Man says he was charged with a crime he didn’t commit

Click here for updates on this story

    SAN DIEGO, CA (KGTV) — A Los Angeles area man says the San Diego County District Attorney’s office charged him with a crime he didn’t commit.

Angel Galvan says the mistake cost him money, time and when you search his name at the courthouse a court file.

“For me to go through all of this, it hurt a lot,” said Angel Galvan.

Galvan says in July of this year, he received a letter from the San Diego County District Attorney saying he’d been charged with Grand Theft of Personal Property from Go Wireless. He thought it was a mail scam.

“What is PC 487,” Galvan said.

It was no scam.

Galvan says the district attorney’s office claimed he and other people were using stolen credit cards to buy merchandise from a Go Wireless location in the San Diego area.

“I hope you realize I live in the valley (San Fernando) like I don’t live nowhere near San Diego,” Galvan said.

Galvan lives in Panorama City, that’s in Los Angeles County, about two and a half hours from San Diego.

Galvan says he did work at a Go Wireless store near his home, but for only two months, and that was back in 2017. The alleged crime happened in March of 2018.

“Every day I got home, I was stressed,” Galvan said. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

According to a claim, Galvan filed with the County of San Diego, “It turns out that another individual named Angel Galvan worked at Go Wireless, but worked in San Diego, committing crimes.”

Team 10 obtained an email sent by a San Diego County Deputy District Attorney in August of 2019 to Galvan’s criminal attorney acknowledging he was not the correct Angel Galvan.

The email stated, “HR at Go Wireless mixed him up with another Angel Galvan. I will calendar a dismissal asap. Sorry for the mix-up.”

“No one called him, no one looked to see if it was the right person, no one checked his address no one checked his work records,” said Galvan’s civil attorney Alex Ozols.

Ozols claims the District Attorney’s office did not do any further investigation after receiving Galvan’s information from Go Wireless, and that’s a problem.

“A lot of time, they do get it right, and we appreciate that they are representing the state of California,” Ozols said. “However, when they get it wrong, the repercussions are just so bad when they do, and in this case, they did.”

Galvan tells 10News he had to sell his truck to pay the legal fees. He also had to drive to San Diego for an arraignment where he was order to do a book and release. He says he was fingerprinted and had his DNA taken.

According to the claim, “He will/does have this listed on his Department of Justice print out, he is still in the police system, an arrest records still exists, and his DNA was taken against his 4th amendment constitutional right because he was charged with a felony.”

Galvan says he lived in constant fear he’d go to jail, and his son would grow up without a father.

“I work 50-60-hour weeks. I barely even see my son now, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to jail and not be able to see him at all,” Galvan said.

Galvan said when the case was finally dismissed there was a wave of emotion.

“It hurts a lot because of everything I went through,” he said.

Both the San Diego County District Attorney’s office and Go Wireless said they couldn’t comment on pending litigation.

Galvan’s attorney tells 10News the County of San Diego rejected the legal claim, and they do plan to file a lawsuit.

Court records show there is an ongoing court case involving another person named Angel Galvan. 10News tried to track that person down was unable to speak with anyone.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.