Crime & Courts

Nancy Aguilar of Wilmington sent this to me early Wednesday:

Here I am unable to sleep for the second night due to all this craziness.

I had put a little story on Facebook regarding this. I couldn't just sit there and not have an opinion of my own little town.

See, growing up here you have three things that keeps Wilmington in the news.

1) The Port
2) The Refineries
3) The violence

I've always said that our town needs to be funded to have more activities. It's sad to say our community is not as involved and our Mayor is never present. Things were quiet and all of sudden since this girl's death things are popping up.

I prayed heavily last night because this little town is all we're left to, so thank you for answering them and letting me know more will be done.

Our town never had like a town meeting and I wouldn't even know where to start but I do believe we all need to come together and do more besides being on the map for the 3 main things I told you about.

Ashley Camacho sent this email about what she thinks needs to happen in Wilmington:

I think that Wilmington should do the same think that Redondo Beach did in 1995 with the Redondo Beach Project. They basically set in place an injunction on everyone and didn't allow them to enter a 24 block radius. RBPD enforced this to the fullest. Along with the RB citizens Redondo is now a great place to live. I think that Harbor Division should make a much stronger version of this.

Wilmington has the potential to be more. We need to nurture our youth, instill a confidence that allows them to do right by themselves and others, If we instill this in the formative years there will be no need to worry when adults because the foundation had been place.

My heart breaks watching these young boys self destruct, following a path paved by lost hopes and dreams. My little brother-in-law is serving a few months for weapon charges. When you ask him why he carried a semi automatic, he with cold eyes will reply, "For protection. Watching my dad and brother get shot in front of my house would change anyone and I am no different. If no one will protect me then I will."

Now how is this right. His dreams shattered because of our failures; our community's failures. His childhood gone; washed away with each blood soaked block.

Wilmington is covered corner to corner with candles, crosses and carnations. The constant reminder of death. Mobs of photographed tee's baring the names of loved ones lost. Friends losing their brothers and sister, children losing their parents and mothers placing their children in plots intended for themselves.

And this is Life in Wilmington....not a life to live....

All greatness overshadowed. What beauty this city carries is fading with each article printed in the crime section.

Time to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and take back their city. The blood shed needs to stop. Police need to enforce laws and stop this war among the children.

Police cited 13 people who agreed to buy alcohol for a minor during a "shoulder tap" sting operation last week in three South Bay cities.

Officers said the minors, working undercover for police, stood outside stores in El Segundo, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach on Jan. 27 and asked 232 adults to buy alcohol for them.

Of those adults, seven bought alcohol in Manhattan Beach, two made a purchase in Hermosa Beach and four did so in El Segundo, Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Chris Vargas said.

They were cited for furnishing alcohol to minors.

Police and state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents conducted the sting in an effort to reduce alcohol sales to minors.

Update: They were stabbed, deputies say.

From City News Service

 A suspect in the killings of two women and the wounding
of a man was in custody after he held authorities at bay by barricading himself
inside a residence near Carson.

The man was arrested about 10 p.m. in the 21800 block of Vermont Avenue following a standoff with Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, Deputy Mark
Pope of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau said.

 Following the arrest, deputies went inside the residence and found two
dead women and a wounded man whose condition was not immediately known, Pope
said.

"(Deputies) were sent out there on an assault with a deadly weapon call, a
man with a knife,'' Pope said.

Homicide detectives are piecing together details, he said.

From Redondo Beach police:

The Redondo Beach Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Friday, January 27, 2012 at an undisclosed location within the city limits between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

DUI checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes. Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of trying to rob a teenager at knifepoint on a Carson street, deputies said Friday.

The attempted robbery occurred Monday morning as the victim walked to school at Denwall Drive and Tillman Avenue. Two men approached him.

"One of the suspects asked the victim if he was a gang member, then pulled out a knife, pointed it at the victim, and asked if he had a cell phone, money, or marijuana," Carson sheriff's Sgt. Tina Kelley said in a statement.

Fearing he would be stabbed, the victim ran to a passing car and begged for help. The would-be robbers fled east on Denwall Drive, got into a black Chevrolet Camaro and raced away.

Once sheriff's deputies received a call, they headed toward Denwall. They found the suspects and car near Central Avenue and stopped it, Kelley said.

The victim was brought to the scene and positively identified the suspects, who were identified as Lauren Michael Young and Larry James Ballard, both 18 and from Carson.

Deputies recovered the knife. They were booked at the Carson jail on suspicion of attempted robbery. They were held without bail.

The District Attorney's Office charged Young and Ballard on Wednesday with one felony count each of attempted robbery.

When we learned the name of the young man who jumped to his death in Palos Verdes Estates yesterday, I quickly found a Facebook site that I believed to belong to him.
It was linked to his father's Facebook page, and we were pretty sure it belonged to John Albrigo.

