On January 24th, 2017
RIVERSIDE - When you have a career that is often portrayed on television shows, you tend to have a captive audience when talking about what it is you do for a living. To make it even more interesting for hundreds of eighth grade girls learning about careers in forensics in Riverside County on January 12, […]
On January 24th, 2017
EUREKA - On January 19, 2017, a Humboldt County jury convicted Devin Lee James Schmidt, 24, of arson, following a trial that included testimony by California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) and Association of Criminalists-DOJ (AC-DOJ) Member Lynn Melgoza. Melgoza is criminalist supervisor at California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services. Schmidt started a […]
On January 24th, 2017
BURNEY- On January 19, 2017, Shasta County Sheriff’s detectives arrested Juan Manuel Venegas, 39, for the murder of David Wicks, a Johnson Park gas station attendant who died after being sprayed with a flammable liquid and set on fire. The arrest followed a month-long investigation which included pieces of evidence that were sent to the […]
On October 6th, 2016
SANTA BARBARA- A man accused of raping and beating a fellow student at UC Santa Barbara in February 2014, will face trial on charges of forcible rape, torture and great bodily injury. The decision that there was enough evidence to try Daniel Chen, 21, was made by Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Pauline Maxwell on […]
On July 22nd, 2016
RIVERSIDE - Those interested in the role that crime labs, and those who work in them, play in solving crimes, finding suspects, and identifying victims got a chance to hear from California Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminalist Melanie Velasco on Thursday, July 20, 2016. Velasco, a member of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) […]
On May 16th, 2016
RICHMOND- While it's not a celebration, it certainly is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment - having identified a woman whose murdered body was found in Los Angeles in 1969, and for 47 years was only known as Jane Doe 59. Thanks to work over the years by California Department of Justice criminalists, Jane Doe […]
