Lakeside man expected to get 23 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter

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A Lakeside man has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of his ex-girlfriend and is expected to get 23 years in state prison.

El Cajon Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson will sentence Eugene Gregg Niggel, 54, Aug. 9 for the 2014 death of Linda Irwin, 63. His attorney requested a long delay to the sentencing. Niggel remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility on $2 million bail.

A Lakeside man has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of his ex-girlfriend and is expected to get 23 years in state prison.

El Cajon Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson will sentence Eugene Gregg Niggel, 54, Aug. 9 for the 2014 death of Linda Irwin, 63. His attorney requested a long delay to the sentencing. Niggel remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility on $2 million bail.

A murder charge was dismissed and Niggel agreed to serve the 23 years in prison in a plea agreement, said Deputy District Attorney Carlos Campbell. Irwin suffered blunt force trauma in an unincorporated area in El Cajon on Nov. 17, 2014, and died in a hospital two days later in a case investigated by sheriff’s deputies.

Civilian to be sentenced for taking photos of women undressing in Navy ship’s quarters

An El Cajon man who worked on a Navy ship as a civilian will be sentenced April 5 for secretly taking photos of women undressing in their quarters.

Delwen Lamar Sutton, 42, could be sentenced to a maximum term of one year in federal prison, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to committing video voyeurism.

Sutton was working on the U.S. ship Kanawa in Feb. 2013 when he was observed taking pictures with his cell phone camera that was pointed towards a vent of a female sailor’s quarters. The ship was in Italian waters at the time.

The ship’s captain located all of Sutton’s electronic devices, which also included his personal laptop computer, multiple hard drives, removable storage devices, and iPod and placed them in a safe for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. NCIS personnel interviewed Sutton in Italy, viewed the evidence and discovered numerous nude and semi-nude photos of females in their quarters.

Court records say Sutton bent 23 vent louvers on the ship to be able to peer inside the rooms with a camera. Sutton no longer works on Navy ships and he remains free on $20,000 bond.

Restitution hearing set for El Cajon father and sons

A restitution hearing has been set for June 2 for an El Cajon man and his two sons who all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in defrauding investors in a self-storage business.

Howard Kaplan, 71, has already been sentenced to six months in federal prison, but a surrender date will be set at the restitution hearing. Stephen Kaplan, 51, and Eric Kaplan, 43, were ordered to complete 1,000 hours and 500 hours respectively of community service on five years probation.

Howard Kaplan and his sons were owners of Equity Based Services (EBS), which operated as American Mini Storage. The company offered opportunities to invest in syndicates that included 77 self-storage projects in 12 states.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said Howard Kaplan failed to disclose material information about the source of periodic return payments and past performance of the self-storage projects. Some investors were paid from money Howard Kaplan used from other sources and comingled funds.

Howard Kaplan induced investors to invest more money in projects without informing the investors the true financial condition of the properties, according to the U.S. Attorney. He was accused of breaching his fiduciary responsibility and duty to investors.

The prosecutor asked for 27 months in prison for Howard Kaplan and 15 months and eights for Stephen and Eric Kaplan, according to records. U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bencivengo only imposed six months for the father and allowed him to remain free on bond pending the restitution hearing. The sons said they were not aware of how their father structured the financing until 2010.