SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy was fired for sending explicit messages to a woman he met on an emergency call for assistance, according to internal documents released online by the department. 

Patrick Walker, then-40, was identified in more than 200 pages of a Professional Standards Division Investigation, as the former deputy who began messaging and texting with a then-21-year-old woman who was in crisis in July 2022. 

That’s when, according to internal documents, her friends called 911 to report the woman as at-risk missing, concerned that she may take her own life by overdosing on cocaine and fentanyl. The friend reported that she had access to illicit drugs and was walking at an unknown location. 

Walker responded to the call, using his department-issued cell phone to contact the woman via text message and deputies found her. She shared that she ingested illicit pills and was taken to the hospital for treatment. 

From there, Walker accompanied the woman to the hospital, where she was placed on a mental hold and released three days later.

Within the same week, the woman told deputies during their internal investigation, she texted Walker’s department-issued cell phone because she was, “bored, mentally unwell, and intoxicated, at the time.” Within the next week, by August 1st, the woman reported the conversation moved from text messages to Walker’s Facebook Messenger account. 

Topics of conversation escalated, according to the findings and recommendations outlined in the internal documents, to the woman’s sexual history, mental illness, and history of drug abuse. The messages included a photo Walker took of himself in his uniform in the Central Division locker room, according to a Commander’s Note of the investigation. 

TONIGHT AT 10: A #Sacramento deputy fired for sending explicit messages to a mental health patient, a then-21 YO woman who docs show, he paid for nude photos. Photo and texts from Patrick Walker from internal investigation docs. @CBSSacramento pic.twitter.com/dYSYzpiRDk

— Madisen Keavy (@madisenkeavy) September 20, 2023

The woman asked Walker if he was married, to which he answered that he was, but messages included in the internal documents show Walker “made it clear he wanted to have sex with her.”

From there, the woman told investigators that she refused sex with Walker, but that she had been part of “sugar daddy” situations with men before and believed she could get money from Walker. The two agreed that Walker would send $100 for each nude photo she sent, but “did not recall” sending Walker any photos of herself.

Walker sent the woman an explicit photo of his genitals when he claimed to be off duty and under the influence of alcohol.

What she did send, according to her interview with investigators, was a pornographic video but Walker did not pay and instead, blocked her on Facebook Messenger.

The woman texted Walker on his department-issued cell phone to say she would report him if he did not pay for the video. Ultimately, he paid two payments of $200 totaling $400 to the woman via CashApp. She shared screenshots of the payments and they are included in the internal documents.

A screenshot of the CashApp payment the mental crisis payment shared with investigators, paid by then-Deputy Walker for a pornographic video. 

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office

Throughout the interactions, the woman told Walker that his actions were inappropriate. When she asked why he proceeded with the messaging he replied he was, “sick in the head.”

The woman’s stepfather reported the messages to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. He believed that Walker was “grooming” the woman and taking advantage of her, concerned that Walker may do this to other vulnerable women.

When confronted with the situation by investigators, Walker said the messages were intended to check on the woman’s well-being after the mental health call, but that it was unlike other interactions he said he had with similar circumstances, before.

In interviews with the Sheriff’s Office Walker said he “believed he took advantage of the situation for his own sexual gratification.”

By October 31, 2022, it was recommended based on the evidence, that Walker be fired.

“It’s a very horrible experience, very traumatic experience for them because clearly, the officer who abused her took advantage of her had to be disciplined and removed from service,” said Mark Merin, a Sacramento Civil Rights Attorney who represented the woman in litigation. 

Merin said the woman is finally receiving the mental health treatment she required a year ago, but it’s been complicated by the trauma of this event. He said the settlement between the woman and Sacramento County is not a “quick fix” for the trauma from the sexual abuse. 

“The young woman and her family, they were trying to help her. For her to be abused and used by supposed public servants, the police, it really is disheartening,” said Merin.

He also expressed concern about the time between the first messages in July 2022 and the deputy’s termination at the end of October 2022.

