Remember when the O.C. Register ran a picture of two young men and identified them as the two Hoa Van Tran staffers/cholos who were arrested for attempted murder? Well it turns out they got it wrong. One of the young men pictures was the wrong guy – and he is under age. Below is a letter from Van Tran’s campaign manager, Edgardo Reynoso, asking the O.C. Register to correct their error – an error which has caused much consternation for the fellow who was misidentified:
June 6, 2008
To the Orange County Register Editors:
Please be aware that the photo showing Jorge Valle and Cesar Valle that you published in your paper on May 19, 2008 as part of the story titled “Campaign workers for supervisor candidate jailed in shooting” researched and written by Tony Saavedra and Peggy Lowe incorrectly identifies one of the persons in the photo.
Jorge Valle is correctly identified but Cesar Valle is not. The person identified as Cesar Valle is not Cesar Valle. The person in the photo is not the one being detained. The young man in the picture is a 17 year old student at Santa Ana High School whose name is Cesar Santa Ana. He as well was a volunteer within the campaign. As a result the photo, Cesar Santa Ana is presumed to be associated with the shooting incident. This misidentification of this student on such a serious matter indicates that the person making allegations and the reporters were at the very least injudicious. Your misidentifying of this young man has endangered him and his family. So as to independently verify this, please compare the mug shots to the photo published.
We ask that you make the necessary corrections so that the student can clear his reputation with administrators and teachers. Thank you for your attention on this matter.
Edgardo Reynoso
Campaign Manager
Hoa Van Tran for Supervisor
I wonder if the local red and blue blogs ran that picture too?
not to mention the consternation via this blog
In this case you print the retraction, send a letter of regret and move on.
I think this happened because of the Register’s bias not just because they allowed sloppy (unverified) reporting but because the paper itself has an extreme viewpoint with a narrow view of what is right and sacred and a broad view of what is deviant and suspect.
Obviously immigrants fall into that later category for our local rag. For example when they reported on Scott Baugh’s home being raided by the local police a few years ago every detail of that story was correct.
Unfortunately in the current case their assumptions prevented discovery of details that would have got in the way of the story (“and besides,” they might have thought, “its just an immigrant kid – with tatoos!”
Its just another reason why I will not even read the register, I have the Times as my homepage and I pick up the Weekly regularly and I read substantiated opinions on these blogs so I stay somewhat informed. Unfortunately readers of the local rag are somewhat misinformed and I think it happens on a regular basis not just by what is written but also by what isn’t written.
The Weekly regularly reports on scandals months or years before the Register mentions anything or even longer if it falls within that “right and sacred” circle that the register will only allow good news as the crisis in the Catholic Church showed us.
So am I surprised the register got it wrong? No. Print the retraction, send the appology and move on. You don’t fault the scorpion for stinging.
Um, Just curious Art. Didn’t you run with the same photo? Or am I somehow mistaken?
Also, why has the family not come out and said something and the only statement is from Edgardo after the campaign? THis would have been a great way for the failed campaign of Hoa Van Tran to refute the Register story at the time it came out. I just do not understand how Edgardo, who spoke with the parents following the incident, did not know this and come forward earlier.
Chris,
No. I checked. You are indeed mistaken. We never ran that picture. I thought it was a boring picture to be honest.
I just noticed however, while confirming this, that the picture appeared on one of Janet Nguyen’s mailers. Looks like Reynoso and Do Phu might be able to go after her on this issue too.
I don’t know why Reynoso and company waited so long. I can only imagine they have their hands full suing their two former staffers, Misha and Courtney.
They can’t go after Janet they took the picture from the Register website which already printed the story and had no names
I see Sean Mill has been busy feeding the OJ.
Art,
According to my contacts at the OCRegister, the picture of the individuals matched the mugshots. Interesting that this comes out over the weekend. Makes it a bit difficult for us to get copies of the mugshots until Monday.
Three points…
First, the fact that this is just coming up now and that the family has said nothing publicly or privately to the Register causes me to question the veracity of the claim.
Second, I doubt the OCRegister would have run with the image if it did not match.
Third, the fact that the claim is coming from Edgardo Reynoso on Hoa Van Tran Campaign letterhead should cause any reasonable person to seriously doubt the credibility of the claim.
#7,
If that is true, Reynoso’s lawyers will have bungled another one. So far their work has been less than impressive.
I guess we will have to wait and see what happens on Monday.
BTW, can’t blame them for using the letterhead. They must have quite a bit of it leftover…and no other use for it now!