Guest Column

Garden Grove Police Pursue Phony Criminal Charge Against Woman Hit by Minuteman Supporter

Her home is searched by lawmen while she's at work
By Duane J. Roberts
June 17, 2005 –

When Theresa Dang checked her mailbox on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 15th, she noticed one of the letters she received that day had come from the Orange County District Attorney's Office. No problem, she thought. Maybe Tony Rackauckas, the District Attorney, had finally sent her a letter in response to one that Dang and two other people delivered to his Santa Ana office earlier this month. But when Dang opened the letter, however, she noticed it wasn't from him at all: it was, in fact, a criminal complaint.

In a letter dated Thursday, June 9th, the Orange County District Attorney's Office was notifying Dang that she was being charged with violating Section 484(a)-488 of the California Penal Code, "Petty theft and Carrying Away", a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment in the Orange County jail for up to six months, or both. The letter accused Dang of allegedly committing this criminal act on the night of Wednesday, May 25th.

What did she do? Dang wondered. She called the District Attorney's Office to learn more about what this was all about, but got no response. Little did she realize the answer would come the very next day in a most unexpected way.

On the morning of Thursday, June 16th, while Dang was at work, the Garden Grove Police raided the Westminster home where she lives with her family. According to several witnesses, including her father, four Garden Grove Police officers arrived at her house armed with a search warrant signed by an Orange County Superior Court Judge. They went through every room of the house she resides at, even searching those known to be occupied by her brothers and sisters. But when the lawmen found Dang's room, they completely trashed it: they overturned her bed and threw all of her personal belongings around. It's a mess.

What were they looking for? According to a copy of the search warrant affidavit signed by Garden Grove Police Detective Michael Reynolds, they were on the prowl for a "Black full sized Maglite with Small diameter handle". Say what? Here is the English translation: the cops were seeking a black flashlight that can be obtained at any Home Improvement store for around $10, give or take a few pennies.

Although Garden Grove Police spent nearly an hour rummaging through Theresa's personal belongings, they never found what they were looking for. She claims that when Detective Reynolds called her up via cellphone, he was mad; he accused her of stealing a flashlight that had been dropped by a police officer on the ground about three weeks ago. "This is a very serious matter", Reynolds allegedly told Dang. He demanded that she tell him where that flashlight was; and if it was no longer in her possession, who had it?

All of this would be very funny if this were part of a script for some comedy show on television. But the truth is, this is reality. Did Garden Grove cops take time out from their busy schedule of apprehending murderers, rapists, bank robbers, and drunk drivers to raid somebody's house and look for a flashlight? Yes. They did. And it happened here in Westminster, California. Yesterday. At 10-o-clock in the morning.

In one of the worst cases of political repression ever seen by the author of this article, the Orange County District Attorney's Office and Garden Grove Police Department have jointly launched an unprecedented and outrageous attack against a young Vietnamese woman whose only real crime was to express her dissent with the powers that be.

Theresa Dang was one of about 300 people from around Southern California who showed up on May 25th to demonstrate against Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist, who appeared at the Garden Grove Woman's Civic Club that night to speak at a monthly meeting of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, the group responsible for putting the racist Proposition 187 on the ballot back in 1994.

During the protest, Dang was thrown to the ground when she and three other protesters (including Jim Lafferty, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild) were hit by a minivan driven by Hal Netkin, a Van Nuys bigot who operates several websites on the internet which bashes Mexico and blames "illegal immigrants" from that country for all of California's economic problems.

Although the Garden Grove Police on the scene did initially arrest Netkin on charges of "assault with a deadly weapon" (especially after repeated demands from the mass of protesters who assembled that they take immediate action), they declined to pursue this case further after he was brought to the station. Netkin was released from their custody early the next morning, around 1:00 am.

Theresa was very troubled by this. She was bothered that Netkin had been set free, while five protesters arrested by Garden Grove Police that night were facing criminal prosecution on serious felony charges. Seeking justice, she, along with two other people, co-authored and signed a letter that was personally delivered to the District Attorney's Office on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 1st. A press conference was later held on the public sidewalk outside.

In that letter, District Attorney Rackauckas was asked that: (1) All charges against the accused protesters be dropped; 2) Criminal charges be filed against Hal Netkin, and; 3) An independent investigation into misconduct be brought against the Garden Grove Police Department.

Since that time, Theresa has been outspoken in her criticism of how the Garden Grove Police Department conducted themselves on the night of May 25th. She's been appearing quite regularly on KPFK and other mass media. Her voice has even managed to be heard on the infamous Fox News channel.

This has apparently struck a raw nerve deep with top brass inside the Garden Grove Police Department. So in a clear act of retaliation, they are seeking to punish Dang by either fabricating or blowing out of proportion some incredibly trivial thing she allegedly did at the May 25th demonstration.

We are asking that people throughout the Southern California area begin preparing for a mass mobilization to defend Theresa Dang against this incredibly vicious attack by the combined forces of the Orange County District Attorney's Office and the Garden Grove Police Department.

As of this moment, Theresa has retained the services of a Los Angeles-based civil rights attorney and is currently working with friends and family to form a committee to defend herself from this completely ridiculous and scurrilous charge.

Although additional actions are being planned, for now we're asking that as many people as possible make arrangements to pack the courtroom during her arraignment at the West Justice Center, scheduled for the morning of June 27, 2005 at 8:30 am. The address is 8131 13th Street, Westminster.

To learn more about what you can do to help Theresa in her fight, please keep an eye out for future messages posted on this listserv or website; or feel free to send a message to the author of this article at the above email address.

REMEMBER: AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
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