By Mei Perez
LOMPOC, CA – “S***” appeared in Santa Barbara County Court for the second time in a week with his lawyer Adrian Galvan Friday, in a desperate effort to amend a criminal protective order keeping him from seeing his seven-year-old daughter.
NOTE: The Vanguard is not providing the defendant’s true name to protect the identity of the victim.
Last week on Oct. 27, S**** had requested that Judge Raimundo Montes de Oca modify the protective order, after the child witnessed a physical altercation between S**** and his wife, from whom he is separated and who also has a current protective order.
While S**** has a future court date of Dec. 1 for a preliminary hearing setting and a violation of probation hearing, he appeared in front of Judge de Oca’s stand for a second bid to be allowed contact with his daughter.
Prosecutor Scott Donahue said the altercation occurred during the exchange of children, alleging when S**** went to pick up his children from their mother’s residence, he was informed by her that they were not ready and to wait in his car, but he instead “pushed his way inside the home.”
There is no official custody agreement in place between S**** and the alleged victim.
At the time of the incident, S**** had a no contact order in regard to the alleged victim. Currently, the victim has a criminal protection order against S****.
S**** had been charged with battery of his spouse as well as false imprisonment with violence on June 30, 2020. The battery charges were dismissed, but he was convicted for the false imprisonment charges, serving three actual days in prison and sentenced to three years’ parole.
The judge suggested that he start taking parenting classes so that the court would be “assured” that he would be better equipped to deal with the challenges of co-parenting and consider changing the CPO to a less restrictive order.
“But until then I am not willing to change or modify the CPO. No question (he) will have contact again with his daughter at some point,” the judge stated.
The Dec. 1 hearing is still set.
