The Scarbers have had this case hanging over their heads for two weeks, since sheriff's deputies brought /*Spencer Scarber*/ back from Mexico to face sentencing on his rape conviction. For now, there are no charges against the rest of the family, but prosecutors have told their attorneys those charges are coming.
/*Kyle Scarber*/ entered and left the Fresno County courthouse without saying much of anything. The assistant CHP chief led his wife, Gail, and their daughter, Crystal Reynoso, past a big crowd and away from our cameras after learning none of them are facing criminal charges yet. His attorney says it's actually disappointing.
"I said before that they better have all their ducks in a row," said Marshall Hodgkins. "Here we are in court, this is the date we were set to come and no charges are filed."
Hodgkins says sheriff's investigators should've handled the case differently. They picked up 20-year-old Spencer Scarber in Mexico on a Thursday and returned the convicted rapist to Fresno two days later.
Deputies arrested Kyle, Gail, and Crystal the same day on charges they conspired to help Spencer skip the country during his trial. Hodgkins says those arrests were unnecessary.
"We're not admitting this, but even if we assume for the sake of argument that there is some complicity with any one of these three, Spencer is in custody by that time, by Thursday," Hodgkins said. "I don't see what the urgency was."
Investigators searched for Spencer for two months before tracking him down in Acapulco. They served at least two search warrants at the Scarbers' Squaw Valley home during that time. And ABC-30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi says it could take a while for detectives to get back the phone and bank records they need to wrap up the case against the Scarbers.
"You have to have investigators go through those and see where the tie-ins are and whether that was money wired to Mexico, whether or not there were checks written for certain types of matters -- passports, transportation," Capozzi said.
Kyle and Gail Scarber, and Crystal Reynoso are due back in court in two weeks. Spencer Scarber is scheduled to be sentenced next month for his rape conviction.
