The U.S. Attorney's Office reported that despite unprecedented challenges brought by the pandemic, it takes 10 new cases of serious crimes as a daily average, warned that hate crimes are on the rise in the region, and highlighted that it reaches unprecedented levels of cases against violent criminals.
The U.S. Attorney reported that even with the pandemic, it filed charges in 3,850 cases of serious crimes and conducted 40 jury trials, almost all through video hearings to prevent viral transmission.
In addition, the prosecution supported law enforcement agencies throughout the California border area through its civil division.
On the criminal side, the prosecution made “an effort to strategically prosecute the most violent criminals in the region, including those with criminal records. and affiliation to criminal gangs that commit crimes with firearms.”
“As a result, federal gun-related prosecutions in the Southern District of California increased in
the fiscal year 2021 by nearly 50 percent, to the highest levels seen in this office,” the U.S. Attorney's office reported.
It was reported that in 2021, there was "a worrying increase in reports of hate crimes motivated by race, ethnicity, and ancestry, and gender identity."
The most recent notorious hate crime in San Diego County was last year. It was the sentencing of John Earnest, a Rancho Peñasquitos man who entered the Poway synagogue on April 27, 2019, opened fire, killing one woman, injured three others, and tried to kill another 50.
The assailant of the attack was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years in prison for his hate crimes.
He lamented that "in 2021, there was a tragic wave of human smuggling-related deaths in San Diego and Imperial counties."
In just under three weeks, four lives were lost, and dozens of people had to be rescued from the sea and hospitalized after multiple foiled maritime smuggling events.
The office also brought civil cases against physicians who, even in this climate of heightened awareness of the dangers of opioids, continue to overprescribe opioids and prosecuted cases with global impact, from Chinese hackers to corrupt officials in the Navy and international organizations. who used encrypted devices.
