San Diego city officials decided Tuesday to keep the city's Child Protection Act despite the potential for a lawsuit or the fact that it hasn't been enforced for eight years.
Under the ordinance, a registered sex offender convicted after April 13, 2008, is not allowed to live within 2,000 feet of a school, park, playground, library, day care, amusement center or arcade.
The City Council was asked by San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott to rescind the ordinance saying it could lead to a lawsuit against the city.
She said 97 percent of registered sex offenders in the area are unable to find a place to live because of the ordinance's restrictions.
Elliott told the council at least 40 municipalities have been sued by similar ordinances.
Only four of nine council members voted to repeal the act.
One of the members who declined, Councilmember Lorie Zapf said she would err on protecting children versus protecting the city from a potential lawsuit.
Businesses seeking contracts with the city of San Diego will be required to verify equal pay for their employees under an ordinance passed Monday.
The Equal Pay standard proposed by District 3 Councilman Chris Ward was approved with a 9-0 vote.
City contractors must prove, as well as provide, equal pay for all employees in similar positions.
According to an analysis conducted by the National Partnership for Women and Families, a woman who works full time in California makes a median salary just over $40,000, compared to the median salary of $50,000 for a man.
Here in San Diego alone, women who work in San Diego make only $.72 to every dollar earned by a man, according to city leaders.
Latin American folk artists will bring their masterpieces to Bazaar Del Mundo in Old Town San Diego this weekend as part of a colorful marketplace and cultural festival.
The annual Latin American Festival and Mata Ortiz Pottery Garden takes place this Friday through Sunday at Diane Powers’ Bazaar del Mundo Shops in Old Town, at the corner of Juan and Taylor streets.
The fest will showcase the works of artists from across Latin America, including Mexico, Peru El Salvador, and Guatemala – from art, collectibles, and pottery to clothing, textiles, and jewelry. This includes Mata Ortiz pottery -- an art form known for its intricate, hand-painted, geometric designs -- plus embroidery, tinwork, wooden carvings, weaving, and sculptures.
Visitors can peruse the goods at booths in the marketplace from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The event will also feature live art demonstrations, entertainment by Latin American folk band, TINKU, and food for sale from the Casa Guadalajara restaurant. The gathering is designed to feel like a colorful, Mexican rural market.
Per organizers, artists visiting the fest this year include Jorge Quintana, a Mata Ortiz pottery artist, and Jacobo Angeles, of Oaxaca, Mexico, who carves and paints wooden animal figures. Mariano Valadez, who specializes in yarn paintings and detailed glass bead art, will be there, too, as well as Yolanda Ormachea Velasco, a Peruvian jewelry artist.
The event is free; prices on goods, art and food will vary. The stores in Bazaar del Mundo will also sell items imported from Mexico and Latin America including travel books, crafts, and food.
A fire sparked at a small Chinese restaurant in La Mesa Tuesday prompting firefighters to scale the building to attack the flames coming from the roof.
Crews with the La Mesa Fire Department and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department rushed to the Wong's Golden Palace restaurant along the 7100 block of University Avenue just before 11:20 a.m.
When firefighters arrived, smoke and flames were stemming from the top of the building. Quickly, crews extended their ladders from their fire engines and got themselves onto the roof.
Firefighters appeared to be mostly focusing their efforts on one part of the roof, blackened from the smoke. Other firefighters on the ground could be seen entering the restaurant from the front door and checking areas around the building.
At 11:40 a.m., the La Mesa Police Department said westbound University Avenue between Harbinson and Massachusetts avenues was closed to traffic while firefighters continued to work on the blaze. Motorists were told to avoid the area.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. At this point, officials have not confirmed if there are any injuries.
The restaurant typically opens for business daily at 11:30 a.m.
No other information was available.
Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.
A two-year-old boy was hospitalized after nearly drowning in a La Mesa family pool, authorities confirmed to NBC 7.
