A longtime San Diego city schools employee, accused of stealing $27,000 from a recycling project, pleaded guilty yesterday to a felony charge of misappropriation of public money.
Jesse Michael Macias, 51, faces a possible sentence of up to four years in prison at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 2. However, a San Diego Superior Court judge indicated Macias likely would be placed on probation and ordered to serve time in work furlough.
Macias also will be ordered to pay restitution.
A jury convicted Macias in May of six felony charges, including grand theft. But the defense successfully argued that a juror accused of failing to properly deliberate should not have been removed from the panel. A judge agreed and granted Macias a new trial.
Macias worked for the San Diego Unified School District for 17 years and was a supervisor in the Maintenance and Operations Department.
Prosecutors said Macias' staff received thousands of dollars for recycling steel and aluminum ramps from portable classrooms between 2005 and 2007. The staff members gave the cash to Macias, but the district never received most of the money. –D.L.
Man arrested, suspected
of stabbing girlfriend
OCEANSIDE: A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of assaulting and stabbing his live-in girlfriend in front of the couple's 1-year-old child, police said.
Police were called after 9:30 a.m. to the couple's home, near South Horne and Topeka streets.
Officers found the suspect, 40-year-old Allan Wilson, near the residence with blood on his hands and shoes, police said. He was booked into Vista jail and faces charges of felony domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon and child cruelty.
The 33-year-old victim suffered multiple injuries, including a stab wound to her back, police said. She was hospitalized and was expected to survive. –M.R.
Man throws containers
at clerk in store robbery
SAN MARCOS: A man robbed a San Marcos deli yesterday by hurling drinks at the clerk and then hitting her with a can of soda, authorities said.
The man entered the Aloha Deli on South Las Posas Road near Linda Vista Drive just before 11 a.m. and placed several bottles and cans on the counter as if he was going to pay for them, sheriff's Lt. Anthony Ray said.
The robber then threw the beverages at the clerk, went around the counter and hit her with a can, Ray said. He fled with cash from the register, Ray said.
The robber was described as Latino, 5 feet 6, about 130 pounds, wearing a baseball cap, green shirt and black pants. –M.R.
Authorities seek inmate
who escaped from prison
Authorities are searching for a minimum-security inmate who escaped the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa on Sunday.
Manuel Casillas, 24, who was serving time for a second-degree burglary conviction, was last seen at the 6 p.m. inmate count, prison officials said.
Corrections officers discovered that he was missing at 9:30 p.m. during another inmate count.
Casillas was sentenced on June 20, 2006, and was scheduled to be paroled Oct. 25, officials said. The prison houses about 4,700 minimum-, medium-and maximum-security inmates.
Casillas is Latino, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 175 pounds and has brown eyes and a bald head.
All law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Border Patrol, have been notified of his escape. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the prison at (619) 661-7889. –A.M.
Baseball bat was used
in carjacking, police say
CHULA VISTA: A 38-year-old man was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of using a baseball bat to carjack a Ford Ranger pickup.
The carjacking occurred about 7:30 p.m. in a parking lot on Main Street near Fourth Avenue, said Chula Vista police Lt. Roxana Kennedy.
As the robber drove away in the pickup, he collided with two vehicles and apparently tried to run over the pickup's owner. No one was injured.
The suspect was arrested after a man who saw the carjacking followed the pickup and called police. –M.A.
Gun goes off, wounding off-duty L.A. officer
DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO: An off-duty Los Angeles police officer accidentally shot a colleague while they and a third officer were at a motel in downtown San Diego Sunday night, authorities said.
One officer was handling a pistol when it went off, with a round striking the other officer in the abdomen, Los Angeles police said.
The three officers, all off duty, were at Comfort Suites on G Street at Sixth Avenue planning to go to the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego police spokesman Gary Hassen said. He said preliminary reports were that the three had not been drinking.
Los Angeles police officials said Officer Christopher Campagna, a five-year department veteran, was handling a .38-caliber revolver he believed was unloaded. The gun discharged as a second officer was walking past, and he was wounded. Paramedics and San Diego police were called about 8:15 p.m.
The officer underwent surgery. He was expected to fully recover, Los Angeles police said. The third officer was not injured.
They were in San Diego for social reasons, not for any official police function, Los Angeles police said.
The shooting is being investigated by San Diego police as an accident, Hassen said. Los Angeles police are conducting an internal investigation. –P.R.
Staff writers Dana Littlefield, Matthew Rodriguez, Angelica Martinez, Mark Arner and Pauline Repard contributed to this report.
