Crime and Courts

San Diego Probation Dept. employee accused of helping murder-suspect son is sentenced

Prosecutors say mother drove her son away from scene of deadly shooting in El Cajon.

Carla White (right), talkes to her attorney Lauren Angeles (left) outside the El Cajon courthouse.
NBC 7

A former San Diego County probation department employee who used her position to try to help her son evade capture while he was wanted for an East County murder was sentenced Wednesday to one year in county jail, plus probation.

Prosecutors said Carla White, 54, drove her son Hunter Randall White from the scene of a murder and later shared a be-on-the-lookout flyer with him, which indicated law enforcement was seeking him for the homicide. That law enforcement flyer was information she was able to access through her job and was prohibited from being disseminated to the general public, according to prosecutors.

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Prosecutors say a San Diego County probation employee broke the law to try to help her son get away with murder. NBC 7 investigates' Alexis Rivas has the latest.

Hunter White, 22, and Kristian Thomas Wolf, 24, remain charged with murder for the Nov. 13, 2023, shooting of 27-year-old Javier Medina in an unincorporated area near El Cajon.

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Sheriff's deputies found Medina suffering from gunshot wounds on East Bradley Avenue just before 10 p.m. that night. He was taken to a hospital, where he died two days later.

Carla White (left), leaves the El Cajon courthouse on January 3, 2024 alongside her attorney Lauren Angelos.
NBC 7
NBC 7
Carla White (left), leaves the El Cajon courthouse on Jan. 3, 2024, alongside her attorney Lauren Angelos.

Hunter White and Wolf are due for a preliminary hearing in the murder case next month.

Carla White pleaded guilty to a felony count of being an accessory after the fact and a misdemeanor count of unauthorized furnishing of information. She had worked for the probation department since 2006 and was most recently a senior office assistant.

Kristian Wolf (center), appeared in court alongside alternative public defender Brody Burns. The judge ordered Wolf's face to be digitally obscured.
NBC 7
NBC 7
Kristian Wolf (center), appeared in court alongside alternative public defender Brody Burns. The judge ordered Wolf's face to be digitally obscured.

At White's sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Drew Garrison described her actions as "an egregious abuse of public trust" and said she made "prolonged, detailed, repeated attempts to have her son hidden and avoid consequences for the murder of another human being in cold blood."

Deputy Public Defender Graydon Rose asked Superior Court Judge CJ Mody to consider alternatives to jail, such as home detention, citing his client's lack of criminal history, early guilty plea, and "while certainly not excusable or a legal defense," that she was motivated by wanting to help her son.

Hunter White (left), appeared in court on January 3, 2024 alongside his attorney, Brian White. A judge ordered that his face be digitally obscured.
NBC 7
NBC 7
Hunter White (left), appeared in court on Jan. 3, 2024, alongside his attorney, Brian White. A judge ordered that his face be digitally obscured.

Mody said when he originally took the change of plea, he agreed to a sentence no longer than one year, but said after learning additional "egregious" facts about the case, he would have instead considered a longer sentence with the possibility of state prison time. The judge ultimately decided to honor the original plea agreement, but said custody was appropriate.

The District Attorney's Office requested that following her release from custody, White's time on probation will not be supervised by anyone she directly worked with at the county probation department.

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