The possible drowning happened around 9 a.m. Tuesday on the 7200 block of Princeton Avenue in San Diego.
The parents put the young boy to bed last night, and when they went to check on him this morning, they discovered the baby was not in his bed, La Mesa Police Lt. Chad Bell said.
Bell said accidents like this are "absolutely, 100 percent avoidable."
"It is very important that if you have a pool with toddlers, to secure your house before you go to bed at night and to ensure to have that fence around the pool," Bell said.
The toddler was taken to the hospital. His current condition is not available.
The Medical Board of California has filed an accusation and a petition to revoke probation against Dr. Chung Pil Paik of Scripps Ranch.
There have been two Board decisions on the doctor, first in November of 2006 and the second in December of 2015. The original case continued on through the years because, according to the Medical Board, the doctor “failed to comply” with the conditions of his probation, conditions he had initially agreed to abide by.
The most recent filing, in this case, is dated June 30. No hearing date has been set and the doctor has not filed any response to the latest allegations. NBC 7 Investigates’ Calls to Paik were not returned. As well as calls to the attorney’s who represented him earlier.
The original accusation involves an incident in which Paik offered a patient interested in liposuction a preliminary examination of her abdominal area, according to documents. After she agreed, the documents say he examined her and then performed a “pinch test” on various parts of the patient's body to determine the amount of fat. Then the doctor asked to see and touch the patient’s breasts because of “professional curiosity” about her implants.
During this examination, according to state records, he became aroused and told the patient “I’m so stimulated.” The patient was offended, put her clothes on and walked out of the doctor’s office, according to the medical board documents.
According to the original filing, in this case, Paik “realized that he had crossed ethical boundaries and immediately apologized to the patient.”
At a hearing, court documents explain how an expert explained he did not think the doctor was a sexual addict. Ultimately, the doctor received a 60-day suspension for “sexual exploitation by a physician.” His license could have been suspended or revoked but instead, in July 2006 he agreed to be placed on probation for seven years, promised to enroll in professional boundaries program as well as other probation terms, including 100 hours of community service.
Four months later Paik wrote the medical board to say he was leaving California to serve as a medical missionary, “full time [for the] rest of my life.”
The Medical Board of California dropped the ball on this case,” Julianne Fellmeth, staff counsel for the Center for Public Interest law at USD, said. She has been monitoring the state’s physician discipline system for three decades.
“MBC (Medical Board of California) knew (or should have known) within 60 days of November 2006 whether he signed up for the professional boundaries course, and certainly they should have known within six months of November 2006, which is when he was supposed to have completed that course,” she said. “Yet they did not even file an accusation based on his failure to enroll in and complete that course until November 2014.”
In that 2014 filing, the Medical Board mailed the doctor a warning stating he was suspended from the practice of medicine “until certain conditions of probation had been met” including the Professional Boundaries Program he agreed to participate in years earlier. The board document also described sending a series of letters from 2007-2013 to the doctor repeatedly reminding him he had to tell the board if he was going to live and practice medicine in California.
This same filing reveals Paik was discovered to be practicing medicine again in Los Angeles with another doctor identified only as “Dr.Y.H., M.D.” His punishment was a public reprimand for unauthorized practice of
In December 2015 the doctor was told by the board to complete the training programs he had promised to finish and comply with existing board decisions to take education courses and continue psychotherapy treatment.
“At a minimum, when he did not enroll in or complete the professional boundaries class within 6 months of the December 2015 decision, they should have issued him a cease practice order,” Fellmeth said. “They did not and this guy is able to practice medicine.”
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.
Medical professionals are not required to disclose this information to their patients.
San Diego police are investigating the report of a woman who has not been seen since she left to pick up her children from church Sunday morning.
Jonathan Chappell has filed a missing person report for his wife, Crystal Chappell, who has not been heard from since 11:39 a.m. Sunday. She was last seen leaving the Octopharma plasma center, located at 3232 Duke Street, in San Diego's Midway area.
