October 8, 2024 • 32 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Thoughts on the violent stabbing attack of a Woman at a bus stop and the Metro ambassador that stepped in to help her…PLUS - Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer join the program to weigh-in on the violent mob that ransacked a 7-Eleven and attacked a store clerk in Orange County, and his plan to “Keep OC Safe” and MORE - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
KFI mo' kelly live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and
we have a huge show for you tonight and it's
all about crime and punishment. Yes, crime and punishment. We
have good news bad news regarding the Metro. Here's the
little Tea's if you have to get shot or stabbed,
(00:43):
at least gets shot or stabbed right in front of
the hospital.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And we have some Metro good news.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
There was a good Samaritan Metro ambassador who also stepped in.
I know the Metro Ambassador did not expect that to
be part of his herd day. And last night around
I want to say eleven eleven thirty, I was working
on today's show looking up some stories and I said,
I wonder if Orange County DA Todd Spencer would come
(01:10):
on this show short notice.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I texted him late last night.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
His people hit me early this morning and we set
it up and so Orange County DA Todd Spencer is
going to join us at the bottom of the hour.
We're going to talk about that seven to eleven robbery
and ransacking and the assault on the.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Convenience store employee.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We'll talk about that and what he plans to do
big picture in the city of Anaheim and all across
Orange County to deal with crime, which seems like it's
leaking over from Los Angeles County. This is something that
Orange County wasn't dealing with up until recently, but we
were dealing with it here in Orange La County just
(01:52):
about every day. And along those lines, we'll find out
the safest cities in America, and believe it or not,
there's some Southern California cities on the list, probably not
Los Angeles. And speaking of safest cities in Southern California,
I don't know if it's Arcadia because Dodger's pitcher Walker
(02:15):
Buehler got robbed of his watch today at Santa Anita
Park and it probably was a harbinger because he hasn't
been pitching well in the game. Right now that is
going on and the Dodters are trying to stay in
it with the San Diego Padres in the Division Series.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
But I do want to start with this.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
We usually don't talk about the seriousness of hurricanes, but
I did want to say this. Remember last week we
were dealing with Hurricane Heleen, not we, but America in
the Southeast quadrant. Now you have Hurricane Milton, and on
social media for what it's worth, there has been this
ongoing discussion of you know, where would you rather live?
(02:55):
Would you rather live in the Southeast, or where'd you
rather live in California? And I think the debate is
over really at this point, honestly, I mean, can we
really have any more discussion? Look, I want everyone to
be safe, and I was in communication with a number
of friends in the Southeast. I was telling you about
the Garth Brooks story, and one of the people that
I knew who was very close to him. The only
(03:17):
reason I having a chance to really talk to him
and debrief him on Garth Brooks, Yes it's to him,
is because he's trying to get to higher ground and
get to safety because of Hurricane Milton. Right now, say
what you want about earthquakes. Talk about all the movies
that have been made about them. You know, you have
(03:37):
movies where complete cities are falling into the ocean. But
the reality is people are not dying from them, people
are not losing their houses from them, and generally life
is good when it comes to that. I think the
better correlation if you're going to talk about things that
(03:57):
we have to deal with in California versus what people
have to deal with on the East Coast, if it's
hurricanes or tornadoes. We have to deal with fires. We
have to deal with fires consistently. People have lost their
houses to fires, people have lost their lives to fires.
We talk about how often people are evacuated because of fires.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I think that is a better comparison, and I think
that's more disruptive than earthquakes are.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
We have had I don't know, maybe fifteen different earthquakes
that we've talked about just on this show in the
past two months or so, give or take three.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And we can't tell you about any damage.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We can't tell you about anyone who is hurt, and
thank goodness, we can't tell you about anyone who died
because there just aren't any. And you look at the
thousands and thousands of people who have been displaced because
of not one, but two hurricanes in a relatively similar
area in a relatively short amount of time, than the
(04:58):
thousands of houses, most likely which have been red tagged,
the thousands of lives which have been forever changed because
they don't have a house to go back to. It
if they do have a house to go to it
is greatly damaged. I'll give you a perfect example. The
auctioneer for the Blue Door Bash that I was a
(05:18):
MC for this past Saturday. The auctioneer almost didn't make
it to the event because he lives in North Carolina
and we could not get in touch with him for
three days because of Hurricane Helene. When we finally did
get in touch with him, he has a ranch style
home with livestock. His whole house was flooded out. He
(05:39):
doesn't know if he can save it. So when we
talk about the disruption or our concerns in California, we
do it tongue in cheek, and we need to keep
it in perspective because what's happening right now the Gulf
Coast is a completely different animal. It is a completely
different thing. There are so many people who will not
have a house to go back to. We know that
(06:02):
the death toll for Hurricane Helena. I think it's close
to two hundred now if I'm not mistaken, and that's
across multiple states, and they're saying that Hurricane Milton may
be worse. It's a Category five right now and maybe
a category four when it hits land. I believe tonight
Mark am I correct in that regard when it hits
(06:22):
land tomorrow tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
But you know, anything could change with these things. And
you know when you talk about the fires here, it's
just the same the other side of the same coin
with the worsening hurricanes.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yes, we can have.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
An expanded discussion about climate change and how Yes, where
we're dealing with one end of it, they're dealing with
the other end of.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
It, and they're both getting exponentially worse quickly in a
short amount of time. They're exceeding the predictions pretty routinely,
And it'll get your attention if you're paying attention in
the first place to that stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You want to make a cinematic reference if you saw
the movie The Core, and we had it and named
that movie called Classic. In the beginning of the movie,
they thought that the Earth was going to stop spending
I think within six months, and then the scientific calculations
were incorrect and they realized it was like six weeks.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I suspect that we have a.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Similar miscalculation here, where we might have thought we had
many more years and it was going to be a
gradual change of our climate, and we're finding out no,
it's it's going to be rapid.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I got to be honest. It reminds me if you've
ever had a relative who is terminal in the hospital
or going to be, you know, not long of this earth,
and the doctor gives you an estimate of how much
time they've got left. I think it's a matter of
bedside manner that we're being told we've got more time
than we really have.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
How many times have we seen that in life?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
For Oh, no, they're fine, they got six months to live,
and they're gone the next day.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, yeah, two weeks something like.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
We have a story later on in the show about
this this uh asteroid exploration that they just happen to
launch a mission to test out destroying asteroids that could
potentially be coming towards the Earth.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
To me, that's not a mistake. That's not just what
they were just out there.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Testing this Wolfiederman, there's something they're not too Biederman.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, they've already started creating the catacombs, they're already digging
out the caves. They're already transporting art and important people
to the caves and Missouri trying to preserve our way
of life after the asteroid hits.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, I'm only kidding. We're not on the list, not
on the We are not.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
On the list, and we don't have any inside information
to tell you.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So we're all going down together. Don't look up.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's Later with mo Kelly camf I Am six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
We have the good news bad news of the Metro
when we come back.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
When you were probably wondering, or at least I was wondering,
it's been like a whole four days and nobody's been
stabbed or shot or attacked on a Metro platform bus train.
