Criminal
Jul. 30, 2002
Ex-Sheriff's Deputy is Sentenced
SAN JOSE - A former Santa Clara County sheriff's lieutenant who avoided state prison time for molesting two teenage girls in his family will serve 16 months behind bars for failing to register as a sex offender.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Richard Loftus' ruling Friday sending Armand Tiano Sr. to state prison was a victory for the district attorney's office, which targeted the former deputy after another judge found him eligible for probation for the molestation offense.
Prosecutors are still appealing Superior Court Judge Paul Teilh's decision in the earlier case, which resulted in Tiano serving a few months in county jail last year.
Shortly after his release, Tiano was arrested again, this time for failing to register at his ex-wife's home, where he was in the process of moving from another address. Under the law, prosecutors say, Tiano was required to register at both locations.
Tiano and his San Jose defense attorney, Jaime Leanos, fought the charges aggressively, saying police always knew where he was and that a probation officer never told him he needed to register at the second address.
Leanos said Tiano, 63, was targeted by authorities who were angry his client had avoided state prison time.
The defense got a sympathetic hearing from several judges. One of them, Superior Court Judge Linda Condron, said she would have reduced the charge to a misdemeanor but lacked legal authority to do so. People v. Tiano, CC 127991.
Earlier this month, Loftus granted a defense request to drop a strike, which eliminated the possibility that Tiano could have gotten a six-year prison term on the registration charge. "It's more of a technical violation," he said. "It is not possible to say the defendant is a career criminal."
But Friday, the judge dashed the hopes of Tiano, a former candidate for sheriff, that he might be found eligible for probation again.
While Leanos said Tiano was singled out for harassment, prosecutor Sylvia Seidel said he was simply being prosecuted "to the letter of the law."
Craiq Anderson
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