More from CBS News

Madisen Keavy

Madisen reports weekdays on CBS13.

Source link

The post Documents reveal disturbing messages from Sacramento deputy to mental health patient appeared first on Minds Valley.

More than three months after arriving, asylum still feels far away for Sacramento’s most well-known migrants.

Asylum claims are intended for people who have left their country fearing torture or persecution on the the basis of their race, religion, nationality or political beliefs. But in recent years, migrants from countries with widespread economic inequality have increasingly looked to asylum as a path to citizenship.

Most of the 36 migrants who arrived in Sacramento are citizens of Venezuela, a country that has only recently seen some signs of hope after nearly a decade of steep economic recession. These economic troubles have been coupled with internet restrictions and “attacks and widespread repression” against perceived political opponents, according to a 2023 report from the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.

Still, the majority of the migrants have not filed their applications, despite receiving free legal advice shortly after they arrived in the capital city on a flight that was funded by the state of Florida at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis. They remain in limbo — unable to legally work and without progress toward an eventual application for a green card and citizenship.

Aura, 31, of Colombia, one of the migrants that arrived in Sacramento earlier this summer from Texas, looks in August at the website to apply for asylum as a national Spanish television network runs a story on migrants in New York. Aura and other migrants struggle with the decision to seek asylum as it could potentially be the start of a deportation order. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com

Applying for asylum jump starts the process for receiving work authorization, but can pose potential risks like deportation if the case fails.

The migrants face the same fraught choice that thousands of undocumented people across the country confront as they look for a way to find work and, in some cases, seek permanent residency: Do they have a strong enough case for asylum? And if they do want to apply, how will they pay for legal representation?

Finding an attorney to help with an asylum case is another challenge. Attorneys face ethical dilemmas as they may not want to put their clients at risk or submit frivolous cases, which could affect their legal standing.

“It all comes down to the attorney’s perspective,” said Brian Lopez, an immigration attorney in Sacramento.

For migrants who have determined they want to pursue asylum regardless of a lawyer’s recommendation, there’s a new Sacramento-based online tool that may provide a workaround to any ethical considerations by attorneys and give full agency and consequences to the people seeking asylum.

Still, the tool has raised questions about its transparency and motives among some attorneys in the industry.

Do migrants need a lawyer’s help to file for asylum?

For many, there’s one overarching benefit to filing an asylum application. It’s the fastest way to legally work. Six months after submitting an application individuals can be approved for work authorization.

Mendoza Immigration, a Sacramento law firm, is touting a new self-help tool to streamline the application process. The online tool helps people prepare their own asylum submission packet, which would typically require the an attorney and could sometimes take months to complete.

“Prepare your asylum packet online and qualify sooner for a work permit,”says Elias Mendoza, who is founder of the technology and an immigration attorney, in an online pre-recorded video.

But Mendoza said information, not work permits, was the main motivation behind the technology. He expressed a desire to inform families to make the best decisions regardless of whether they become clients. Mendoza also encourages anyone using the tool to later seek the help of an attorney for their cases.

“Self-help, to me, turns out to be a level playing field tool that allows me to get mass information out to an indefinite amount of people,” Mendoza said.

The tool itself is straightforward. Customers fill out the questions one at a time, attaching documents when necessary, download the completed submission packet, sign and ship. It’s estimated to take between 20 to 45 minutes to go through the questions.

Such simplicity leaves the decision, and consequences, of filing an application solely on the individual. It does not establish a formal lawyer-client relationship. That differs from when lawyers are contracted and sign up to be a preparer as they must weigh whether the court could determine that they had filed a frivolous claim, often called a bad faith claim, that could put them in legal jeopardy.

With the tool, the individual applying can put themselves at risk in some cases. A denied application could lead to eventual placement for deportation.

“In asylum, it’s a guaranteed risk,” said Marcus Tang, an immigration attorney with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. “So meaning, if they get denied, you’re guaranteed to have a case before the immigration court.”