What really drew my attention was Albrigo's last status update at 8:53 p.m. Wednesday.
It was a video of Metallica's song, "The Day That Never Comes," the lead single off the band's album "Death Magnetic."

Although the video shows a desert war scene where two Marines are hit with an explosion, band drummer Lars Ulrich told MTV that the lyrics were related to a father-son relationship.

"It's a story about human beings who don't know each other, in a particularly tense situation," Ulrich told MTV. "It could be a contemporary war setting, but it's really about forgiveness and redemption and understanding what goes on in people's minds."

A counselor who came upon Abrigo and talked to him for two hours before he jumped told the Daily Breeze that he spoke about some issues with his father.

We did not use the information in our story today. Although we were pretty sure the Facebook page belonged to Albrigo, we weren't certain. But today, a Facebook site started in his memory has the same profile photograph as his site.

While we don't know why Albrigo posted the Metallica video, here are the lyrics of "The Day That Never Comes":

Born to push you around,
Better just stay down
You pull away
He hits the flesh
You hit the ground
Mouth so full of lies
Tend to block your eyes
Just keep them closed
Keep praying
Just keep waiting

Waited for the one
The day that never comes
When you stand up and feel the warmth
but the sunshine never comes
No the sunshine never comes

Push across that line
Just stay down this time
Hide in your cell
Crawl in your shell
You'll have your time
God'll make them pay
Take it back one day
I'll end this day
I'll splatter color on this gray

Waited for the one
The day that never comes
When you stand up and feel the warmth
but the sunshine never comes

Love is a four letter word
And never spoken here
Love is a four letter word
Here in this prison
I suffer this no longer
I put it into
This I swear!
This I swear!
The sun will shine
This I swear!
This I swear!
This I swear!

Palos Verdes High School Principal Nick Stephany sent this email to parents today following the arrests of three students who allegedly broke into classrooms, hacked into computers, changed grades and stole tests.

Dear Parents and Students,

 

As some of you may have heard, over the last few weeks, we have uncovered several students involved in severe academic dishonesty.  So far, we have evidence of students stealing teachers' tests, gaining access into teachers' grade books as well as the sale of this information to other students.  I want to keep the PVHS community up to date with the developments of this ongoing investigation.

 

First, we have been working with detectives from the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department.  Criminal charges will be filed against any and all students engaged in criminal activity.  Computers and cell phones have been confiscated by the police and their contents will be very telling.

 

Second, two students implicated in this activity have already been recommended for expulsion.  One of these students was a transfer from Peninsula High School.  They are suspended from PVHS until the PVPUSD Board of Education decides if they are expelled from the district.  This should happen in the next month.  In addition, other students have been suspended for receiving stolen tests and information.

 

Third, we continue to find new information in this investigation.  It is ongoing.  For this reason, it is important not to jump to conclusions as to how wide spread this may have been.  As we find new information, we will keep staff and students up to date with pertinent developments.

 

This is a very time intensive and sensitive issue.  It is my goal to first, gather all of the facts and second, work with PVPUSD and the PVEPD to not only provide severe consequences to those involved, but also to ensure the safety and security for our physical school campus as well as our technology network.  We will continue to update the community as developments occur.

 

If any students or adults have evidence of cheating or academic dishonesty, please contact me via email as soon as possible.  Please remember information must be credible and not just hearsay.  We must be able to PROVE any allegations made.

 

Thank you,

 

Nick Stephany, Ed.D

Police released photographs today of a mugger wanted for severely beating a victim on a Torrance street, robbing him of his cellular telephone and fleeing on a bus.

The crime occurred 9:25 a.m. Jan. 17 as the victim walked at Carson Street and Border Avenue, Torrance police Sgt. Steven Jenkinson said.

the mugger ran up to the victim from behind and "violently attacked the victim by punching him on the head and face multiple times, and throwing the victim to the ground where the physical assault continued," Jenkinson said.

The mugger took the victim's phone and boarded a Torrance Transit bus.

Police obtained photographs of the man from bus surveillance video.

The mugger was described as black, 17 to 25 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall. He had a thin build, short hair and was clean shaven.

He wore black zippered jacket with a gray stripe running from shoulder to cuff, light blue jeans, and white shoes.

Police asked anyone with information to call detectives at 310-618-5599.

Police on Tuesday were working to identify a motorist's motives for asking a 14-year-old girl if she wanted a ride as she walked home from South High School.

The girl told police she was walking east on Pacific Coast Highway at 5:30 p.m. Monday and was crossing Ladeene Avenue when a motorist waiting at a stop sign called out, "Do you want a ride?" Torrance police Sgt. Steve Jenkinson said.

As the girl continued walking, the man again asked "Do you want a ride?"

The girl continued home and was not followed.

Police do not know what the man intended and said they wanted to speak with him, Jenkinson said.

The girl described the man as white, heavyset, with salt-and-pepper brown hair and a full brown beard.

The man was driving a newer four-door silver sedan.

Anyone with information was asked to call Torrance police at 310-618-2374.