Ex-Deputy Abducted Ex-Girlfriend
By PAUL YOUNG
City News Service
INDIO (CNS) – An ex-Riverside County sheriff‘s deputy abused his authority and committed felonies while off-duty, fixating on a former girlfriend to the point he abducted her, a prosecutor said Tuesday, while the defense argued the man engaged in behavior that may have been questionable, but not criminal.
“All deputies should embody the sheriff’s motto `Service Above Self,’ but the defendant was about self-service over everything else,” Deputy District Attorney Jess Walsh told jurors during his opening statement Tuesday in the trial of Alexander Ravy Vanny at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Vanny, 34, of Hemet, was arrested last year. He’s charged with kidnapping, stalking, possession of child porn, unauthorized use of protected electronic data, maliciously destroying a wireless device, witness intimidation, illicit eavesdropping, using a concealed camera to invade a person’s privacy, illegal use of a tracking device, interference with a traffic control device and possession of a firearm in violation of a protective order, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of perpetrating a felony while on bail.
He’s being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.
Walsh recounted the alleged offenses involving the two principal victims, a former sheriff’s Explorer scout identified only as “Leslie,” and the defendant’s one-time live-in girlfriend, a mother of two identified as “Madeline.”
In the latter case, Vanny became obsessive, the prosecutor alleged, unable to cope with their breakup in the summer of 2024.
After she went out on a date, the then-lawman secretly followed her and the man, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, waiting until they were inside her Menifee residence, then allegedly setting up an audio device outside her bedroom window to record the sounds of her and the other party engaging in intercourse. After waiting a few moments, Vanny allegedly forced his way into the apartment and challenged the man to a fight, according to the prosecution.
Court papers alleged that when Madeline attempted to use her mobile phone to call 911, the defendant physically took it from her and damaged it.
Walsh said Vanny carried around an unlicensed infrared device in his Ford Explorer that enabled him to trigger changes to traffic lights, while tailing his ex-girlfriend or her beaus.
The prosecutor also alleged Vanny installed hidden cameras throughout Madeline’s apartment, operated wirelessly, enabling him to record the victim’s roommate, identified only as “Michelle,” going in and out of the shower nude.
There were instances of Vanny allegedly using the FLOCK law enforcement camera system deployed by the sheriff’s department and other agencies to procure license plate information from vehicles belonging to men visiting the victim, particularly one of her closest friends, identified only as “Ace,” according to the prosecution.
Among the most serious allegations was Vanny’s following Madeline to Chappies Bar in Hemet and demanding that she “leave and come home with him,” the prosecution said. When the woman rejected him, Vanny “forcibly threw her into his truck,” according to court documents.
“The defendant then drove her, without her consent, to his home … some 17 miles and 30 minutes,” the prosecution stated.
She was ultimately able to get away from him unharmed, filing a restraining order against him. In defiance of that order, Vanny continued to carry around his own personal firearm wherever he went, Walsh alleged.
He further alleged the deputy stuck “tracking devices” onto her car so he could monitor her travels at all times.
The defendant became sexually involved with 18-year-old Leslie, who apparently looked upon him as a mentor, exchanging text messages with him on a regular basis, according to the prosecution.
Vanny procured video images of two teenagers engaging in sexual activity during a visit to an Orange County theme park and kept the matter, which was part of an investigation, on his personal mobile phone, Walsh alleged, intending to show it to Leslie.
However, when she was called to testify Tuesday, the young woman denied seeing anything.
Vanny’s attorney, Quinton Swanson, told jurors that most of his client’s troubles stemmed from a difficult relationship with Madeline.
“People live together without being married,” he said. “Sometimes they cheat on each other. Life is complicated.”
Swanson emphasized that Leslie was not underage, and said though the relationship between her and Vanny might have been inappropriate, it wasn’t illegal. The attorney acknowledged the defendant “cut corners” in doing his job, noting the video of the two youths having sex represented such an instance.
Swanson said the entire episode surrounding Madeline being taken from the bar was misconstrued.
The defendant was accustomed to being her “designated driver” when she went out for drinks, and on the November night in question, he was acting in that vein, not kidnapping her, according to the defense.
Vanny was first arrested on June 22, 2024, and booked into the Banning jail but posted a $1 million bond and was released. He was initially placed on paid administrative leave, but within a few months he was fired from the department, according to sheriff’s officials.
While on bail, Vanny was separately charged in connection with a slate of new alleged offenses.
He had been a sworn peace officer since he was hired by the sheriff’s department in 2016.
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