Maybe they were turning the corner, no pun intended. Nope,
we were wrong. So a woman got stabbed. That's the
(09:19):
bad news. The good news is that there was a
Metro ambassador close by. The even better news was the
person got stabbed right in front of a hospital where
they took her.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Imagine that no woman is recovering after she was stabbed
at a bus stop early this morning.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
And KKEL News assignment editor Mike Rodgers at the desk.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Now, Mike, you just spoke with police. What are they
telling you.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
Yeah, paton one, they say that the woman was standing
here waiting at the bus stop, and she didn't even
see her attacker come up behind her until after she
had been stabbed. I want to show you a video
here from skykeow was overhead the area not long ago.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Now, think about that, she didn't even get on the bus.
She was just at the bus stop.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I can't even falter for riding Metro because why she
didn't get a chance to ride Metro and someone stabbed
her unprovoked from behind.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That could have been you, That could have been me,
That could have been anyone.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
This all happening right in front of La County General. Now,
the police department tells me that the woman in her
fifties was standing there when the suspect, a man who
is homeless, came up behind her and stabbed her in
the back with a three inch blade. I wanted to
point out the two people you see there in green,
those are Metro ambassadors. There was also a Metro ambassador
there this morning who moments after the stabbing, helped get
the woman walk her inside a La County General Medical
(10:34):
center that is literally feet away from where this alleged
attack happened now while she was in the hospital, LAPD
detective from Hollandeck station were able to interview her, get
a good description of that suspect, and police officers who
were canvassing the area found the guy because he hadn't
even left the scene yet. So that man is now
in custody. They are not releasing his identity just yet.
The woman is recovering from that stab wound. We are
(10:55):
told that she is stable tonight and hopefully should be okay.
She was alert and talking to off and detectives moments
after that stabbing.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
There are lessons which can be learned from this, and
this is going to be a recurring thing because we're
going to be talking about a lot of things crime related.
And I always say safety begins with just being aware
of your surroundings. I'm not saying that the woman was
not paying attention. You know, you get stabbed from behind,
you get stabbed from behind, But we live at a
different time where your head has to be on a swivel.
(11:24):
You have to be aware of people at all times
who may be even near you. I don't know if
the man ran up on her or snuck up on her,
but when I talk about not getting gas at a
gas station late at night, or if I do go
to get gas at a gas station, I'm always aware
of everyone around me. I don't allow anyone to approach me,
(11:45):
because that's the first rule of safety. You know, someone
unless they're going to shoot you from a distance, they
can't harm you unless they get close to you.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So I don't let anyone get close to me.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
There's certain things you just have to do and be
mindful of, and ever do and be mindful of when
you're in a big city situation. I'm glad that there
was someone there to assist her, and I know the
Metro Ambassador's like, look, I did not sign up for this.
This is not a part of my job description where
(12:17):
I'm supposed to Yeah, I supposed to assist passengers, but
that doesn't mean carry bloody people to the hospital right
next door. We talked about this with the bus drivers.
The bus drivers probably have to think, Okay, who is
going to try to kill me today? Who is going
to try to harm me today on this bus? And
if you're the Metro ambassador, you have to think what
(12:39):
type of violence am I going to have to intervene
with today?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, I keep forgetting that I dated a bus driver.
Uh that bad?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Huh, No, this is a couple. No, this is a
couple of years ago. And I keep forgetting that she
drove the bus because we would never really talk about it,
but I would always ask her, you know, because we
were always talked about this, Hey, what do you have
to deal with? And she would say, look, fortune on
my route. I have a bunch of regulars, people who
know me, who travel to and from work. Every once
(13:09):
in a while I will get someone on the bus
and the passengers will help me, you know, just make
sure I'm safe. Because she was real little and she
said that we have a little switch we can instantly
flip and it will alert our transit security so they
can meet us at the next stop.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And we try to drive slow.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
We try to do everything we can to keep the
person occupied, try to keep everyone calm and not to
start anything. But she said, every single day it would
jump off. Every day, every.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Day it would jump off.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
That's got to be so dispariting, where you know, every
single day you're going to have to at least verbally
spar with someone and it may turn physical, it may
turn violent, and that may.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Just before lunch. You don't know what happens later in
the day.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Well, there's rush out are both ways depending on the
time of your shift. I don't know how people do it,
really don't know. Of course, for the woman who was
standing at the bus stop, I assume she was riding
the bus because she had to, not because she wanted to.
And in today's financial economic climate, you are at the
(14:13):
job you are because you need to, not necessarily because
you want to.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Now I don't know how much it pays, but it
doesn't pay enough.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
It doesn't pay enough because I'm quite sure when they
were trained it was about driving the bus for the
most part, not sending off people trying to kick you,
spit on you, bite you, punch you, shoot you, stab you.
I mean, I'm quite sure that training had to have
changed tremendously in the past three or four years.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Now.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
See my cousin who drives the Metro trains, she's a
train operator.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And they're briefed.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
They're briefed and they're kind of told, hey, when you
get to the parking lot of nights, you know, make
sure you make sure you try to find a security
guard to walk you to your car. And sometimes she
would say, we have to wait like you get and
you wait until someone shows up. But there is no
you know, I don't know physical training. There's no martial
(15:09):
arts tool, there's no you know, threat assessment training, there's
none of that that really goes into it other than
be safe.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Everyone is that like best wishes. You know, we're pulling
for you, we're praying for you. You know, hopefully you'll
make it home safely.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I wonder what the training is like now, because yes,
you can push a button, Yes they're probably de escalation techniques,
but what do you do when someone.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Physically attacks you?
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Because you know what's going to happen at some point,
or you should assume that it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
And that's another thing about self defense.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You can't prepare for everything, but you have to expect
that everything could happen at any given moment, and you
are better prepared to deal with something if it should happen.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Every time I walk out of here, I assume someone's
waiting for me.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Just being serious, every night, every severy night, every night,
when I walk into that parking garage, I assume someone's
there waiting.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
That way, if someone is what will be will be,
but it won't be a surprise day. Not catching me undaware, Nope.
