Trial proceedings begin for ex-deputy charged with stalking, abducting woman
City News Service
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Pretrial motions got underway today ahead of jury selection for the trial of an ex-Riverside County sheriff’s deputy accused of harassing and abducting a woman, as well as possessing child pornography.
Alexander Ravy Vanny, 34, of Hemet was arrested last year following an investigation by the sheriff’s department’s Special Victims Unit.
Vanny is 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 to monitor a person, 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.
Vanny’s case was moved Wednesday from the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta to the Larson Justice Center in Indio, where jury trial proceedings were slated to begin in the coming days, following Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Hawkins’ rulings on prosecution and defense motions.
Vanny is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Kelleher, Special Victims Unit detectives received word at the end of last November regarding Vanny’s alleged harassment of the woman, whose complaints earlier in 2024 had prompted a separate investigation into the defendant’s alleged misconduct.
Sufficient evidence was gathered to book the former lawman into custody.
Vanny was first arrested on June 22, 2024, following the Special Victims Unit’s findings from an investigation that began weeks before when the alleged victim, identified in court documents only as “M.P.G.,” told a law enforcement officer that she had been assaulted by the defendant.
At the time, the woman was confirmed to be a sheriff’s department volunteer at the Hemet station, where Vanny was assigned.
He was 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.
The criminal complaint against him alleged that he abducted M.P.G. sometime between May and December 2024. The document stated that sometime between August and December, he “unlawfully, maliciously and repeatedly followed and harassed” the victim.
He also gleaned specific data from a government computer system, copied it and loaded the information onto his personal electronic device, the complaint alleged.
It further said that he allegedly destroyed a mobile phone “to prevent the use of the (phone) to … notify law enforcement of a crime.”
No additional details were provided.
While he was out on bail, Vanny was separately charged with possession of child pornography.
He had been a sworn peace officer since he was hired by the sheriff’s department in 2016.