Crystal was on her way to Mission Valley to pick up their kids from church, but never arrived, her husband said.
Jonathan got a call from one of the kids waiting at the church, saying that Crystal was not there. He tried to call her phone, but she did not answer.
He went to pick up the kids and returned to their home, where he did a search for Crystal's phone.
Jonathan said he was able to trace his wife’s phone to southbound Interstate 805 near Plaza Boulevard.
Crystal is believed to be driving the family’s 2001 Mercury Cougar. The car has not been spotted since she went missing.
Crystal, 40, is 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 336 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink and black striped shirt with pink and blue leggings.
Crystal is missing a tooth on the right side of her mouth and suffers from health conditions which require her to take medications. However, she did not take any medications with her when she went missing. Crystal also has a rose tattoo on her left breast.
If you have any information regarding this search, call the San Diego Police Department through their non-emergency number (619) 531-2000 or (858) 484-3154.
A 9-year-old boy receiving a new treatment for severe scoliosis was surprised with a visit Tuesday from the San Diego Padres at Rady Children's Hospital.
Gabriel Cortes Aguilar beamed when the "Pad Squad" came around 1 p.m. to give him a Padres jersey and invite him to a game. When asked if he'd like to "throw" the jersey on, Gabriel excitedly tossed the jersey up in the air.
With a little help from the squad, he put on the jersey. When asked how he felt about the surprise, Gabriel said he's very happy and his favorite part of baseball is the homeruns.
In the past, he would have needed to regularly have small surgeries to manually lengthen a rod along his spine.
“Now he doesn’t have to have that surgery every six months. He just has to come to the clinic and let us do it in the clinic without any pain or any surgeries,” said Dr. Peter Newton, the chief of the division of Orthopedics and Scoliosis at the hospital. "It's really a huge advance and I know he likes it a lot better."
Newton said the NuVasive Magec growing rods keeps the spine straight as it grows, for a less invasive treatment.
Later, the squad brought Gabriel and his family to Petco Park, according to the hospital. As the special guest, he got to throw the first pitch to kick off the Padres game against the Twins.
The NuVasive Magec system involves innovative magnetic rods. The rods extend over time using an external remote control. This technology prevents children with scoliosis from needing additional surgeries by allowing doctors to extend the rod externally, according to the Rady Children's Hospital.
Younger children with scoliosis struggle to recover more, because doctors need to treat their curved spine when they're still growing a lot, said Newton. About a dozen patients have these advanced rods in place now. Each pair of rods costs about $30,000.
Compared to having surgery every six months, the expenses are actually reasonable, said Newton.
This treatment is reserved for severe cases. The temporary rod will eventually be replaced with a permanent fusion once Gabriel stops growing.
A hot prowl suspect who entered a Del Mar home is in a standoff with Sheriff's officials, deputies confirmed.
The incident began at approximately 3:12 p.m. Tuesday at a home on the 100 block of Via de la Valle, San Diego County Sheriff's officials (SDSO) said.
The suspect entered the home and remained inside.
He is armed with knives, deputies said.
The victim was uninjured and able to get out.
No further information was available.
“My friend got these shoes and I wanted them,” fourth grader Maeve Wagner-Casey said. “You can change the color, there’s a flash color and I think there are three colors that change automatically.”
Maeve said she just had to have a pair of the light-up Refreshed Enterprise shoes her friend had bought at the San Diego County Fair.
“I figured she could get one treat at the fair and that would be a good one to get,” Janet Casey, Maeve’s mother said.
Janet and her daughter said they bought the shoes for $48 on the fourth of July and a sign at the booth selling the shoes said refunds were prohibited, only exchanges were allowed.
Maeve said she was excited and went home to immediately charge her shoes. They charge like a cell phone with a USB port. After they charged, Maeve said she took them out with her that Fourth of July night.
