Can you find the 11 arrests in Michael Kohl's story?

Michael Kohl was first arrested by Oceanside police in late 1988, when he was 22 years old. He lived on Camp Pendleton at the time, and he told the judge he was unemployed. Because young Michael Kohl made a plea deal and admitted possession of meth and marijuana for sale, he was released on three years probation.

But two months later, in early 1989, Michael Kohl was arrested for felony evasion of peace officer, wanton disregard for public safety, resisting officer, and under the influence. Young Michael Kohl was given another chance on probation. But he failed again in late December 1989, just before Christmas that year. So Kohl was sent to California prison; he got two years for the first arrest plus three years for his next arrest.

It seems that as soon as he got out of prison, in 1994, Kohl was arrested again. He was accused of five felonies, but somehow he was at liberty ten months later when he was arrested again for possession of meth and marijuana for sale. Kohl made another plea deal and was sent to prison for six years, in late 1995, when he was 29 years old.

Michael Kohl was 35 when he got out of prison in 2001. It was just after Thanksgiving when he got arrested again. He admitted assault with a deadly weapon upon a peace officer with great bodily injury, and Kohl was sentenced to seven years prison.

As soon as he got out of prison in 2006, when he was 39, Kohl was charged and convicted of possession of meth.

Two years later, in 2008, Kohl was 42 when he was arrested for receiving stolen property. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 months prison. He was at liberty about Thanksgiving time in 2009 when he was arrested again for possession of meth. He was 43 then.

A little more than a year later, in January 2011, Kohl was arrested for transporting meth for sale. While he was out on bail the next month, he was arrested again for the same charge. Kohl made a plea deal and was sentenced to four years prison, when he was 45. But he was at liberty four months later when he was arrested again, for the same crime, and then he was sent to prison.

In the summer of 2019, Michael Kohl was 53 years old when he was arrested for felony evade officer with wanton disregard for public safety, possession of meth for sale, and transport meth for sale. He was held in local custody in San Diego County and was able to pay a $5,000 fee for a bond to guarantee the $50,000 bail amount, and he was at liberty while he awaited trial. Then came the Covid lockdown.

Michael Kohl was able to remain at liberty for about a year, and then in October 2020 he was arrested again. Michael Kohl was 54 at the time of his latest arrest, and because he re-offended while out on bail, his new bail was set at $250,000.

The list of charges for his last arrest included: manufacturing drug (meth) while out on bail, possession of meth for sale (more than one kilo) while out on bail, armed with handgun while out on bail for earlier felony, possession of firearm by felon or addict while out on bail, giving false ID to police, and possession of drug paraphernalia to inject or smoke.

Private defense attorney Justin Murphy told a judge, “My client does not have ability to pay that amount; he has been in custody since October 15, 2020. He is 55 years old with a sick mother and he wants to spend time with her. Given the pandemic, he is at heightened risk of having greater problems if he should get Covid, so he needs bail that he can pay.”

But prosecutor Vincent Chen asked the judge to leave bail as set, declaring, “He is a danger to the community.” Chen told the judge that Kohl was out on bail for a 2019 case, when he was arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine. “He will clearly not follow court orders.”

Chen claimed that officers found five pounds of meth in Kohl’s hotel room, plus another six pounds in a storage locker. And Chen said that Kohl had guns and ammunition in his hotel room.

Prosecutor Chen said, “I believe he has access to large amounts of cash because he sells and traffics narcotics. In the instant case he was arrested with more than nine pounds of meth, the street value might be $9,900. He also had three firearms and $6000 cash with him in his hotel room at the time of his arrest.”

Defense attorney Justin Murphy pointed out that Michael Kohl was down on the casino floor, and he was not even in the hotel room when officers found all that contraband in his hotel room.

Honorable judge David Berry declined to lower Kohl’s bail during the hearing in January 2021.

This month, in October 2021, fifty-five-year-old Michael Kohl made a plea deal. He admitted possession of meth for sale, and felon in possession of firearm, and felony evade officer with reckless driving — all these offenses while out on bail for same, and he admitted he had prior convictions for same. Kohl expects to get more than nine years State Prison when he is sentenced January 20, 2022.

At his first arrest in 1988, when he was 22, Kohl was described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and 170 pounds. In his current jail page, Kohl is described as having white hair and blue eyes, and 185 pounds.