El Cajon man sentenced to life in prison for drug charges

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An El Cajon man with a criminal record for manslaughter has been sentenced to life in federal prison after being convicted by a jury of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana.

Randy Alton Graves, 53, was given the term by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw who considered his lengthy criminal record of a dozen convictions that includes witness tampering, possession and transportation of cocaine, sex trafficking, and unlawful possession of firearms.

An El Cajon man with a criminal record for manslaughter has been sentenced to life in federal prison after being convicted by a jury of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana.

Randy Alton Graves, 53, was given the term by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw who considered his lengthy criminal record of a dozen convictions that includes witness tampering, possession and transportation of cocaine, sex trafficking, and unlawful possession of firearms.

Graves pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 1984 in the slaying of a rival gang member and was sentenced to 11 years in state prison, according to court records. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2002 for cocaine offenses.

Graves was among three other gang members who received life sentences in federal prison and were convicted separately on unrelated charges. He has been in custody for several years.

Sabraw ordered Graves’ 2007 Mercedes Benz sedan forfeited to the U.S. government. He has been transferred to a federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

Preliminary hearing set in Spring Valley murder case

A preliminary hearing has been set for Dec. 20 for Sean Robert Kennedy, 46, charged with the murder of Billy Wayne Taylor, who was fatally injured outside a 7-Eleven store in Spring Valley.

Kennedy, of Spring Valley, knew Taylor, who passed away in a hospital several days after the June 21 fight outside the store at 2840 Bancroft Drive. Taylor had head and facial injuries in the parking lot.

Kennedy was on three years probation for a 2015 incident with another man in Spring Valley at the time, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to felony assault.

Kennedy has pleaded not guilty to murder in El Cajon Superior Court and remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility on $1 million bail.

Man sentenced to state prison for robbery

Dante Orlando Bahena, 19, has been sentenced to two years in state prison for robbery of a woman who was accosted in the parking lot of Toys R Us, at 8790 Grossmont Drive, in La Mesa.

Bahena fired a stun gun at the woman who dropped her purse in the Nov. 5, 2015, incident. Bahena pleaded guilty to robbery, identity theft, burglary, grand theft, and auto theft. He was sentenced in El Cajon Superior Court.

The getaway driver, Katrina Frederickson, 25, was sentenced to 308 days in jail she had already served under terms of three years probation. Both were ordered to pay restitution.

Virgil Richmond found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial

Virgil Richmond, 28, has again been found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial in the 2014 slaying of his mother, Diane Marie Mosley, and was re-committed to a state psychiatric hospital.

Criminal proceedings remain suspended in the May 15, 2014, slaying of Mosley, 59, who was stabbed eight times in her home in the 800 block of Friendly Circle in El Cajon. Diane Mosley was also known as Diane Richmond.

Virgil Richmond was ordered to return to Patton State Hospital for treatment and will return to court after doctors and a judge determine he has regained his mental competency to stand trial.

Lakeside man sentenced for selling stolen equipment on Craigslist

Steven Anthony Guider, 52, of Lakeside, has been sentenced to 20 days he has already served in jail for selling $2,000 worth of construction equipment on Craigslist that he took from a car in Santee.

Guider pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and possession of heroin. He was fined $1,414 and placed on three years probation by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein. He is to start paying restitution at the rate of $35 per month on Nov. 14, according to court records.

Sheriff’s detectives who posed as construction workers arrested him Aug. 8 after they responded to a Craigslist ad for the stolen construction equipment. They recovered additional stolen construction equipment at his home along with a stolen motorcycle.