We call that getting caught slipping, and we'll have more
on slipping later on.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's Later with mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
When we come back, I'll be joined on the line
by Orange County DA Todd Spitzer, who'll talk to us
about the seven eleven robbery and Anaheim the other day
and more.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I AM six forty is Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and on
the heels of the recent ransacking and robbery of an
Anaheim seven eleven, in which an employee of the convenience
store was attacked and beaten. The attention of smashing, grabs
and other property crime turns to Orange County, but there's
no better person to discuss this with than Orange County
DA Todd Spitzer.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
DA Spitzer, thank you for coming back on the show tonight.
How you doing, sir.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
It's happy to be here. I'm great. Thanks Mode.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
The video of the robbery, I know you've seen it,
and the assault was a loop on local TV all
day yesterday. It personally angered me, but it also signaled
to me and escalation in the tactics and violence.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
What did you think of it? What did you notice
about it?
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Well, I'm disgusted by it.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
What I noticed about it is that the things that
have gone on in Los Angeles traditionally are starting to
percolate over into Orange County. For example, the woman that
was tragically killed from New Zealand, the tourists at Fashion Island,
she was killed by criminals who have come over here
from Los Angeles County.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
And that's part of my problem is we just don't.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
Have natural borders that we can say, hey, you know,
you got to pass through a checkpoint to go between
counties in southern California or anywhere in California. Orange County
is the safest large county in California, but I'm next
to one of the most disastrous counties, led by probably
the worst district attorney in America, George Gascon who, as
(18:03):
you know, Mo, he's only polling now at twenty percent
or lower. I mean, I think it's going to be
a route and a landslide. And the fact of the
matter is that comes down to something quite simple for me,
and that is it's all about your tone and your
attitude about how you hold yourself out as a law
enforcement officer. And I make it unequivocally clear, if you
(18:27):
come to Orange County and you commit a crime, we're
going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.
Speaker 7 (18:33):
And you must set that tone and set.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
Those parameters or people will come here and exploit the
fact that you will look the other way, or you're
coming up with all these soft on crime kind of initiatives. Now,
do those things have their place in terms of helping
people with mental illness and other things like that diversion
Sure for first time offenders and people who are down
(18:59):
their luck, maybe a homeless person who's stealing to feed themselves.
But the fact of the matter is the people that
are going into those seven elevens, it's like organized crime.
I mean, it's like what fifty or more group of
hulams who are organized in a way. They're sophisticated the
sense that they're all covered up right, and they go
(19:19):
in and they just loot and you know what, for
them to beat up the guy that's the clerk at
the seven to eleven. I mean that's beyond pathetic.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Let me ask you about this level of organization and coordination. Yes,
they're organized because it's obviously with forethought and malice and
preparation to a certain degree that they're doing this. But
without divulging any specifics of an investigation, has there been
any indication that there are outside forces who are organizing,
compelling or manipulating these individuals to participate in this crime.
Speaker 8 (19:51):
Well, sure, I mean these people are coming from communities
where there's been organized crime, and that's what we're seeing now.
All seeing the Chileans come in right from Chile. They're
coming in through Esta Visas. I've talked about that all
across the nation doing these home burglaries. We have the
Romanians who are coming in and doing these fake overlays
(20:14):
on the on our ready tellers where they're through Bluetooth
technology taking our pin registry and stealing the money. It
was the EDD fraud and the welfare fraud and things
like that. And then you have now with these street criminalists. Right,
it looks like boys or men. The ones that went
into the seven to eleven were part of this street
crew that was engaged in street racing and it's part
(20:39):
of an organized culture that now that we're crime pays right,
crime is literally paying. This is their full time job,
engaging in criminal activity. And unless they're caught and they're
prosecuted where they it's the consequences are serious enough to
change their behavior, we will see no change in behavior.
(21:03):
And because juveniles are not prosecuted in Los Angeles, let
me say that again, juveniles are not prosecuted by George
Gascon in Los Angeles.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
That was one of his initiatives when he got elected.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Misdemeanors are not prosecuted in Los Angeles, and hardly any
felonies are prosecuted in Los Angeles. So if you're a
youngster or impressionable here in Orange County and you see
that these guys are getting away with street racing and
burglarizing and going into seven elevens, you're gonna think your
(21:38):
mindset could be geez, I can do this here in
Orange County, and I will suffer the same consequences or
lack thereof what they don't understand. And the funny part
is when they get arrested in Orange County and the
detectives are explaining to them that they're in Orange County
and that we do prosecute these cases. The District Attorney's office,
they have like, oh my god, god moment, And that's
(22:02):
exactly what I want to effectuate.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
I mean, you know about the billboards.
Speaker 8 (22:05):
It's silly, mo that I put billboards up at the
entrances to all the major entrances to Orange County to
remind people that we still prosecute crime. That is the dumbest,
silliest thing that a prosecutor should have to do.
Speaker 7 (22:20):
It. Did it get a ton of attention to people.
Speaker 8 (22:22):
Talk about it, absolutely, But to tell people that as
a prosecutor, we still prosecute crime, Oh goodness, gracious.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Day, Spencer. I wonder we have like the Council of Mayors.
We know that law enforcement from different jurisdictions they will
get together and work on these problems which transcend their borders.
Is there any similar interaction or communication between La County
and Orange County when it comes to the DA's offices.
Speaker 8 (22:48):
Well, quite, Frankly, the city council members and I in
LA communicate often from time to time. Certainly, my relationship
with the elected officials here in Orange County, with the
sheriff and the police chiefs is outstanding. You know that
in my almost six years as the District Attorney of
Orange County, George Gascon has not reached out to me
(23:09):
one time. I've had no communication. I've reached out to
him through his staff. He's never reached out to me.
He is on an island. And that is why La
County is so unsafe and why people don't feel safe.
Even if you look at the crime statistics, and there's
a lot of debate, now are we more safe less
(23:30):
safe Department of Justice figures.
Speaker 7 (23:32):
Let me tell you what matters most. Do people feel safe?
Speaker 8 (23:37):
And I am telling you when Karen Bass talks about
the fact that we're getting ready for the Olympics and
everybody's going to go on public transportation, God help us
if everybody has to go on public transportation under the
circumstances in which they can't protect people on the on
our mass transportation systems in Los Angeles, and I'll think
(23:59):
quite Frank Jim McDonald was a very good choice for
police chief for Karen Bass, and she's getting criticized by
her base for that because she picked a white male
with law enforcement experience, who has the experience of coming
from LAPD and Long Beach and knew how to take
names and put people in jail and assist the prosecution.
(24:22):
She got criticized for that. That was one of the
best political decisions and practical decisions that Karen Bass made
because she picked the best person for the right time,
under these circumstances to get LA squared away. If she doesn't,
she will not get reelected.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
D Spitzer, I don't know how often you listen to me,
but I have said that it's about whether you feel safe.
