The Daily News is reporting the LA District Attorney has rejected the case against Johnny Pride, at least as it currently stands.
Johnny Pride, a Santa Clarita city council candidate and reality-show contestant who had been arrested for the alleged rape of two 14-year-old girls, was released from custody Saturday because of “insufficient evidence,” authorities said.
The District Attorney’s office rejected the case, but Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers plan to continue investigating in an effort to develop more evidence, according to Sgt. Dan Scott of the Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau.
Pride was released from custody at 1:30 a.m. today, Scott said.
“The investigation is on-going, including further investigation into the processing of DNA evidence,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a written statement.
UPDATE:
Johnny Pride’s father, Gerry, blasted the City of Santa Clarita and the Sheriff’s Department after his son was released:
Pride could not be reached for comment Saturday. But his father, Gerry Scarpitta, a teacher living in Yuma, Ariz., said the District Attorney’s Office rejection of the case is “proof that the city of Santa Clarita is as corrupt as I thought it was.”
“They’ve deliberately been harassing my son, but this time they attacked him with the full force of their authority,” said Scarpitta, 57.
“They did this unethical, immoral thing. What they did was just unconscionably wrong; it was an abuse of power. They had him arrested and I believe they knew all along they didn’t have sufficient evidence.”
Scarpitta accused officials of having his son arrested because he had challenged the “corrupt power structure” in Santa Clarita. The father said federal or state authorities should investigate the city because it is “out of control.”
As for the two girls, Lt. Steve Whitmore said this:
“The interviews (with the girls) were quite extensive, their stories matched and when we served the search warrant, what they told us was all verified in the apartment itself,” Whitmore said. “Everything they told us was exactly the way it was, even down to some minor details. It was pretty complete, pretty exacting.”
Also, the Los Angeles Times says that the Sheriff’s Department is “waiting on results from medical examinations of the two girls.” Lt. Steve Whitmore, the main SVB man who has been talking to the media, says the Pride case is still a “pending investigation for us.”
Did someone screw up the process here?
Why on Thursday is Johnny Pride deemed such a threat that he is arrested at work and put in the slammer on half a million dollar bail just hours after a campaign function? And why after midnight on a Saturday morning is the DA saying there is insufficient evidence to try him? Why did the LASD take their case to the DA if it wasn’t fully developed yet?
Has the arraignment on Monday been canceled?
UPDATE #2:
Fox 11 LA talked with the spokesperson for th District Attorney’s Office who can’t confirm that the DA has dropped charges:
Various media outlets have reported the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges because of a lack of evidence.
However, district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said tonight that she could not confirm reports that apparently originated with the sheriff’s department that prosecutors rejected the case.
“I absolutely cannot confirm what the sheriff’s department is reporting,” Gibbons said.
She said she got a call regarding the matter Friday and called prosecutors to confirm the report, but hasn’t heard back. She said she did not expect to have any more information before Monday, and that there was no way of knowing whether charges will be filed or not.
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