Mother Suspected of Tampering with Evidence
By Joe Nelson and Melissa Pinion-Whitt, SB Sun Staff Writers Aug. 17, 2006
RIALTO - In a four-day period, Alvin Molina Jr. watched helplessly as both his son and wife were arrested on suspicion of crimes he is still trying to fathom.
The National Guardsman who recently returned from a 16-month deployment in Afghanistan and whose wife, Debra Molina, is a supervising probation officer at San Bernardino Juvenile Hall, is still trying to understand what went wrong.
"I'm devastated. My wife and son are in jail. Where does it end?" Molina said Wednesday at his home. "I'm pretty distraught. There's got to be a mix-up with this somewhere."
Police arrested Debra Molina, 51, about 8 a.m. Wednesday at her home on suspicion of tampering with evidence sought in a criminal investigation involving her 16-year-old son, Alvin Molina III. She was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, where she was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, said Cpl. Kurt Kitterle of the Rialto Police Department.
The Molinas' son and his longtime friend, Steve Torres, 17, are each charged with two counts of attempted murder in the Friday-morning shootings of Mary Ortega and Alex Martinez on Cactus Avenue near the Interstate 210 extension in Rialto. They also face special allegations of premeditation and using a gun in the crimes that make them eligible for life in prison if convicted. They pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Fontana Superior Court during their arraignment, prosecutor Lyle Scollon said.
An elaborate prank orchestrated by the two boys was believed to be the basis for the shooting. They took orange cones, pylons and road construction signs that were being used for construction work and blocked off Cactus near the I-210 extension about 1:30 a.m. Friday, according to police reports filed in court in support of an arrest warrant.
When victim Ortega approached the makeshift roadblock in her Chevrolet Suburban, the boys emerged from under the overpass and started throwing rocks at her vehicle. She started driving away when several gunshots rang out. Bullets shattered the rear window of the sport utility vehicle. One bullet grazed Ortega's neck. Her passenger, Martinez, suffered gunshot wounds to his wrist. He was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton for treatment. Ortega refused medical treatment, records show.
The boys pushed their luck when they returned the following night to try to pull off the same stunt. Police officers set up surveillance from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 1:30 a.m. Saturday, watching as the boys scaled the wall separating Cactus from Tahoe Street, where Molina lives. They started blocking off Cactus with the cones, pylons and rope when police moved in. The boys ran.
It didn't take long for police to find the boys, who ran into Molina's home, one of two in a small cul-de-sac.
Debra Molina identified herself to police as a county probation officer and initially gave the officers consent to search her home. When police spotted a pair of gray athletic shorts on the floor of her son's bedroom, believed to be the same ones officers saw him wearing outside, she ended the search, reports show.
In the hours that followed, she washed her son's shorts, even though she was instructed not to disturb anything in her son's room, reports show. She managed to wash the shorts despite the presence of two officers who stayed at the home to secure it while the search order was being signed.
"Debra Molina admitted that she was trying to help her son and washed the shorts," Cpl. Nicholas Borchard wrote in a report. "She stated she waited until both of the officers were in the hallway and then asked if she could use the restroom. While in the restroom she grabbed a couple of towels and other items and then went into the bedroom and picked up the shorts and concealed them under a towel."
She subsequently placed the shorts in the washing machine with the towels, the report said.
"She admitted she remembered our conversation and stated she was sorry, not fully thinking her actions through," Borchard wrote.
Scollon said in a telephone interview Wednesday that Debra Molina could face up to three years in prison if convicted, but he doesn't believe the mother of four will do any prison time.
"She has no record. It's probably a probation case," Scollon said.
Her husband said she has worked for the San Bernardino County Probation Department for about 10 years, working as a supervisor and custody specialist at juvenile hall. Her colleagues arrived at her home Monday, informed her she was under investigation and ordered her to surrender her badge.
Michelle Scray, deputy chief probation officer for the county, would only confirm Debra Molina's employment Wednesday but would not disclose how long she has worked for the county or her position title. She said it was a confidential personnel matter that is under investigation.
Alvin Molina Jr. said the stress has been taxing on his family, especially his wife, who recently underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm. On Monday, after her colleagues came to her home and relinquished her badge, she got into her car and blacked out, somehow managing to back over her foot and crash into another car parked in the driveway. She suffered a broken ankle and had a cast put on Tuesday, he said.
As for his son, the family patriarch said it isn't in his son's character to do such a thing.
Alhora Thomas, the teen's sister, agreed.
"He'd never do anything to hurt anyone," she said.
He runs track, chases girls and is pretty much "a normal kid," according to relatives.
Molina Jr. said Steve Torres rides ATVs, and goes camping and boating on weekends with his father.
"He's a well-nurtured kid," he said.
In a written statement to police, Torres admitted to participating in the prank with his friend, but denied using a gun.
"I know I've done wrong and don't feel to (sic) happy about it 'cause when everything is happening everything is fun but when the punishment comes its (sic) not," Torres wrote. "Me and Alvin both decided to throw rocks and make a road block but just as a prank not a accident (sic). I wasn't planning to hurt people or scare people. I was just planning to have fun . . . We didn't have a gun never ever ever had a gun."
Police seized a 9mm Beretta with a 15-round magazine that belongs to Molina Jr. from the family's home. It was sent to the sheriff's crime lab for ballistics testing.
The worst thing Molina Jr. said he could see his son doing is maybe breaking a window, but not barricading motorists to shoot at them.
"What the heck he was doing out on the street with his friend, Stevie, I don't know," Molina Jr. said. "But I can assure you he's not a gangbanger or a violent person."
Now, Molina Jr. must grapple with how to keep his family's spirits upbeat. He and his wife also have a 26-year-old son, Pierre, and a 9-year-old son, Amir. He's been trying to renovate his home - rooms in different stages of improvement in his modest house reflect that.
That will have to wait as Molina Jr. contemplates how he will hold the family fort down, maintain a job and figure out how to get his wife out of jail. He's trying to come up with the money to post bond on his wife's $50,000 bail.
"That's a lot of money for me. I only get so much every two weeks," Molina said. 'I'm waiting to hear from the attorney to see what we can do next."
But he remains optimistic.
"It seems like it's going to be a long road, but I got my family here to support me, so I'm happy about that," he said.
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