I have said that the MTA the Metro is unsafe.
I have said that Jim McDonald was the best pick
and the perfect pick for LA. Right now, it almost
seems like you're channeling this show. I'm not saying you are,
but it sounds like we're in agreement on a lot of.
Speaker 7 (24:59):
Do you think I where do you think I get
my material?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well? Hold that up, we gotta go to a quick break.
If you just tuning in.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
My guest right now is Orange County District Attorney Todd Spencer.
We're talking about all things from smash and Grab, street takeovers,
Metro and more.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty wimbo Kelly am six.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I am still in a conversation with the Orange County
District Attorney Todd Spitzer, and you have heard we agree
on a lot of these issues as it relates to crime,
law enforcement and some of the strategies which need to
be employed. And DA Spitzer, Yes, it's a political election
year in the sense that people are thinking about the
presidential election. They may be thinking about these top of
(25:53):
mind issues when it comes to crime, but we can't
necessarily disregard how we are feeling. Going back to what
you said last segment about right where we are locally,
what can you do? I know it's not your responsibility
to control what happens outside the borders of Orange County,
but what you're doing right now in Orange County, how
(26:14):
can it impact people beyond the borders.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
Well, I mean, I'm on the board of directors of
the California District Attorney's Association. Prop thirty six, which is
to try to soften the blow and the impacts on
Prop forty seven, is on the ballot in November. It
is polling according to the Public Policy Institute of California,
very very respected nonpartisan think tank in the High sixties
(26:37):
low seventies. In fact, if you remember when Gavin Newsoen
introduced a set of bills to try to counteract Proposition
thirty six, and those bills do nothing to counteract Prop
forty seven, but a discussion later maybe, But what he
said in a question, are you going to campaign governor
against Prop thirty six? And he said no, I'm if
(27:00):
you're busy trying to get Kamala Harris elected.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
President the United States.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
That is code for it's going to win by a
landslide Prop thirty six.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
And I don't want to be on the wrong side.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
Of the issue because I want to be president of
the United States, and I've got to be more mainstream.
And so yes, I work consistently outside of Orange County,
both at a state level, and I'm also on the
national board of the American Prosecutors' Association. So I've been
taking this on nationally. Why Because we have to get
(27:31):
rid of and we did of Chessa. Bodine the DA
of San Francisco. We have to get rid of Pamela
Price in Alameda County. We have to get rid of
George Gascon. Listen, Moe, I am a conservative dude and
I've been in law enforcement for over thirty years. Okay,
I was a cop for LAPD for ten years. I'm
a career prosecutor. But I don't want to go back
(27:51):
to the old mindset. I don't want to lock people
up and throw away the key. I want people to
get help. But if you have a third conviction for
possession of drugs, you have to be shown Dora or
door B. Dora is treatment or door B is state prison.
If you're peddling fentanyl, I want you to be warned
if you're convicted that if you kill somebody, you can
(28:13):
be charged with murder.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
Right, and I want to help the homeless.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
I want to use the criminal justice system to effectuate
change in people's behavior. But it comes down to something
very simple, unless and until people take responsibility for themselves.
I don't care what society does, how much money government
throws out the problem, how many little tiny homes they build,
(28:38):
how many wrap around services we provide. You will not
change people's behavior until they're convinced they must help themselves.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Will from where you sit, and I think that the
law serves two purposes. It serves as a rehabilitative structure system,
and we can debate how effective it is at that,
but also is supposed to provide a deterrent Cops thirty
six from where you sit address the deterrence aspect.
Speaker 7 (29:04):
I think it's more about helping people.
Speaker 8 (29:07):
I think it's actually something that tells people there's going
to be consequences if you don't try to help yourself.
Does it have some deterrence Potentially if you stand up
in court and the judge tells a drug dealers, sir,
you're convicted of selling drugs, do you understand that if
you sell drugs in the future that contain fentanyl and
you kill somebody, Because it is the leading cause of
death with people buying illicit street drugs. We've lost what
(29:30):
one hundred and fifty thousand people in America for overdoses
from fentanyl when they didn't even intend to or know
they were buying fentanyl. You tell somebody that, I would
hope that somebody dealing drugs in the future would understand
they will be charged with murder because in Orange County
we charge drug dealers who pedal fentanyl with murder.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Since you have worked as a law enforcement officer and
a prosecutor for the better part of your adult life.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Give us some perspective. Now.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
The drugs may be more deadly today, are they more
pervasive today? When we talked about you know, just say
no in the nineteen eighties and how we were trying
to fight this war on drugs in the nineteen eighties,
the war is different today. Are we making any headway
or is it making any difference?
Speaker 7 (30:14):
You know?
Speaker 8 (30:15):
Some argue, like a libertarian, that we should just legalize
drugs and let the cards fall on the.
Speaker 7 (30:20):
Mat as they were. I don't agree with that.
Speaker 8 (30:24):
I don't also agree that if you use marijuana you're
going to start injecting heroin or snorting meth amphetamine tomorrow.
I don't really buy all this gateway drug stuff with marijuana.
But we do know that marijuana is stronger, more pure,
and cultivated differently than ever before because now it's grown
under very very specific circumstances here in California and all
(30:46):
over the United States. Okay, and it's legal here in California,
so it's much much stronger. But this is the deal
with respect to illicit street drugs. The Chinese are sending
the fetanyl over to the Mexican cartel, and they're putting
feanyl in every single drug to make it look like
it's something else on the street, so it's xanax, alexiconton
(31:07):
or whatever, and they look remarkably similar to the untrained eye.
So a person who is buying an oxycodone or some
other xanax or valium, they think they're getting that drug
and its actually probably eighty ninety percent fetanyl, and they're
taking it and they're dying because they have no tolerance
to ventanyl. There are some drug addicts who just use
(31:30):
pure fentanyl and they can deal with it. I mean,
they use fentanyl, which is hard to believe, but they do.
Speaker 7 (31:36):
So.
Speaker 8 (31:37):
The amount of drugs we are intercepting at the border
is unbelievable, unprecedented.
Speaker 7 (31:44):
And it is a national crisis.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Day Spencer, I wanted to say, for the interest of
full disclosure, I texted you late last night, your stand
up guy. You came on the next day. You've always
made yourself available. Thank you for making time on these
very important issues, and I wish you well if if
you should have a break in these smashing grabs or
any other issue like to discuss, you're always welcome on
this show.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
Well, I appreciate it, but I don't think you met
if I had a break with a smashing grab think
about that much?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well, good night, It's later with Bo Kelly cam'f I
am six forty. I walked into that one. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
Can if I Am six forty the news, what it means,
Why it matters.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Kf I the KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County,
Live everywhere on the Heart Radio app.
