Photo and story by Catherine Stachowiak
At a luncheon located at the Kern River Valley Eagles Lodge, the Supervising District Attorney Felicia Nagle was speaker from Kern County District Attorney’s Office, Wednesday June 12.
Nagle spoke to the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting.
She said, “I’ve been a prosecutor for 28 years. I moved here from L.A. back in 1996. I’ve wanted to be a prosecutor all my life. I love what I do.”
Nagle supervises the areas of Delano, Shafter, Ridgecrest, Mojave, Lamont, and Lake Isabella, which is part of the Ridgecrest office. She oversees the attorneys within her team who are available to residents.
Her contact number is (661) 868-2340. Her email address is [email protected]
Fax (661) 868-2700
Nagle is from a family of educators though her immediate family is in law enforcement. She was the first to be appointed. And she has prosecuted a number of cases including homicides.
As supervisor of the Ridgecrest office Nagle sees the cases coming out of Lake Isabella are theft cases, and domestic violence, and drug related offences. Ridgecrest office is limited as to what can be prosecuted as a felony regarding thefts. The law says that the amount shoplifted or stolen has to be over $950 value before it can be considered a felony. Thefts for less than $950 would be considered a misdemeanor, unless the suspect already had a violent charge on their record, which is known as a “strike.”
She said the DA’s office could ask for a three-year sentence. But depending on how crowded the jails are, the sentence could be weeks instead of years.
Regarding domestic violence cases, there’s a trend of the cases coming out of Lake Isabella. The determination between misdemeanor and felony depends a lot on the seriousness of the case.
“There are a lot of meth and fentanyl cases,” Nagle said. Simple possession of the drugs would only be considered a misdemeanor unless authorities could prove the person possessed it for sale or was transported, in which case it would be tried as a felony.
In Ridgecrest there are two prosecutors. Nagle said to please feel free to call their offices because they’re available to the community.
