Trial begins for former Hemet deputy accused of abusing his authority, kidnapping, stalking and other counts

By PAUL YOUNG

INDIO – An ex-Riverside County sheriff’s deputy abused his authority and committed felonies while off-duty, fixating on a former girlfriend to the point he abducted her, a prosecutor said Tuesday, while the defense argued the man engaged in behavior that may have been questionable, but not criminal.

“All deputies should embody the sheriff’s motto ‘Service Above Self,’ but the defendant was about self-service over everything else,” Deputy District Attorney Jess Walsh told jurors during his opening statement Tuesday in the trial of Alexander Ravy Vanny at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

Vanny, 34, of Hemet, was arrested last year. At the time, he was assigned to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office’s Hemet station.

He’s charged with kidnapping, stalking, possession of