KFI mo' kelly live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and
we have a huge show for you tonight and it's
all about crime and punishment. Yes, crime and punishment. We
have good news bad news regarding the Metro. Here's the
little Tea's if you have to get shot or stabbed,
(00:43):
at least gets shot or stabbed right in front of
the hospital.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And we have some Metro good news.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
There was a good Samaritan Metro ambassador who also stepped in.
I know the Metro Ambassador did not expect that to
be part of his herd day. And last night around
I want to say eleven eleven thirty, I was working
on today's show looking up some stories and I said,
I wonder if Orange County DA Todd Spencer would come
(01:10):
on this show short notice.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I texted him late last night.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
His people hit me early this morning and we set
it up and so Orange County DA Todd Spencer is
going to join us at the bottom of the hour.
We're going to talk about that seven to eleven robbery
and ransacking and the assault on the.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Convenience store employee.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We'll talk about that and what he plans to do
big picture in the city of Anaheim and all across
Orange County to deal with crime, which seems like it's
leaking over from Los Angeles County. This is something that
Orange County wasn't dealing with up until recently, but we
were dealing with it here in Orange La County just
(01:52):
about every day. And along those lines, we'll find out
the safest cities in America, and believe it or not,
there's some Southern California cities on the list, probably not
Los Angeles. And speaking of safest cities in Southern California,
I don't know if it's Arcadia because Dodger's pitcher Walker
(02:15):
Buehler got robbed of his watch today at Santa Anita
Park and it probably was a harbinger because he hasn't
been pitching well in the game. Right now that is
going on and the Dodters are trying to stay in
it with the San Diego Padres in the Division Series.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
But I do want to start with this.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
We usually don't talk about the seriousness of hurricanes, but
I did want to say this. Remember last week we
were dealing with Hurricane Heleen, not we, but America in
the Southeast quadrant. Now you have Hurricane Milton, and on
social media for what it's worth, there has been this
ongoing discussion of you know, where would you rather live?
(02:55):
Would you rather live in the Southeast, or where'd you
rather live in California? And I think the debate is
over really at this point, honestly, I mean, can we
really have any more discussion? Look, I want everyone to
be safe, and I was in communication with a number
of friends in the Southeast. I was telling you about
the Garth Brooks story, and one of the people that
I knew who was very close to him. The only
(03:17):
reason I having a chance to really talk to him
and debrief him on Garth Brooks, Yes it's to him,
is because he's trying to get to higher ground and
get to safety because of Hurricane Milton. Right now, say
what you want about earthquakes. Talk about all the movies
that have been made about them. You know, you have
(03:37):
movies where complete cities are falling into the ocean. But
the reality is people are not dying from them, people
are not losing their houses from them, and generally life
is good when it comes to that. I think the
better correlation if you're going to talk about things that
(03:57):
we have to deal with in California versus what people
have to deal with on the East Coast, if it's
hurricanes or tornadoes. We have to deal with fires. We
have to deal with fires consistently. People have lost their
houses to fires, people have lost their lives to fires.
We talk about how often people are evacuated because of fires.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I think that is a better comparison, and I think
that's more disruptive than earthquakes are.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
We have had I don't know, maybe fifteen different earthquakes
that we've talked about just on this show in the
past two months or so, give or take three.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And we can't tell you about any damage.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We can't tell you about anyone who is hurt, and
thank goodness, we can't tell you about anyone who died
because there just aren't any. And you look at the
thousands and thousands of people who have been displaced because
of not one, but two hurricanes in a relatively similar
area in a relatively short amount of time, than the
(04:58):
thousands of houses, most likely which have been red tagged,
the thousands of lives which have been forever changed because
they don't have a house to go back to. It
if they do have a house to go to it
is greatly damaged. I'll give you a perfect example. The
auctioneer for the Blue Door Bash that I was a
(05:18):
MC for this past Saturday. The auctioneer almost didn't make
it to the event because he lives in North Carolina
and we could not get in touch with him for
three days because of Hurricane Helene. When we finally did
get in touch with him, he has a ranch style
home with livestock. His whole house was flooded out. He
(05:39):
doesn't know if he can save it. So when we
talk about the disruption or our concerns in California, we
do it tongue in cheek, and we need to keep
it in perspective because what's happening right now the Gulf
Coast is a completely different animal. It is a completely
different thing. There are so many people who will not
have a house to go back to. We know that
(06:02):
the death toll for Hurricane Helena. I think it's close
to two hundred now if I'm not mistaken, and that's
across multiple states, and they're saying that Hurricane Milton may
be worse. It's a Category five right now and maybe
a category four when it hits land. I believe tonight
Mark am I correct in that regard when it hits
(06:22):
land tomorrow tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
But you know, anything could change with these things. And
you know when you talk about the fires here, it's
just the same the other side of the same coin
with the worsening hurricanes.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yes, we can have.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
An expanded discussion about climate change and how Yes, where
we're dealing with one end of it, they're dealing with
the other end of.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
It, and they're both getting exponentially worse quickly in a
short amount of time. They're exceeding the predictions pretty routinely,
And it'll get your attention if you're paying attention in
the first place to that stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You want to make a cinematic reference if you saw
the movie The Core, and we had it and named
that movie called Classic. In the beginning of the movie,
they thought that the Earth was going to stop spending
I think within six months, and then the scientific calculations
were incorrect and they realized it was like six weeks.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I suspect that we have a.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Similar miscalculation here, where we might have thought we had
many more years and it was going to be a
gradual change of our climate, and we're finding out no,
it's it's going to be rapid.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I got to be honest. It reminds me if you've
ever had a relative who is terminal in the hospital
or going to be, you know, not long of this earth,
and the doctor gives you an estimate of how much
time they've got left. I think it's a matter of
bedside manner that we're being told we've got more time
than we really have.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
How many times have we seen that in life?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
For Oh, no, they're fine, they got six months to live,
and they're gone the next day.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, yeah, two weeks something like.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
We have a story later on in the show about
this this uh asteroid exploration that they just happen to
launch a mission to test out destroying asteroids that could
potentially be coming towards the Earth.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
To me, that's not a mistake. That's not just what
they were just out there.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Testing this Wolfiederman, there's something they're not too Biederman.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, they've already started creating the catacombs, they're already digging
out the caves. They're already transporting art and important people
to the caves and Missouri trying to preserve our way
of life after the asteroid hits.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, I'm only kidding. We're not on the list, not
on the We are not.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
On the list, and we don't have any inside information
to tell you.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So we're all going down together. Don't look up.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's Later with mo Kelly camf I Am six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
We have the good news bad news of the Metro
when we come back.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
When you were probably wondering, or at least I was wondering,
it's been like a whole four days and nobody's been
stabbed or shot or attacked on a Metro platform bus train.