“They only worked for an hour,” Maeve said.
“They didn’t last and she tried several ways of recharging them and rejiggering them and they wouldn’t light up,” Janet said.
Janet said she still had her receipt, which only had an email address for the company, so she sent an email but did not receive a reply. She also emailed fair officials. Still no reply.
After no replies, Janet and her daughter had one more idea in mind.
“Seems like you get great results, we always watch NBC and we see all of the great stories with the people that hit a lot of walls and then they reached out to you and were successful so we thought that's where we should turn,” Janet said.
NBC 7 Responds reached out to Refreshed Enterprises and after a couple of weeks, Maeve received a new pair of shoes.
The company did not respond to NBC 7 Responds’ request for a comment.
Hundreds of police officers and firefighters in Chula Vista received free state-of-the-art Canary home security cameras Tuesday as part of a donation.
In honor of National Night Out 2017, which promotes safer neighborhoods, State Farm donated 473 cameras to the Chula Vista Police Department.
The cameras can be controlled remotely using an app on a cell phone.
The Canary device can not only monitor movement but also detect and alert the user about changes in temperature, humidity and air quality in the home.
Over 15,000 communities across the United States, as well as cities in Canada and military bases worldwide participate in National Night Out annually. It was started in 1984.
The mother of a 4-year-old boy who fell from a second story window in Vista is asking for the community to pray for her son as he fights for his life.
Isaiah Ornelas is in critical condition at Rady Children's Hospital, according to Media Relations Officer Carlos Delgado.
“I want to thank the community for their support and prayers during this difficult time. All I ask for is to spread the word and get as many prayers for little Isaiah as you can. He is a strong boy but we have a strong God," Isaiah's mother said in a statement.
The young boy was airlifted to the hospital Monday evening before 7 p.m. when he fell out of a second story window on the 900 block of Postal Way, near S Santa Fe Avenue.
Similar incidents are increasingly common in the summer time, said Mary Beth Moran, program manager for injury prevention at Rady Children's Hospital.
There's definitely a surge in the summer months, just because it's hot and there's not a great breeze going through and people tend to open their windows wider," Moran said.
The Hospital treated 34 children for injuries from falling out of windows. Twenty four of those children were under the age of four.
"It happens fairly frequently here, as you can imagine, it's almost a year long process here because we have such wonderful weather," Moran said.
First-time mother Jana Pilato says she is constantly having to watch her one-year-old son Max and can understand how quickly something can happen.
"Kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for, so it just goes back to being on top of our game literally every second of the day," she said.
Moran had several tips to keep kids safe:
No other information was available.
A semi-truck overturned on the freeway in Temecula during the rain Tuesday afternoon, blocking traffic, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) confirmed.
The incident occurred at 3:08 p.m. on the northbound Interstate 15, between Temecula Parkway and Santiago Road.
According to CHP, the rain caused a tree to uproot and fall down into the traffic lanes, blocking vehicles.
A big-rig also overturned in the same area.
All lanes of the freeway were closed for some time, causing traffic to back up into San Diego County.
No other information was available.
Chloe Goins, a former model who accused comedian Bill Cosby of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion and was arrested on drug charges in San Diego in July, will not face prosecution, the District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
Goins was scheduled to be arraigned in the Chula Vista Superior Court Tuesday but the hearing was removed from the court calendar.
According to Tanya Sierra, a spokesperson with the District Attorney's Office, they did not issue charges in the case. Sierra said the office does not discuss its charging decisions, "Except to say we can only file charges when we believe we can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt."
Goins was arrested July 23 and booked into the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility.
According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO), Goins was arrested in the parking lot of the George F. Bailey Detention Center in Otay Mesa on suspicion of bringing heroin into the jail.
The charges against her included having a possible controlled substance and bringing alcohol and drugs into prison.
Goins is one of 10 women who have accused Cosby of sexually abusing them.
