Hate crime and weapons charges dismissed against retired SLO firefighter
A retired San Luis Obispo firefighter who faced up to 15 years in state prison for allegedly sending bigoted and threatening letters to property managers in his neighborhood had his case dismissed in court after an FBI handwriting expert said it was not likely he sent the letters.
But prosecutors argue Richard Vincent Orcutt shouldn’t be returned a cache of weapons — including a tactical-style rifle they said is prohibited under state law — and thousands of rounds of ammunition seized by SWAT officers due to a 1998 domestic violence conviction.
Orcutt, 63, who court records show spent 31 years with the San Luis Obispo Fire Department, had pleaded not guilty to eight felony charges of threatening to commit a crime of violence and possessing an assault weapon.
Some of the charges carried sentencing enhancements for allegedly being committed as hate crimes.
Orcutt’s attorneys in the case had long maintained that their client didn’t write the letters and is not a racist. Rather, he’s received death threats since the news of his arrest broke, they said.
Copies of some of the letters released in court records ahead of a planned preliminary hearing Sept. 24 show that someone sent handwritten letters to several local managers of properties in the 1300 block of Cavalier Lane threatening violence if they rent to ethnic minorities and “homosexuals.”
“Do not rent (a property on Cavalier Lane) to Chinese (sic) or Mexican. They have ruined our neighborhood,” the letter, sent May 30, 2019, reads. “You or your renters will be shot if you do.”
Each letter concludes with “Enough is enough!”
“A crime occurred. Those cards are absolutely horrendous,” Orcutt’s attorney, Jeffry Radding, said Tuesday.
DA’s Office argues a ‘lifetime ban’ on weapons
Orcutt was arrested in June 2019 at his home on Cavalier Lane after several property management companies and property owners received the threatening notes. He was released from County Jail after posting $500,000 bail.
During a search of Orcutt’s home, more than three dozen handguns, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition, were confiscated by the SLO County Regional SWAT Team and taken into San Luis Obispo police custody, where they remain.
One assault weapon was identified as an SGM Stag Arms Stag 15 rifle.
Two more search warrants resulted in the seizure of his phone and internet records.
According to a notice given to Orcutt by the District Attorney’s Office and filed in court Sept. 24, Orcutt was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in 1998.
Under state law, he was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition for 10 years, but legally resumed his hobby after prohibition expired and his case was expunged, Radding said.
Radding said that at that time, state DOJ officials OK’d his purchases of weapons and ammunition, and there was no mention of restrictions until his arrest.
But the county District Attorney’s Office argues that Orcutt is banned for life from possessing weapons under federal law, because his conviction was for domestic violence.
“Mr. Orcutt’s expungement of his conviction did not restore his right to gun ownership under federal law,” the notice says.
But Radding says that matter has not been settled, and Orcutt intends to argue against the DA’s interpretation.
‘They all need to be shot,’ letter says
Court records submitted prior to last week’s planned preliminary hearing show that over the past 14 months, the District Attorney’s Office continued to investigate the case with the help of a FBI handwriting expert.
A witness list for the hearing shows that between late May and early June 2019, several local property management company employees received the letters and turned them over to the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
The letters specifically warned against renting properties to Chinese, Filipino and Mexican residents, and that both they and the owners would be shot.
They claimed that there were “too many strange people walking up and down our streets,” and demanded that “your renters must be American.”
Another complained that a ‘gay male roommate” at one property “is engaging in homosexual activity.”
“They all need to be shot,” the letter reads.
Court records show investigators turned their attention to Orcutt primarily due to his apparently disgruntled contacts with a police officer assigned to his neighborhood district.
Emails attached in the court filings show Orcutt repeatedly emailed the officer about a “Spanish male” who appeared to be living in a car parked in the neighborhood.
Orcutt encouraged officers to roust the man with flashlights at night.
“Look at this guy, talk to this guy, pull up and park across the street from this guy, sit in your car as he sits in his car, he’ll get on the move, you pull him over, check that registration and insurance, if you tow his vehicle/home l imagine he’ll follow it to the impound yard and try to live in it there,” Orcutt wrote to the officer.
“I come across brusk and grumpy and am,” he added. “My bottom line feeling is this guy is here because you let him be here.”
‘I’m being swatted,’ defendent told police
A transcript of Orcutt’s initial interview with investigators shows he denied any criminal activity or bad blood with neighbors, and expressed his disbelief that he could possibly be suspected of hate crimes.
“I’m tellin’ you I’m being swatted,” he said, referring to being the victim of an intentionally false police report. “Somebody made up a bunch of lies and said — oh my God.”
He said he didn’t know who would target him.
Sheriff’s and state Department of Justice forensics investigators could not find any of Orcutt’s fingerprints or DNA on the letters, placing much of the prosecution’s case on an FBI expert document examiner, who conducted three separate analyses, court records show.
Orcutt sat down with a District Attorney’s Office investigator for three hours and re-wrote the threatening letters verbatim.
Records show the first two comparisons resulted in “no conclusion.” The expert ruled after a third that Orcutt “may not have” been the author, a category that finds significant dissimilarities but at least one limitation exists that prevents total elimination.
The expert also did not note any characteristics indicating the letter author was using intentionally distorted writing.
Following their presentation of evidence in the case at the Sept. 24 preliminary hearing, the District Attorney’s Office motioned the court to dismiss the case, which Superior Court Judge Jesse Marino accepted without being called upon to issue a ruling in the hearing.
Radding said his client is glad for the dismissal, but the case has cost him thousands of dollars.
“It’s been a really heavy-duty thing for him,” Radding said.
A spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case Tuesday.