Maybe they were turning the corner, no pun intended. Nope,
we were wrong. So a woman got stabbed. That's the
(09:19):
bad news. The good news is that there was a
Metro ambassador close by. The even better news was the
person got stabbed right in front of a hospital where
they took her.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Imagine that no woman is recovering after she was stabbed
at a bus stop early this morning.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
And KKEL News assignment editor Mike Rodgers at the desk.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Now, Mike, you just spoke with police. What are they
telling you.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
Yeah, paton one, they say that the woman was standing
here waiting at the bus stop, and she didn't even
see her attacker come up behind her until after she
had been stabbed. I want to show you a video
here from skykeow was overhead the area not long ago.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Now, think about that, she didn't even get on the bus.
She was just at the bus stop.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I can't even falter for riding Metro because why she
didn't get a chance to ride Metro and someone stabbed
her unprovoked from behind.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That could have been you, That could have been me,
That could have been anyone.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
This all happening right in front of La County General. Now,
the police department tells me that the woman in her
fifties was standing there when the suspect, a man who
is homeless, came up behind her and stabbed her in
the back with a three inch blade. I wanted to
point out the two people you see there in green,
those are Metro ambassadors. There was also a Metro ambassador
there this morning who moments after the stabbing, helped get
the woman walk her inside a La County General Medical
(10:34):
center that is literally feet away from where this alleged
attack happened now while she was in the hospital, LAPD
detective from Hollandeck station were able to interview her, get
a good description of that suspect, and police officers who
were canvassing the area found the guy because he hadn't
even left the scene yet. So that man is now
in custody. They are not releasing his identity just yet.
The woman is recovering from that stab wound. We are
(10:55):
told that she is stable tonight and hopefully should be okay.
She was alert and talking to off and detectives moments
after that stabbing.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
There are lessons which can be learned from this, and
this is going to be a recurring thing because we're
going to be talking about a lot of things crime related.
And I always say safety begins with just being aware
of your surroundings. I'm not saying that the woman was
not paying attention. You know, you get stabbed from behind,
you get stabbed from behind, But we live at a
different time where your head has to be on a swivel.
(11:24):
You have to be aware of people at all times
who may be even near you. I don't know if
the man ran up on her or snuck up on her,
but when I talk about not getting gas at a
gas station late at night, or if I do go
to get gas at a gas station, I'm always aware
of everyone around me. I don't allow anyone to approach me,
(11:45):
because that's the first rule of safety. You know, someone
unless they're going to shoot you from a distance, they
can't harm you unless they get close to you.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So I don't let anyone get close to me.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
There's certain things you just have to do and be
mindful of, and ever do and be mindful of when
you're in a big city situation. I'm glad that there
was someone there to assist her, and I know the
Metro Ambassador's like, look, I did not sign up for this.
This is not a part of my job description where
(12:17):
I'm supposed to Yeah, I supposed to assist passengers, but
that doesn't mean carry bloody people to the hospital right
next door. We talked about this with the bus drivers.
The bus drivers probably have to think, Okay, who is
going to try to kill me today? Who is going
to try to harm me today on this bus? And
if you're the Metro ambassador, you have to think what
(12:39):
type of violence am I going to have to intervene
with today?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, I keep forgetting that I dated a bus driver.
Uh that bad?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Huh, No, this is a couple. No, this is a
couple of years ago. And I keep forgetting that she
drove the bus because we would never really talk about it,
but I would always ask her, you know, because we
were always talked about this, Hey, what do you have
to deal with? And she would say, look, fortune on
my route. I have a bunch of regulars, people who
know me, who travel to and from work. Every once
(13:09):
in a while I will get someone on the bus
and the passengers will help me, you know, just make
sure I'm safe. Because she was real little and she
said that we have a little switch we can instantly
flip and it will alert our transit security so they
can meet us at the next stop.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And we try to drive slow.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
We try to do everything we can to keep the
person occupied, try to keep everyone calm and not to
start anything. But she said, every single day it would
jump off. Every day, every.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Day it would jump off.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
That's got to be so dispariting, where you know, every
single day you're going to have to at least verbally
spar with someone and it may turn physical, it may
turn violent, and that may.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Just before lunch. You don't know what happens later in
the day.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Well, there's rush out are both ways depending on the
time of your shift. I don't know how people do it,
really don't know. Of course, for the woman who was
standing at the bus stop, I assume she was riding
the bus because she had to, not because she wanted to.
And in today's financial economic climate, you are at the
(14:13):
job you are because you need to, not necessarily because
you want to.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Now I don't know how much it pays, but it
doesn't pay enough.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
It doesn't pay enough because I'm quite sure when they
were trained it was about driving the bus for the
most part, not sending off people trying to kick you,
spit on you, bite you, punch you, shoot you, stab you.
I mean, I'm quite sure that training had to have
changed tremendously in the past three or four years.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Now.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
See my cousin who drives the Metro trains, she's a
train operator.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And they're briefed.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
They're briefed and they're kind of told, hey, when you
get to the parking lot of nights, you know, make
sure you make sure you try to find a security
guard to walk you to your car. And sometimes she
would say, we have to wait like you get and
you wait until someone shows up. But there is no
you know, I don't know physical training. There's no martial
(15:09):
arts tool, there's no you know, threat assessment training, there's
none of that that really goes into it other than
be safe.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Everyone is that like best wishes. You know, we're pulling
for you, we're praying for you. You know, hopefully you'll
make it home safely.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I wonder what the training is like now, because yes,
you can push a button, Yes they're probably de escalation techniques,
but what do you do when someone.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Physically attacks you?
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Because you know what's going to happen at some point,
or you should assume that it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
And that's another thing about self defense.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You can't prepare for everything, but you have to expect
that everything could happen at any given moment, and you
are better prepared to deal with something if it should happen.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Every time I walk out of here, I assume someone's
waiting for me.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Just being serious, every night, every severy night, every night,
when I walk into that parking garage, I assume someone's
there waiting.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
That way, if someone is what will be will be,
but it won't be a surprise day. Not catching me undaware, Nope.
We call that getting caught slipping, and we'll have more
on slipping later on.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's Later with mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
When we come back, I'll be joined on the line
by Orange County DA Todd Spitzer, who'll talk to us
about the seven eleven robbery and Anaheim the other day
and more.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I AM six forty is Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and on
the heels of the recent ransacking and robbery of an
Anaheim seven eleven, in which an employee of the convenience
store was attacked and beaten. The attention of smashing, grabs
and other property crime turns to Orange County, but there's
no better person to discuss this with than Orange County
DA Todd Spitzer.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
DA Spitzer, thank you for coming back on the show tonight.
