Good to see everyone here. I have here with me, Sergeant Dave Hill and Captain Steve Ames from the Orange Police Department.
Defendant James Lawrence Diamond on Orange County’s Top 10 list has been captured. His capture was on September 30th before the press conference announcing the 10 most wanted, but we were on his heels with good information coming in about his whereabouts because of the press coverage. After the press conference, our website hits increased by 10 times the normal traffic, from around 3,000 to 30,000 hits.
How he was apprehended:
Mr. Diamond was arrested by the Nye County Sheriff’s Department on September 30th. Mr. Diamond was at a location where a burglary alarm had been activated. He was there working as a sprinkler maintenance man. The deputy who responded to the burglary alarm ran a warrant check and found the outstanding warrant from O.C. He was later identified through fingerprints. On October 7th, Diamond was in court in Nevada, admitted his identity, and waived extradition. The Nye County Sheriffs contacted the Orange County Sheriffs who called the Orange Police Department last night. Orange Police detectives will be going out to Nevada soon to get him. We will announce the arraignment time and place as soon as we have that information.
The leads up to this point on this case were dry from 1997. We had received word a couple of months ago the defendant may be in Pahrump, but the trail became cold after we went out to Pahrump to check out the information. Our lead became hotter after the press conference.
Facts of the original case:
In July of 1997, defendant Diamond baby-sat a then 5-year-old female relative three times a week. The victim / during a routine examination / revealed to the school nurse that the defendant inappropriately touched her, orally copulated her / and made the victim orally copulate him. She also said the defendant had shown her pornographic tapes. The defendant was in the process of shredding the pornographic tapes when the police went to his house. On September 22, 1997, an Orange Police detective told Diamond to come to the Orange Police Department. The defendant had driven down and was waiting in the lobby. When the detective came back, the defendant was gone. When the police went to contact Diamond at his house, they discovered that he had loaded a U-Haul and fled.
Where he was living:
The defendant was living in a small town called Pahrump, Nevada. Pahrump is located about an hour west of Las Vegas. Ironically, it is on the path of a law enforcement race called `Baker to Vegas.’ This town boasts a brand-new Skate Park and another park called the Honeysuckle where you will find soccer fields and little league diamonds. It is scary to think that he was living in a place where he could have access to children. We are in the process of getting more information whether he molested children in Nevada.
I said to you before that these people cannot hide in a vacuum. They get help from people. The preliminary information we have right now is the defendant was living with his mother-in-law. We don’t know whether she knew about his fugitive status. Diamond, however, must have known the police were looking for him because he did not have a Nevada driver’s license and he did not have a car registered to his name.
The victim is a family relative of Diamond and we are not being more specific to protect her privacy.