Recently in Harbor Gateway Category

Ernesto Murillo took a gamble when he pleaded guilty in March to the shooting a year before that left a little boy with a bullet in his head. He doesn't know what sentence he'll get, but it could be life in prison.

He was scheduled to find out today, but the sentencing hearing was postponed until June 4.

Previously:

BREAKING NEWS: One dropped from Harbor Gateway shooting case

Harbor Gateway gang shooting

Here's the LAPD's press release on the Harbor Gateway robbery from Sunday night.


Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Department detectives are investigating an armed take-over robbery during which a security guard was tied up.

On Sunday, February 15, 2009 at around 8:00 p.m., Harbor Area Officers were called to a warehouse operated by a logistics company located in the 1500 block of Francisco Street in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles. Officers arrived to discover the immobilized security guard and that a robbery had occurred.

A preliminary investigation revealed that several suspects forced entry onto the logistics company property by cutting through a secure rear gate. Simultaneously, suspects drove to the entrance of the property in three semi-trailer trucks. When the guard attempted to stop and detain the drivers for identification, armed men approached the guard and subdued him. The guard was then tied up and left on the ground inside the location.

Prosecutors announced today that they were "unable to proceed" to trial against Ismael Torres for the shooting that left a young boy with a bullet in his brain. We have the full story up here at dailybreeze.com.

Previous Crime & Courts blog entries on the case are here.

Charges have not been filed yet against a man who was arrested last week after allegedly following a Torrance woman home from a casino and robbing her, according to the authorities. Earnest Alexander, 41, of Hawthorne, is being held at the Men's Central Jail on a federal parole violation while several law enforcement agencies investigate him, said Torrance police Sgt. Bernard Anderson.

Federal prosecutors who had searched for Alexander for months in connection to a large-scale Lawndale-based counterfeit currency ring say they will wait to see how state officials handle the case before pursuing him the case against him in federal court. Another figure in that fake money case, Troy Stroud, was expected to be sentenced today. The sentencing, however, was postponed until Jan. 26, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mack Jenkins.

Alexander was arrested Wednesday after leading police on a pursuit that ended when he crashed his vehicle in the Harbor Gateway. He is suspected of following a Torrance woman home from the Normandie Casino in Gardena and robbing her early that morning.

Previously: We don't just write about crimes ... we solve them, too!

You may have read here about the man who followed a Torrance woman home this morning from a Gardena casino, robbed her, then led police on a pursuit that ended with a crash in the Harbor Gateway. When I saw that story, I thought the suspect's name sounded familiar. 

I ran Earnest Alexander's name through my spreadsheet o' criminal cases, and saw that someone of the same name, age and hometown of Hawthorne was wanted by the feds as part of that large-scale Lawndale counterfeit currency ring the Secret Service busted up last year.

I gave Assistant U.S. Attorney Mack Jenkins a call and asked if Alexander was still at large. He joked, "Yes. Did you find him?"

I replied, "Well, yes, I think I did."

Some Secret Service agents have made their way to the Torrance Police Department this afternoon to have a chat, and it seems like he's the same guy.

Guess he had good reason to run - the ringleader of the operation previously pleaded guilty to some charges and is serving a little more than nine years in a federal penitentiary. The four remaining participants have pleaded guilty and face a maximum of 20 years in prison when they return to court. One is scheduled to come back Monday and three others are scheduled for March 9. 

Previous entries on the counterfeit currency ring are here. 

If you wondered what the helicopter and all that commotion was earlier around 228th Street and Western Avenue in the Harbor Gateway, here's the answer:

Police in both Torrance and Lomita got hits on a LoJack signal from a stolen vehicle.

They tracked it to a 2008 Audi SUV near 228th and Western. When the bad guys inside saw the cops, they tried to run and crashed.

Two guys were detained right away. The driver fled into the neighborhood.

Police from LAPD and Torrance, along with Lomita sheriff's deputies, searched for him and found him a short time ago.

Detectives decided to only keep the driver. He is Kamrin Tyler Kelly, 19, of Downey. He's being booked as we write into the Torrance jail on suspicion of auto theft, hit-and-run, resisting arrest, and obstruction.
 
Scott Varley's photo shows a Torrance officer talking to some residents. That's not the bad guy.

Law enforcement critic Najee Ali, who often speaks out after officer-involved shootings and racially-motivated incidents -- including the 2006 killing of Cheryl Green in Harbor Gateway -- was sentenced today to four years in prison for trying to bribe a witness in a criminal case against his daughter.

Najee Ali was very active following Green's death, led demonstrations after the Jeremy Morse trunk thumping case in Inglewood, spoke out in Hawthorne after officers shot a woman who stabbed her 4-year-old daughter, and criticized Torrance police after officers shot two burglars hiding in a tool shed.

That's Najee and Green's mother, Charlene Lovett, getting arrested at a protest in Inglewood.

These are the photos from the Wal-Mart robbery in Harbor Gateway. Three guys held up the store on Sunday. If you know them, call the police at 213-485-2511.

These are the addresses of locations allegedly tied to the Torrance Police Department's crackdown on methamphetamine sales in the city and South Bay:

Torrance
4700 block of 191st Street
4500 block of Narrot Street
4000 block of 182nd Street
2800 block of Winlock Road
900 block of Sartori Avenue
2300 block of Del Amo Boulevard
2300 block of Apple Avenue
4800 block of Reynolds road
2100 block of Del Amo Boulevard
4300 block of Highgrove Avenue
2800 block of Winlock Road
19600 block of Darien Street
2600 block of 235th Street
5500 block of Torrance Boulevard
23700 block of Western Avenue
19700 block of Tomlee Avenue
21600 block of Marjorie Avenue
18700 block of Kornblum Avenue
20700 block of Anza Avenue

Redondo Beach
2300 block of 190th Street

Gardena
1600 block of 134th Street

Harbor Gateway
1600 block of Plaza del Amo
2800 block of Carson Street

Lomita
25000 block of Petroleum Avenue

Carson
21300 block of Ronan Avenue