How you doing, sir.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
It's happy to be here. I'm great. Thanks Mode.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
The video of the robbery, I know you've seen it,
and the assault was a loop on local TV all
day yesterday. It personally angered me, but it also signaled
to me and escalation in the tactics and violence.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
What did you think of it? What did you notice
about it?
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Well, I'm disgusted by it.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
What I noticed about it is that the things that
have gone on in Los Angeles traditionally are starting to
percolate over into Orange County. For example, the woman that
was tragically killed from New Zealand, the tourists at Fashion Island,
she was killed by criminals who have come over here
from Los Angeles County.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
And that's part of my problem is we just don't.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
Have natural borders that we can say, hey, you know,
you got to pass through a checkpoint to go between
counties in southern California or anywhere in California. Orange County
is the safest large county in California, but I'm next
to one of the most disastrous counties, led by probably
the worst district attorney in America, George Gascon who, as
(18:03):
you know, Mo, he's only polling now at twenty percent
or lower. I mean, I think it's going to be
a route and a landslide. And the fact of the
matter is that comes down to something quite simple for me,
and that is it's all about your tone and your
attitude about how you hold yourself out as a law
enforcement officer. And I make it unequivocally clear, if you
(18:27):
come to Orange County and you commit a crime, we're
going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.
Speaker 7 (18:33):
And you must set that tone and set.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
Those parameters or people will come here and exploit the
fact that you will look the other way, or you're
coming up with all these soft on crime kind of initiatives. Now,
do those things have their place in terms of helping
people with mental illness and other things like that diversion
Sure for first time offenders and people who are down
(18:59):
their luck, maybe a homeless person who's stealing to feed themselves.
But the fact of the matter is the people that
are going into those seven elevens, it's like organized crime.
I mean, it's like what fifty or more group of
hulams who are organized in a way. They're sophisticated the
sense that they're all covered up right, and they go
(19:19):
in and they just loot and you know what, for
them to beat up the guy that's the clerk at
the seven to eleven. I mean that's beyond pathetic.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Let me ask you about this level of organization and coordination. Yes,
they're organized because it's obviously with forethought and malice and
preparation to a certain degree that they're doing this. But
without divulging any specifics of an investigation, has there been
any indication that there are outside forces who are organizing,
compelling or manipulating these individuals to participate in this crime.
Speaker 8 (19:51):
Well, sure, I mean these people are coming from communities
where there's been organized crime, and that's what we're seeing now.
All seeing the Chileans come in right from Chile. They're
coming in through Esta Visas. I've talked about that all
across the nation doing these home burglaries. We have the
Romanians who are coming in and doing these fake overlays
(20:14):
on the on our ready tellers where they're through Bluetooth
technology taking our pin registry and stealing the money. It
was the EDD fraud and the welfare fraud and things
like that. And then you have now with these street criminalists. Right,
it looks like boys or men. The ones that went
into the seven to eleven were part of this street
crew that was engaged in street racing and it's part
(20:39):
of an organized culture that now that we're crime pays right,
crime is literally paying. This is their full time job,
engaging in criminal activity. And unless they're caught and they're
prosecuted where they it's the consequences are serious enough to
change their behavior, we will see no change in behavior.
(21:03):
And because juveniles are not prosecuted in Los Angeles, let
me say that again, juveniles are not prosecuted by George
Gascon in Los Angeles.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
That was one of his initiatives when he got elected.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Misdemeanors are not prosecuted in Los Angeles, and hardly any
felonies are prosecuted in Los Angeles. So if you're a
youngster or impressionable here in Orange County and you see
that these guys are getting away with street racing and
burglarizing and going into seven elevens, you're gonna think your
(21:38):
mindset could be geez, I can do this here in
Orange County, and I will suffer the same consequences or
lack thereof what they don't understand. And the funny part
is when they get arrested in Orange County and the
detectives are explaining to them that they're in Orange County
and that we do prosecute these cases. The District Attorney's office,
they have like, oh my god, god moment, And that's
(22:02):
exactly what I want to effectuate.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
I mean, you know about the billboards.
Speaker 8 (22:05):
It's silly, mo that I put billboards up at the
entrances to all the major entrances to Orange County to
remind people that we still prosecute crime. That is the dumbest,
silliest thing that a prosecutor should have to do.
Speaker 7 (22:20):
It. Did it get a ton of attention to people.
Speaker 8 (22:22):
Talk about it, absolutely, But to tell people that as
a prosecutor, we still prosecute crime, Oh goodness, gracious.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Day, Spencer. I wonder we have like the Council of Mayors.
We know that law enforcement from different jurisdictions they will
get together and work on these problems which transcend their borders.
Is there any similar interaction or communication between La County
and Orange County when it comes to the DA's offices.
Speaker 8 (22:48):
Well, quite, Frankly, the city council members and I in
LA communicate often from time to time. Certainly, my relationship
with the elected officials here in Orange County, with the
sheriff and the police chiefs is outstanding. You know that
in my almost six years as the District Attorney of
Orange County, George Gascon has not reached out to me
(23:09):
one time. I've had no communication. I've reached out to
him through his staff. He's never reached out to me.
He is on an island. And that is why La
County is so unsafe and why people don't feel safe.
Even if you look at the crime statistics, and there's
a lot of debate, now are we more safe less
(23:30):
safe Department of Justice figures.
Speaker 7 (23:32):
Let me tell you what matters most. Do people feel safe?
Speaker 8 (23:37):
And I am telling you when Karen Bass talks about
the fact that we're getting ready for the Olympics and
everybody's going to go on public transportation, God help us
if everybody has to go on public transportation under the
circumstances in which they can't protect people on the on
our mass transportation systems in Los Angeles, and I'll think
(23:59):
quite Frank Jim McDonald was a very good choice for
police chief for Karen Bass, and she's getting criticized by
her base for that because she picked a white male
with law enforcement experience, who has the experience of coming
from LAPD and Long Beach and knew how to take
names and put people in jail and assist the prosecution.
(24:22):
She got criticized for that. That was one of the
best political decisions and practical decisions that Karen Bass made
because she picked the best person for the right time,
under these circumstances to get LA squared away. If she doesn't,
she will not get reelected.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
D Spitzer, I don't know how often you listen to me,
but I have said that it's about whether you feel safe.
I have said that the MTA the Metro is unsafe.