Tang’s organization is part of a program called Family Unity, Education and Legal Network for Immigrants, or FUEL, sponsored by the city of Sacramento to support its immigrant community. It paired immigration attorneys with the migrants for a consultation and, in some cases, to help them change upcoming immigration hearings.

None of the attorneys, Tang said, committed to taking on asylum cases. He called the lack of pending asylum cases for them a “function of the limited legal resources.”

But even if attorneys had taken on the cases, they still might not have filed cases for the migrants. Lawyers will often differ on what they view as a strong enough case to submit.

Lopez said he will only take on cases if they have a “reasonable argument” to show that the person meets asylum requirements. Other lawyers, he said, take on cases they know have no chance of winning to either collect money or allow the client more time to stay in the U.S.

“There are some attorneys that will take on a case even though they know it has no merit,” Lopez said. “Scams against this population are very common, unfortunately whether it’s from an unethical attorney, notario (notary) or immigration consultant who just want to benefit economically by telling the person what they want to hear.”

What it looks like to apply for asylum on your own

On a recent Thursday in late August, four of the migrants expressed some frustration in their Sacramento hotel room to Jorge De La Cruz, director of communications for Mendoza Immigration.

De La Cruz got in contact with a handful of the group and was offering the self-help tool free of charge. It usually costs $650.

“They were frustrated because they don’t know what the process is,” De La Cruz said. “They don’t know the law in the United States. All they know is that they’re seeking asylum and they are trying to get help.”

Attorney Jorge de la Cruz with Mendoza Immigration talks on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, about the process to seek asylum with the migrants brought to Sacramento from Texas by the state of Florida earlier this summer. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com

Some of the migrants reported feeling that they had not been given the proper information about the asylum process to make a decision. Others say they were told that filing for asylum would likely lead to deportation.

Aura, a 31-year-old migrant, said she only met with her assigned FUEL Network attorney once and hasn’t heard back from him in over a month. The migrants continue to speak on condition of using only first names, fearing reprisals for their presence in the capital region.

“I can’t speak to other people’s lawyers but in regards to me they haven’t helped me,” Aura said.

Tang said he could not comment on individual cases and that the FUEL Network has not kept up with the specific legal situations of the migrants since pairing them up with lawyers. He also noted that each case within the group differs, with some already being in court proceedings and others still waiting for their cases to get underway.

“It’s kind of an odd wrinkle that applies only to some of these migrants,” Tang said.

De La Cruz and Mendoza differ in that perspective.The firm believes each of the migrants should apply for asylum as that’s the designation they were given to enter the country. They cite that each passed an initial interview at the border to determine “credible fear” of persecution or torture back in their native country. De La Cruz also argues that applying allows them to work during the years of waiting that are soon to follow.

Pending asylum claims, estimated around 1.6 million, before the immigration courts have grown more than sevenfold over the last decade, according to data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The wait times for cases to be heard average around currently 1,572 days, or 4.3 years.

“You’re here,” De La Cruz tells them. “Why not take the chance to apply and at least live comfortably?”

Colombian migrant Aura records a conversation with Jorge de la Cruz with law firm Mendoza Immigration in August as he explains the process to seek asylum. She is one of the migrants that arrived in Sacramento this summer from Texas on a flight paid for by the state of Florida. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com

The opportunity to work within 150 days of submitting asylum paperwork caught the attention of the migrants. Most are struggling to secure stable work, and are getting by through donations and the support of nonprofit organizations.

“All the time we’re waiting for our cases, we’re going to have a permit?,” asked David, a 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant.

De La Cruz responded affirmatively, and continued to walk the migrants through the tool step-by-step. That day, each of four made their own accounts on Mendoza Immigration’s website, and they planned to finish the application in the coming days.

The self-help tool is among the increasing number of online resources that are aimed toward individuals seeking asylum, said Kevin R. Johnson, dean of UC Davis School of Law. The growth of resources coincides with more people fleeing violence and turbulence in their countries and the backlog of cases pending at immigration courts. Non-citizens seeking asylum also don’t receive a guaranteed attorney, Johnson said, which could be furthering the problem.

