load jam when he walked Matt Szcur which allowed Wil Myers to score. At the end of the first the Padres had a 2-0 lead.

In the ninth inning the Mets were playing catchup. With a one run advantage, Spangenberg doubled to right field and scored Allen Cordoba and gave the Padres a 4-2 advantage. It was all up to reliever Brad Hand to keep the Metropolitans at bay. New York added a run but ultimately Hand notched his second consecutive save for the Friars.

Next up, the Padres travel to Washington D.C. to take on the Nationals. The first of three games is Friday May 26 at 4:05 p.m. PST from Nationals Park.

At around 7 a.m. on May 18, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Haddock crew received a tip that there was a disabled vessel located southwest of San Diego.

Crews found the vessel, as well as 4,000 pounds of marijuana in packages on board and two people.

The crew took the two suspects into custody and the vessel was towed to Coast Guard Sector San Diego, located across from San Diego International Airport.

The suspects were then transferred to the San Diego Marine Task Force and are pending prosecution.

The packages of marijuana and the vessel were turned over to Custom Border Protection's Air and Marine Operations (CBP AMO).

"I am immensely proud of the crew and their professionalism during this case," said Lt. junior grade Adam Derby, Haddock's commanding officer, in a press release. "Each and every one of them embodies our Coast Guard's core values and dedication to the American people."

The cutter Haddock is an 87-foot patrol boat home-ported in San Diego.