Cosby is being sued by Goins for battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
She claims the comedian spiked her drink during a party at the Playboy Mansion in 2008 and then abused her in a bedroom.
The City of Imperial Beach is threatening to take legal action against the International Border Water Commission (IBWC) for a toxic waste and sewage spill into the Tijuana River.
In February, at least 28 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Tijuana River and U.S. waters after a sewage pipe collapsed in Tijuana, according to an earlier report by IBWC.
Beaches were closed from Imperial Beach to Coronado.
But the IBWC report also found that 256 million gallons of sewage are unaccounted for from January and February of this year.
During a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Serge Dedina said he is sending a letter to IBWC asking them to take immediate action to treat the polluted water. If the commission does not comply, Dedina said the city will file a lawsuit.
"We think there has never been a case where people have been exposed to the type of toxic waste that is being discharged almost on a daily basis," Dedina said. "In which the United States government has apparently decided that it's okay and nothing needs to be done. That's unacceptable."
The city said the sewage spill is a threat to public health, a national wildlife refuge and two state parks. It is also impacting businesses and homeowners in Imperial Beach and Coronado.
A representative for the National Border Patrol Council said Border Patrol agents are being forced to work under unnecessary hazardous conditions due to the sewage spill.
Approximately 39 agents have fallen ill in the last three months, the representative said.
Dedina said the city is calling on Governor Jerry Brown, as well as local, regional and state leaders to support the City of Imperial Beach.
Two suspects accused of attempting to kidnap a 15-year-old girl in Encinitas pleaded not guilty Tuesday, confirmed prosecutors.
Christopher White, 26, and Jeremiah Owens, 27, were revealed to be roommates in court. Owens is the one accused of directly attacking the girl, while White waited in a truck across the street.
They both face charges of kidnapping with the intent to commit rape and false imprisonment, as well as assault with the intent to commit rape, a lewd act against a child and conspiracy.
The victim was able to escape the suspects before a sexual assault was carried out, said Deputy District Attorney Dan Owens. But they assaulted her with the intention to commit a lewd act with a minor, which carries sexual assault charges.
Other witnesses had reported the suspects for leering at their 13-year-old daughter in a previous incident, according to the District Attorney.
Less than an hour before the attack took place, some other witnesses noticed the suspicious men sitting in their truck across from the driveway and recorded a video of them.
White and Owens each face nine years in prison, according to the District Attorney's office. White does not have a previous criminal record, while Owens has two prior convictions for a DUI and disturbing the peace.
Both of the defendants were denied bail and will remain in a Vista jail.
According to the District Attorney, there have been other reports of the two suspects leering at girls in the same neighborhood.
The victim's father, who does not wish to be identified, said that it's a "massive sigh of relief" that the victims were denied bail. He said his daughter is strong, very good at yoga and trained to do boxing.
He hopes this rings a bell in all the communities besides Encinitas to not let anything like this happen again.
Deputies arrested Owens and White on July 28, just two days after the alleged crime. One of them approached the girl who was waxing her surfboard in a driveway and pinned her to the ground, as his partner waited in a nearby truck.
The girl was able to fight off the man and escape into the house, locking the door behind her.
Neighbors distributed surveillance photos that appeared to match the suspects' truck. It was soon spotted in Cardiff, not far away from the attack. A spokesman for the deputies said community involvement helped lead to the speedy arrests.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed police to conduct themselves "in a lawful way" and promised to prosecute officers who violate use of force laws while speaking at a conference Tuesday.
Sessions' remarks come as President Donald Trump faces continued criticism for encouraging officers to treat suspected criminalsmore roughly, NBC News reported.
“Community-based policing was a big part of reducing crime…in America, we can’t back off that now,” Sessions told attendees of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives’ (NOBLE) annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
At an event last Friday meant to highlight the wave of MS-13 gang violence on Long Island, New York, Trump seemed to urge officers to get physical when arresting suspected gang members.