Johnson added that such a new self-help tool could prove beneficial to some, but wondered about its widespread use given the complexity of asylum cases. After applying, many cases fail in the years that follow without proper legal support. Tang and Lopez shared similar sentiments.

“It may be of some usefulness, but still it’s a very difficult claim to win on, absent some kind of guidance, for the average non-citizen,” Johnson said. “Particularly when they speak a different language and are from a foreign culture. It’s a distinct second best at having an attorney provide assistance.”

Related stories from Sacramento Bee

Mathew Miranda covers Latino communities for The Sacramento Bee. He earned degrees from California State University, Chico and UC Berkeley. Mathew is a Los Angeles native and proud son of two Salvadoran immigrants.

Source link

The post Sacramento migrants haven’t applied asylum. Here’s why appeared first on Minds Valley.

Kevin Haley, who suffers COPD and heart disease, rests drinking a gatorade with his 13-year old dog Danger at his Sacramento Self Help Housing home on Friday. He just moved into the house on Tenaya Street in North Sacramento on Tuesday. “I’ll be in big trouble,” he said if SSHH closes. “They haven’t said a word to us.”

Renée C. Byer

rbyer@sacbee.com

A Sacramento housing nonprofit is closing, and as a result more than 560 formerly homeless Sacramentans could again return to the streets.

Sacramento Self-Help Housing’s board of directors last week voted to close the organization, in part triggered by the county’s decision not to renew over $5 million in contracts to house the homeless, Board Chairman Ethan Evans said.

The county’s decision to let the contracts expire leaves the more than 560 tenants in Sacramento and 100 in Stockton at risk of being kicked out by June 30. SSHH has sent letters to the owners of seven houses, informing them that SSHH will remove the 42 tenants of the houses by May 18, Evans said. SSHH may move some of them into other temporary housing.

More letters are going out every week as part of a phased approach, Evans said.

“SSHH’s primary goal, now after 23 years of service to the community, is to effect a soft landing for the people we house, our employees, and our partners,” Evans said. “We are trying to avoid an immediate collapse, but that will take help from community partners, adding working capital and finding other operators to provide service to 667 homeless people over the next several months.”

The organization, which has over 180 employees, serves a major role in Sacramento’s mission to house the homeless. It leases houses from property owners, then leases the rooms to homeless people at a discounted rate substantially lower than the $1,100 it typically costs to rent a studio apartment in the capital city. The nonprofit is one of only a handful in Sacramento that place people directly from the streets into housing, often bypassing credit checks, background checks and other typical barriers.

The nonprofit’s annual revenue has surged alongside Sacramento County’s homeless population, growing from $2 million in 2015 to $14.5 million in 2020. Most of the money comes from gifts, grants and contributions, according to its 2019 tax return, the most recent available. Part of the growth stems from Sacramento County dramatically expanding its work with the nonprofit. The county funding for 145 SSHH beds is up from 75 in 2018.

The county Board of Supervisors will Tuesday consider an item to pay $1.7 million toward SSHH houses, partly to pay property owners back rent and to repair damage. It will not, however, change the likelihood of SSHH’s ability to stay open, and not affect the ability of SSHH to keep the tenants in the housing, Evans said.

What led the housing nonprofit to lose funding?

The nonprofit has come under criticism. It evicted at least 23 people in the last five years, a Sacramento Bee Jan. 18 report found, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, partly for “spending too much time in the bathroom.” Few details are available to the public about its revenue and expenses, the report found. SSHH has received about $36 million in contracts from the city and county since 2017.

In January, after receiving questions from The Bee, SSHH announced founder John Foley was no longer with the organization. It named Robert Spurlock as interim executive director and Evans, a Sacramento State sociology professor, as board chairman. Both pledged a fresh look at the organization’s practices and got to work on an overhaul.

But just weeks after the new leaders took over, in early February, county officials told Evans the county would not renew the contracts, he said. The loss of that cash flow, over $5 million a year, made it impossible for the already-struggling organization to stay afloat, Evans said.

