By Count Friedrich von Olsen
I have been meaning to write something about this for some time…
Am I the only one to find the way the Stephen Kinzey case just died a quiet death extraordinarily remarkable? Isn’t it just astounding that something that started out as the center of local, county, regional, state, national and international attention, with the limelight turned on so bright it practically blinded everyone, just fell into complete and utter obscurity, darkness beyond darkness, into some kind of black hole, almost as if the universe itself is imploding on itself? That nearly deafening Whoosh you hear is the silence, the sound of nothingness, nil, oblivion…
For those who may have already forgotten Stephen Kinzey was the Cal State San Bernardino Kinesiology Professor who was charged with running a methamphetamine distribution ring. Everything about Mr. Kinzey and his case comes across as being lifted right out of a movie, or a made for television program, like the AMC series Breaking Bad his circumstance was repeatedly compared to.
In the summer of 2011, as the long arm of the law – the FBI, DEA, San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department and the San Bernardino Police Department – descended on the 45-year-old Mr. Kinzey’s upscale home in East Highland Ranch, he seemingly vanished into thin air. Inside his home they found his attractive 25-year-old girlfriend, Holly Vndergrift Robinson, a pound of methamphetamine, a lot of cash, loaded handguns, Mr. Kinzey’s personal effects, but no Mr. Kinzey. In short order, an all points bulletin was issued and an international manhunt for Kinzey, described as the mastermind of a methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution ring, was underway. In short order, the other principals in this criminal conspiracy – Robinson and Jeremy Disney, Eric Cortez, Edward Freer, Chelsea Marie Johnson, Hans Preszler, Elaine Flores, Wendi Lee Witherell, Christopher Allen Rikerd, and Stephenie Danielle Padilla were rolled up and charged…
Mr. Kinzey eluded a methodically cinched up dragnet and manhunt covering all four corners of the globe, and as an at-large fugitive considered to be armed and dangerous. His likeness was distributed to national and international police forces, and there was a widespread expectation that he would not be taken into custody alive…
A few weeks later, Mr. Kinzey quietly walked into court with his lawyer to surrender, posted $300,000 bond and was released without being arrested, booked, photographed or fingerprinted. Thereafter, the warrant for his arrest was rescinded, and Mr. Kinzey for the next 58 months, with the exception of having to make a series of court appearances during which the case against him and the remaining defendants was continuously postponed, he was free to roam around at will…
One by one, eight of his co-defendants caved in under the pressure of prosecutors, taking plea deals in which they acknowledged participating in a drug manufacturing and distribution conspiracy…
Hanging over Professor Kinzey’s head were ten felonies, including possession of a controlled substance for sale, being armed with a firearm in the commission of a health and safety code offense, receiving property known to be stolen, participating in a criminal street gang, engaging in a conspiracy to commit a crime, engaging in street gang terrorism, possession of a loaded firearm, a second act of street gang terrorism, conversion of illicit profits, and a third count of street gang terrorism.
In addition to being a tenured professor of kinesiology, Stephen Kinzey had founded three separate San Bernardino County chapters of outlaw motorcycle gangs, the Vagos, the Mongrels and Devil’s Diciples, the last of which he was still active in at the time of his arrest, serving as the West Coast representative of that organization, which originated in Fontana in 1967 but which now has its national headquarters in Detroit. He actively promoting the Devil’s Diciples as the master of its website.
Stephen Kinzey, Holly Robinson and Jeremy Disney, with charges pending against them that could very well have resulted in their incarceration until all of them were well advanced into old age, for almost five years cruised through life, almost as if they knew something the rest of us do not…
Then, nonchalantly, on July 22, Professor Kinzey, represented by attorney James Glick, Holly Robinson, represented by attorney Stephen Sweigert, and Jeremy Disney, represented by attorney Ann Cunningham, strolled into court. Before Judge Colin Bilash, Mr. Kinzey pleaded no contest to PC 182, conspiracy to commit a crime, and PC 12022C, being armed with a firearm during a Health and Safety Code offense. The remaining counts – possession of a controlled substance for sale, receiving stolen property, participating in a criminal street gang, three of engaging in street gang terrorism, possession of a loaded firearm, and conversion of illicit profits – were all stricken or dismissed as a consequence of the plea deal.
Miss Robinson, represented by attorney Stephen Sweigert, pleaded guilty to the same two counts as had her boyfriend. Mr. Disney, pleaded no contest to PC 182, conspiracy to commit a crime, and no contest to one count of PC 186.22B, engaging in street gang terrorism…
Mr. Kinzey was given a one day jail sentence, with his appearance in court to turn himself in and arrange bail being deemed a day in confinement for which he was given credit, meaning he is serving no jail time. He was fined $70 for each of his two convictions and given three years’ probation. Miss Robinson was given the same one day sentence, a $70 fine for each of the two convictions, provided one day credit for time served on her incarceration in 2011 prior to being bailed out, such that she will serve no prison time. She was given three years of felony probation. Mr. Disney, who had a previous conviction, was dealt with a bit more harshly. He was given a six month sentence at Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore, against which he was credited with having already served 45 days in confinement…
The media, the press, international, national and local, which had stepped all over themselves in 2011 showed no reaction. The only article I saw about this, which apparently no one read, was in the Sentinel. It was as if nothing had ever happened…
What is going on here? Let me try to not be naïve. Maybe Mr. Kinzey and Ms. Robinson are in the witness protection program, having given up everything they know about national president Jeff Garvin “Fat Dog” Smith and national vice president Paul Anthony Darrah and some 41 other Devil’s Diciples members once unsuccessfully prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department on a variety of criminal charges, including racketeering, drug trafficking, illegal firearms offenses, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, and other federal offenses, including violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Maybe. But even if that is so – and I don’t quite think it is – how can it be that this whole matter just dropped off everyone’s radar? And what about that pound – 16 ounces – of methamphetamine found at Mr. Kinzey’s house?