Recently in Catalina Category

The search is over for a Catalina Island man whose disappearance at sea set off a chain of events that led to the deadly midair crash of a search plane and U.S. Marine helicopter, authorities said Monday.

David Thomas Jines, 50, was never seen after taking his small motorized boat on Oct. 27 to help a friend who was having trouble in windy waters on the eastern side of Catalina Island.

A Coast Guard plane was searching for him east of San Clemente Island off the San Diego coast when it collided with the military helicopter from Miramar Naval Air Station, killing nine, on Oct. 29.

Jines lived on his boat in Avalon Harbor.

An electrical subcontractor pleaded no contest Wednesday to a charge of recklessly starting a brush fire on Santa Catalina Island in May 2007.

Gary Dennis Hunt, 51, was extradited from Indiana last January to face two charges for the fire, caused when he used an open-flamed torch to cut cables on the island's radio tower, according to Deputy District Attorney Ann Ambrose.

Hunt is expected to be sentenced to three years in state prison when he returns to Long Beach Superior Court on May 28, Ambrose said.

The fast-moving blaze injured several fire fighters and caused an estimated $20 million in damages, destroyed several structures and more home as it swept across more than 4,000 acres. Hunt has agreed to pay at least $5 million in restitution, but the full amount he will pay will be decided at a later hearing.

It's been nearly three years since the details of the birth and death of Leticia Castro's baby aboard a Catalina Express ferry were first disclosed during a preliminary hearing. It's one of those cases that makes your stomach churn - and mine certainly did that day (and not just because I got seasick trying to write a story on my laptop on the boat ride back to San Pedro).

In a tiny, one-room courthouse where the judge takes the bench once a week, emotions were heavy. After a couple hours of cases against people accused of driving their golf carts drunk or illegally catching sea life, the bloody details of the baby's birth seemed out of place on the island paradise.

The Associated Press is reporting that the island get-away is now dealing with some serious big-city gang issues. So far, the problems are minor. But, as one merchant said, if nothing is done early-on, the problems will grow just like cancer.