“Although SSHH has taken steps recently to change their executive leadership, we are not seeing a well-articulated plan for how they can move forward as a viable partner for the sheltering of unhoused individuals on the county’s behalf at this time,” county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said in a Feb. 10 email to The Bee. “It became clear in early February that continuation of this program through SSHH was not feasible with such a large unpaid balance due to landlords and insufficient administrative capacity at SSHH to address these issues. At that time the county confirmed with SSHH that their contract would not be renewed in July.”

Bob Erlenbusch of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness criticized county officials for deciding to end the SSHH contracts without having a signed contract with a new organization to take over the vast majority of the leases. He suggested the county take over the leases itself, eliminating the need for a middle man.

“At least 600 tenants through no fault of their own are at risk of becoming homeless again,” Erlenbusch said. “If the county cannot find a contractor in the next seven days, it should take (the leases) over themselves”

About 175 of the tenants are currently living in houses covered under an SSHH contract with Sacramento County. The county has only so far signed a contract with a new organization, Consumer Self Help Housing, to take over 30 of those houses. It has put out a “request for proposals” seeking an organization for the remaining 145. But there are not many options, and it is not clear whether they will find one.

What’s being done to keep SSHH tenants off the street?

SSHH’s houses that are not in Sacramento County contracts are in contracts with organization Sacramento Steps Forward, the city of Elk Grove, and San Joaquin County, Evans said. It’s unclear whether those tenants will be kicked out. Neither SSF or Elk Grove was aware that SSHH is being closed, but both will work to ensure there are no evictions, spokespeople said.

The county is also working to ensure there are no evictions, Haynes said.

“Both SSHH and the county are working towards transitioning these leases from SSHH to the new operator such that there are no units lost,” Haynes said. “County staff are already in direct talks with landlords to work on agreements to remain in the program. Those talks are ongoing.”

But the evictions of 45 people could already be happening. Most tenants who get eviction notices leave quickly, instead of waiting until it goes to court, and ends up on their records, experts say.

On Thursday, several people were loading up a large Budget moving truck, and moving out of an SSHH house in North Sacramento’s Hagginwood neighborhood, said next door neighbor Manoj Kumar. The house was empty on Friday when a reporter visited.

SSHH tenant Kevin Haley was distraught to learn from a reporter Friday that he may be kicked out of his house in North Sacramento’s Northgate neighborhood. He walked his small dog Danger, breathing heavily and sweating as he processed the news.

“That would be awful,” Haley, 52 of Sacramento, said. “I’m gonna be in big trouble if I don’t get another place. I can’t believe they’re closing. They haven’t said a word to us. This is gonna be a hard day.”

Haley is worried about being homeless because he suffers from COPD, heart disease, and mental health issues, he said. He is very grateful for SSHH for getting him into housing, and hopes he can somehow stay, he said.

Kevin Haley, who suffers COPD and heart disease stood in the doorway with his dog Danger on Friday. He just moved into the Sacramento Self Help Housing house on Tenaya Street in North Sacramento on Tuesday. “I’m grateful for everything they have done so far and I hope it stays,” said Haley who had no idea where he would go if Sacramento Self Help Housing closed. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com

The evictions of 560 people would substantially add to the dire homeless crisis in Sacramento, where 9,300 people are already unhoused. Hundreds of people would likely have nowhere to go. More than 54,000 people are on waiting lists for housing vouchers and all 2,300 city and county shelter beds are full on any given night.

“The level of service available to Sacramento County and its cities to address the homeless crisis will shrink substantially,” Evans said.

This story was originally published March 27, 2023, 6:00 AM.

Related stories from Sacramento Bee

Theresa Clift covers Sacramento City Hall and homelessness. Before joining The Bee in 2018, she covered local government at newspapers in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. She grew up in Michigan and graduated with a journalism degree from Central Michigan University.

Source link

The post A Sacramento nonprofit is closing. Over 560 Sacramentans could be homeless appeared first on Minds Valley.