"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough," Trump said. "I said, 'Please don't be too nice.'"
A San Diego doctor with a history of drug and alcohol abuse and a felony conviction for prescription fraud can continue practicing medicine, after settling her discipline case with the Medical Board of California.
According to a 22-page settlement and disciplinary order that took effect July 28, Dr. Leonor Alcaraz Ordonez can still practice but must abide by strict conditions of probation for six years, including drug testing, attendance at drug addiction support groups, and paying an independent physician to supervise her medical practice.
In addition, Ordonez cannot write any prescriptions for controlled substances or recommend medical marijuana for her patients. Ordonez, whose office is in Mission Valley, must abstain from drug and alcohol use, undergo psychological counseling, and complete a medical ethics course, among other restrictions.
The Medical Board outlined its case against Ordonez in an accusation filed in December 2016.
That document describes how a federal drug agent learned Ordonez had prescribed controlled substances, including addictive pain medications, for her husband, but "divert(ed) the prescription medication for personal use." A Medical Board investigator dug deeper and discovered Ordonez had written at least 15 prescriptions for her husband, including Tylenol/codeine, diazepam, and hydrocodone, from April 2013 to July 2015.
According to the accusation, Ordonez told investigators that in one seven month period, she wrote nine prescriptions for an opioid for her husband, with each prescription for 90 pills. Ordonez admitted taking “two to three pills a day of her husband’s pain medicine, and "further stated that she peaked using at about four pills of hydrocodone a day."
The evidence in the accusation -- which Ordonez admitted was accurate when she signed the disciplinary order -- includes her admission that she prescribed the controlled substances for her husband to help him cope with a rotator cuff injury, even though that injury happened 15 years ago and her husband had never seen a doctor for a follow-up exam or treatment.
A pharmacist at the CVS store on East Palomar Road in Chula Vista told investigators in July 2015, he saw Ordonez waiting for a prescription for controlled substances for her husband. The pharmacist told investigators he "confronted" Ordonez about the medication order, and asked her if she had written that prescription.
According to the accusation, "(Ordonez) replied no, took the prescription, walked out of the store and has not returned since."
Two months later, in September 2015, Ordonez was charged with 20 felonies in San Diego Superior Court, including seven counts of prescription fraud, one count of obtaining a narcotic by a forged prescription, and 12 allegations of insurance fraud. Ordonez later plead guilty to two felonies, including one count of prescription fraud, and was sentenced to three years probation.
Ordonez did not return a phone call to her Mission Valley office. Her attorney, Robert Frank, told NBC 7 Investigates Ordonez "...is happy to be back providing patient care with the Medical Boards' blessing and supervision."
Despite her admitted history of drug abuse, two doctors who evaluated Ordonez last year concluded she is not a threat to her patients, if she remains alcohol and drug-free.
"Dr. Ordonez has potential for re-addiction if she does not participate in the treatment programs," one of the physician experts concluded. "(Her) participation in these programs, as well as monitoring and random drug testing, will be a layer of safety which is needed for Dr. Ordonez to be considered safe to practice medicine."
Frank said Ordonez now provides care for homebound patients, something he said most doctors are unwilling to do. He also said his client has been "clean and sober" and may ask the Medical Board to relax the terms of her probation, or terminate supervision altogether. According to Frank, Ordonez can petition the agency for reconsideration in 2019.
An 18-year-old suffered a serious head injury after he was hit by a car in Linda Visa Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred on Fulton Street and Linda Vista Road around 8:25 a.m., according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).
An 82-year-old woman was behind the wheel of a Hyundai Sonata heading northbound on the 7200 block of Linda Vista Road when the teenager walked across the street mid-block.
Police said he walked into the pathway of the car and was struck.
He suffered bleeding in his brain. His injuries are considered to be life-threatening.
SDPD is investigating the incident.
No other information was available.
