By BLAINE ROCHE
Staff Writer
VISALIA — Following the riveting trial on Thursday, January 21st over a private zoom meeting amidst the current pandemic, convicting Lee Croddy of aiding and abetting first degree burglary and with accessory after the fact.
Lee Croddy, a conceited political journalist who also runs a very popular YouTube channel by the name of “The Right Choice of News” or RNC. On this channel, Lee regularly reveals stories that he claims to be “hidden from the public by the government in an effort to control public perception.” Loyal fan and subscriber Remi Montoya, who was very close with Lee, so much so that Lee could recognize their name amongst the sea of other subscribers, met with Lee after winning tickets to an event Lee hosted. This may seem like a dream for Remi, however, unbeknownst to them, the wicked game of chess had already begun.
Lee Croddy posted a video disclosing private government documents to the viewers of his channel and declared, “We have to make demands, march up to this Marshak person and demand answers! And if Marshak won’t answer us, we’ll just take what is ours!” With this declaration, Remi commented, “I’ll be there Lee! I’ll be right there with you!”
The next day, Lee told Remi to go retrieve the remaining documents from Marshak’s home. After a day’s preparation, Remi entered the house and transferred the files from his personal computer to a flash drive and took a briefcase holding the government seal. As Remi was leaving, Drew returned home and attempted to apprehend Remi. The struggle led to a punch to Drew’s face from Remi and then fled the scene. Remi then met with Lee at a cafe gathering, where Lee offered them home for Remi to stay. The next morning, the police were outside Lee’s home and Remi was arrested after retrieving the flash drive and the briefcase. This was when Remi, the pawn, served as Lee’s sacrificial lamb, his loyalty betrayed right before his eyes.
Prosecution states that Remi Montoya was being manipulated and “used as a pawn” by Lee Croddy, only to have his fierce loyalty exploited and discarded after being used as nothing but a scapegoat. An unbefitting end for such pure intentions of Lee’s “loyal pawn.”
Prosecutor Alekhya Rajasekaran pushed her point by stating that Lee was feigning innocence amongst the crimes being discussed in the trial. With excellent pressure and strong, direct questions, she was able to catch Lee Croddy admit that they told Remi to enter Drew Marshak’s home. She asked Zuri O’Niel what Lee had meant by their hyperbolic comment made in the video, of which they answered stating, “Croddy knew exactly what they said when they said march up to Marshak and take what is ours.”
Defense, in attempts to thwart prosecution’s argument, states that Remi was pushing the blame onto Lee with the intention to shirk the charges that had been put upon him. Continuing to drive this argument home, defense declared that Remi Montoya takes responsibility for their actions and for the judge to see that Lee Croddy was merely caught in the crossfire.
Prosecution, with prosecutor Alekhya Rajasekaran at the helm, led the final charge, stating that “Remi was a pawn” to be used and exploited in Lee’s grand scheme. In her rebuttal, she asked the judge to “place checkmate on the defendant in their own game.”
After brief thought, Judge Seltzer found Lee Croddy guilty of being charged with aiding and abetting first degree burglary and with accessory after the fact.