I have said that Jim McDonald was the best pick
and the perfect pick for LA. Right now, it almost
seems like you're channeling this show. I'm not saying you are,
but it sounds like we're in agreement on a lot of.
Speaker 7 (24:59):
Do you think I where do you think I get
my material?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well? Hold that up, we gotta go to a quick break.
If you just tuning in.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
My guest right now is Orange County District Attorney Todd Spencer.
We're talking about all things from smash and Grab, street takeovers,
Metro and more.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty wimbo Kelly am six.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I am still in a conversation with the Orange County
District Attorney Todd Spitzer, and you have heard we agree
on a lot of these issues as it relates to crime,
law enforcement and some of the strategies which need to
be employed. And DA Spitzer, Yes, it's a political election
year in the sense that people are thinking about the
presidential election. They may be thinking about these top of
(25:53):
mind issues when it comes to crime, but we can't
necessarily disregard how we are feeling. Going back to what
you said last segment about right where we are locally,
what can you do? I know it's not your responsibility
to control what happens outside the borders of Orange County,
but what you're doing right now in Orange County, how
(26:14):
can it impact people beyond the borders.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
Well, I mean, I'm on the board of directors of
the California District Attorney's Association. Prop thirty six, which is
to try to soften the blow and the impacts on
Prop forty seven, is on the ballot in November. It
is polling according to the Public Policy Institute of California,
very very respected nonpartisan think tank in the High sixties
(26:37):
low seventies. In fact, if you remember when Gavin Newsoen
introduced a set of bills to try to counteract Proposition
thirty six, and those bills do nothing to counteract Prop
forty seven, but a discussion later maybe, But what he
said in a question, are you going to campaign governor
against Prop thirty six? And he said no, I'm if
(27:00):
you're busy trying to get Kamala Harris elected.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
President the United States.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
That is code for it's going to win by a
landslide Prop thirty six.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
And I don't want to be on the wrong side.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
Of the issue because I want to be president of
the United States, and I've got to be more mainstream.
And so yes, I work consistently outside of Orange County,
both at a state level, and I'm also on the
national board of the American Prosecutors' Association. So I've been
taking this on nationally. Why Because we have to get
(27:31):
rid of and we did of Chessa. Bodine the DA
of San Francisco. We have to get rid of Pamela
Price in Alameda County. We have to get rid of
George Gascon. Listen, Moe, I am a conservative dude and
I've been in law enforcement for over thirty years. Okay,
I was a cop for LAPD for ten years. I'm
a career prosecutor. But I don't want to go back
(27:51):
to the old mindset. I don't want to lock people
up and throw away the key. I want people to
get help. But if you have a third conviction for
possession of drugs, you have to be shown Dora or
door B. Dora is treatment or door B is state prison.
If you're peddling fentanyl, I want you to be warned
if you're convicted that if you kill somebody, you can
(28:13):
be charged with murder.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
Right, and I want to help the homeless.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
I want to use the criminal justice system to effectuate
change in people's behavior. But it comes down to something
very simple, unless and until people take responsibility for themselves.
I don't care what society does, how much money government
throws out the problem, how many little tiny homes they build,
(28:38):
how many wrap around services we provide. You will not
change people's behavior until they're convinced they must help themselves.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Will from where you sit, and I think that the
law serves two purposes. It serves as a rehabilitative structure system,
and we can debate how effective it is at that,
but also is supposed to provide a deterrent Cops thirty
six from where you sit address the deterrence aspect.
Speaker 7 (29:04):
I think it's more about helping people.
Speaker 8 (29:07):
I think it's actually something that tells people there's going
to be consequences if you don't try to help yourself.
Does it have some deterrence Potentially if you stand up
in court and the judge tells a drug dealers, sir,
you're convicted of selling drugs, do you understand that if
you sell drugs in the future that contain fentanyl and
you kill somebody, Because it is the leading cause of
death with people buying illicit street drugs. We've lost what
(29:30):
one hundred and fifty thousand people in America for overdoses
from fentanyl when they didn't even intend to or know
they were buying fentanyl. You tell somebody that, I would
hope that somebody dealing drugs in the future would understand
they will be charged with murder because in Orange County
we charge drug dealers who pedal fentanyl with murder.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Since you have worked as a law enforcement officer and
a prosecutor for the better part of your adult life.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Give us some perspective. Now.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
The drugs may be more deadly today, are they more
pervasive today? When we talked about you know, just say
no in the nineteen eighties and how we were trying
to fight this war on drugs in the nineteen eighties,
the war is different today. Are we making any headway
or is it making any difference?
Speaker 7 (30:14):
You know?
Speaker 8 (30:15):
Some argue, like a libertarian, that we should just legalize
drugs and let the cards fall on the.
Speaker 7 (30:20):
Mat as they were. I don't agree with that.
Speaker 8 (30:24):
I don't also agree that if you use marijuana you're
going to start injecting heroin or snorting meth amphetamine tomorrow.
I don't really buy all this gateway drug stuff with marijuana.
But we do know that marijuana is stronger, more pure,
and cultivated differently than ever before because now it's grown
under very very specific circumstances here in California and all
(30:46):
over the United States. Okay, and it's legal here in California,
so it's much much stronger. But this is the deal
with respect to illicit street drugs. The Chinese are sending
the fetanyl over to the Mexican cartel, and they're putting
feanyl in every single drug to make it look like
it's something else on the street, so it's xanax, alexiconton
(31:07):
or whatever, and they look remarkably similar to the untrained eye.
So a person who is buying an oxycodone or some
other xanax or valium, they think they're getting that drug
and its actually probably eighty ninety percent fetanyl, and they're
taking it and they're dying because they have no tolerance
to ventanyl. There are some drug addicts who just use
(31:30):
pure fentanyl and they can deal with it. I mean,
they use fentanyl, which is hard to believe, but they do.
Speaker 7 (31:36):
So.
Speaker 8 (31:37):
The amount of drugs we are intercepting at the border
is unbelievable, unprecedented.
Speaker 7 (31:44):
And it is a national crisis.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Day Spencer, I wanted to say, for the interest of
full disclosure, I texted you late last night, your stand
up guy. You came on the next day. You've always
made yourself available. Thank you for making time on these
very important issues, and I wish you well if if
you should have a break in these smashing grabs or
any other issue like to discuss, you're always welcome on
this show.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
Well, I appreciate it, but I don't think you met
if I had a break with a smashing grab think
about that much?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well, good night, It's later with Bo Kelly cam'f I
am six forty. I walked into that one. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
Can if I Am six forty the news, what it means,
Why it matters.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Kf I the KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County,
Live everywhere on the Heart Radio app.
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.