FBI analyzing handwriting evidence in alleged SLO hate crime case
The FBI is now involved in an investigation into an alleged hate crime involving a retired San Luis Obispo firefighter, court records and the defendant’s attorney confirm.
A FBI spokeswoman for the federal agency declined to comment on the case, but court records show that San Luis Obispo County prosecutors are consulting with the federal agency to analyze Hallmark cards allegedly sent by Richard Vincent Orcutt to people moving into his Cavalier Lane neighborhood, records show.
Orcutt’s attorney, Jeff Radding, declined to comment Thursday but confirmed that handwriting experts with the FBI are analyzing the alleged evidence in the case on behalf of the prosecution.
Orcutt is accused of sending letters threatening to shoot ethnic minorities moving into his neighborhood, the San Luis Obispo Police Department said in a news release in June 2019.
Authorities say Orcutt sent Hallmark cards with an American flag on the front and threatening messages on the back to property management companies and property owners near the 1300 block of Cavalier Lane. The cards did not have a return name or address, the Police Department’s news release said.
When investigators searched Orcutt’s home, they allegedly found and seized dozens of handguns, rifles and shotguns, as well as “thousands of rounds” of ammunition.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint against Orcutt alleging 10 felonies, including seven counts of making criminal threats, one charge of attempting to make a criminal threat, and two counts of possessing an “assault weapon,” namely a SGM Stag Arms Stag 15 rifle.
The criminal complaint filed July 12, 2019, alleges there are eight victims.
“(The) threatened crime, on its face and under the circumstances in which it was made, was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey to (an alleged victim) a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution,” the complaint reads. “It is further alleged that the said (victim) was reasonably in sustained fear of his safety or the safety of his immediate family.”
But Orcutt’s previous attorney, Guy Galambos, told The Tribune in July 2019 that Orcutt didn’t send the letters and that the evidence against him was “circumstantial.”
Galambos has said there are “no eyewitnesses, no surveillance videos, no scientific evidence showing he wrote or sent these threatening, racist cards.”
The prosecution’s case against Orcutt has hit a few snags.
In December 2019, Superior Court Judge Jesse Marino granted a defense motion to quash evidence gleaned from a search warrant that gave investigators access to Orcutt’s online history.
Marino had previously authorized the warrant.
Galambos had argued in court filings that the search and seizure of Orcutt’s property was unreasonable, “exploratory” and overbroad, and violated attorney-client communication privileges. Orcutt’s wife is a licensed attorney.
Court records do not state what investigators found as a result of the search warrant.
The District Attorney’s Office had previously stated that Orcutt faces nearly 15 years in state prison if convicted of all charges.
Orcutt is due back in court March 17.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
