Lack of Police Response for Actual Crimes/Excessive Police Harassment on Citations

Continued from: Illegal Impound of my Vehicle and denial of Hearing
After losing my vehicle, and eventually my contract working with Monarchy (you don’t look like a boss riding the bus) I had come up with another game plan for keeping SatHookup alive. I was working heavily with my old website designer on making Sat Hookup a nationwide company with local installers and satellite dealers paying membership fees to get listed on a searchable directory. I wrote  a business plan and  continued to work various sales jobs  while the site was being updated.  The site was complete early  September and was making money, though  I was still working another job telemarketing car warranties part time for minimum wage.

On December 8th, 2008 when I got home from work I had discovered that I could not access my email accounts, website hosting, telephone, or domains. My web designer had gone in through one email that I let him use and locked me out of everything . He had deleted 2 years of emails/customer contacts and began transferring approximately 20 domains to himself.

I tried talking to my web designer to get everything back and he even admitted in writing that he would not return my property as he felt I didn’t deserve it. I went to the Van Nuys Police three times, eventually giving  a detective a 15 page police report complete with exhibits including the admission letter.  I was told that they don’t handle that and everything would be forwarded to the Computer Crimes Division downtown and it may take months before I hear anything.

Rent was due, and my $8/hr part time job wasn’t going to pay it. I had to get my business back. I felt so violated that I couldn’t sleep or focus on my work, so after getting yelled at for not telemarketing hard enough, I proceeded to walk from Winnetka to West Hills to speak with the web designer and his mother since I knew her well and they lived together. I thought if she knew what happened she would make him give everything back . Not the case, but eventually I signed an extortion letter so that I could get all my passwords, websites and other property.

Due to the problems I was having, I lost my part time job, and since my lease was up, moved from my private Sherman Oaks residence back to Reseda with roommates so that I could survive.  I continued to call the Detective to prosecute the web designer for “Unauthorized Computer Access”, however, nothing was done, even with an admission letter.

Several months later, while on my way to the Van Nuys Courthouse , I attempted to buy an all day bus pass, but couldn’t because the fare machine was broken. I was instructed to buy the ticket later and not to worry.  On my trip, four police officers entered the bus demanding tickets. Each officer got someone without a ticket, and I happened to be the last one.  I was given a fare evasion citation said to be about $5-10, then let back on the bus.

A month later I received a notice that my arraignment date had been changed. My name was not spelled correctly. The very next time I went on the bus to the arraignment for the fare evasion, both fare machines – the only way to pay, were broken, so I took pictures. I went back home for a week Christmas 2009. Taking the bus home from the Van Nuys Flyaway, the machine was broken, so I took a picture. The only times I used the bus was when I had to, and both of those times the machines were broken.

The ticket turned out to be $501, and after five half day court appearances, shutting SatHookup down, the case was dropped due to the officer not showing. I didn’t even get to present my evidence, and my name had still not been corrected.

Continue to Part 4: Status as of Letter Publication June 2010.