Recently in Lawndale Category

A man who allegedly shot at Redondo Beach police officers as they tried stop him from firing at someone else was charged Tuesday with attempted murder.

Brayon Martinez, 29, of Lawndale, pleaded not guilty in Torrance Superior Court to two counts of attempted murder, assault on a peace officer, evading and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to Deputy District Attorney Paulette Paccione.

The attempted murder counts also carry allegations that Martinez used a firearm.

He has a prior conviction for domestic violence in 2001, according to Paccione. Court records show he was also convicted in 1999 for using violence on a spouse.

Martinez faces the possibility of life in prison, she said. He returns to court July 16.

Martinez was spotted by the officers in the 4500 block of 170th Street as they passed through Lawndale on a routine patrol Saturday night about 11:40 p.m.

He was allegedly firing a gun at a man on the sidewalk, according to the sheriff's department.
He allegedly fled in a BMW, but returned and shot at the officers, who returned fire and struck him in the arm.

One of the last figures to be sentenced in a large-scale Lawndale-based counterfeit scheme will spend a year in prison.

David Goldberg, 35, of Sherman Oaks, who cut and glued fake currency during the manufacturing process, was sentenced on May 14 and scheduled to surrender on June 11, according to online federal court records.

Goldberg pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and passing and possessing counterfeit currency.

He was one of six people charged a year ago in the scheme that released about $6.8 million fake $20 and $100 bills into circulation.

All except one other defendant has made plea deals and their sentences varied depending on their role in the conspiracy.

The last man, Earnest Alexander, was at large when he allegedly robbed a woman in Torrance who was followed home from a casino and lead police on a pursuit in January.

Deputies wrote 32 tickets and towed two cars away during a 2 1/2 hour crosswalk sting Wednesday in Lawndale.

The sting began about 12:30 p.m. on Hawthorne Boulevard at 156th Street. Six civilian volunteers dressed in street clothes crossed back and forth. Deputies in patrol cars pulled over people who failed to stop for the pedestrians, sheriff's Deputy Tim White said.

Deputies will conduct similar checkpoints in Lawndale about once a month.

Milton Gallardo, a convicted felon allegedly linked to the April 11, 2005, murder and rape of a Lawndale woman in a Manhattan Beach home, is scheduled to return to Torrance Superior Court for a two-day preliminary hearing to begin on April 29.

Gallardo's attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Ernestine Odom, told Judge Laura Ellison she was waiting for more results on lab tests on DNA related the case.

Gallardo's DNA allegedly matches evidence collected during the investigation into the death of 39-year-old Libia Cabrera.

Prosecutors haven't decided yet if they will seek the death penalty against Gallardo.

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. 

We have the story up about the appellate court denying Oscar Dela Cruz's rape and kidnapping convictions appeal, but here is the full text of the opinion. The best part is the discussion about the prosecutor's using some vivid names and descriptions of Dela Cruz during her closing argument. The court says: "Prosecutors are allowed to use colorful descriptions of criminal defendants that are reasonably warranted by the evidence." Uh-huh.

A 22-year-old Hawthorne man pleaded no contest on Thursday to sexual batteries on young girls he accosted in Torrance and Lawndale. Enoc Garcia was then sentenced to two years in state prison by Torrance Superior Court Judge Laura Ellison.

Garcia was scheduled for a preliminary hearing when he accepted a deal from prosecutors.
He pleaded no contest to a felony sexual battery and two counts of misdemeanor child molestation. The most serious incident occurred on June 10 in downtown Torrance. Garcia approached a high school-aged girl with his penis exposed, according to Deputy District Attorney Beatriz Dieringer.

Garcia grabbed her hand and forced her to put it on his groin, Dieringer said.
Some of the attacks involved his grabbing the girls, while he only exposed himself to the others, Dieringer said. There were seven victims between May 23 and June 10. He was arrested two days after the last attack.