Recently in Manhattan Beach Category

Plea deals were made this week for the last three defendants remaining in a massive bank fraud case uncovered by Manhattan Beach police officers.

Luiz Ceron, 37, and Jose Ortiz, 32, were each sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday in Torrance Superior Court, according to Detective Joe Aiello.

Using a computer, Ceron manufactured fake identifications, including Mexican Consular cards, which he sold to others.

The others opened up bank accounts with the cards.

Then, they wrote checks from one account, deposited them into another and then withdrew the non-existent funds.

The operation cost four banks more than $140,000, Aiello said.

Ortiz was the "runner" in the operation who acted as a middleman between Ceron and others in the ring.

Also taking a deal was 35-year-old Adriana Camacho, Ortiz's wife, who was not charged for the bank fraud but for using a fake identification to work at a hotel.

A judge denied bail to a former Hawaiian beauty queen accused of spending more than $160,000 with credit cards under other peoples' names.

Susan Shaw, 35, of Kailua, and who also had a residence in Manhattan Beach, is facing 122 counts of identity theft and related crimes in state court involving 11 Oahu residents. She has been in custody since her arrest May 7.

Deputy City Prosecutor Chris Van Marter argued on Wednesday that Shaw would pose a significant flight risk if she were released on bail. Court records show Shaw flew from Hawaii to China, Canada, California, Nevada, Kansas and New Jersey last year.

Shaw was named first runner-up in the Miss Hawaii International scholarship pageant in 1993. She took over the crown when the winner left to become a cheerleader for the then-Los Angeles Raiders professional football team.

A search of the room she rented in Manhattan Beach turned up potentially more evidence of additional crimes and victims.

A Los Angeles man has been charged with with forging and passing about 40 counterfeit checks, most linked to Manhattan Beach residents' accounts, police said.

Kenneth F. Jones, 40, is facing 24 felony counts, and is held in county jail on $400,000 bail and a probation violation, Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Brian Brown said.

Jones allegedly created and passed counterfeit checks at banks throughout the county. The crimes usually began after victims' mail was stolen, Brown said.

An investigation into the crimes began in September. Jones was arrested April 4 in Los Angeles.

Torrance police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service assisted Manhattan Beach with the investigation.

 

Each Wednesday, as long as the South Bay police departments keep me supplied with "wanted" fliers, we'll be publishing mugshots of suspects in a variety of crimes, along with surveillance shots and sketches of other baddies, in our print edition.

We'll put them up here as well. Let's call them "Wednesday's Wanted."

Here's today's pair:

Fraud Suspect

Manhattan Beach: Police say this man tried to open a fraudulent credit account on Sept. 7, 2008, at Fry's Electronics using a counterfeit California driver's license.

He was accompanied by a black woman in her 20s. She drove a four-door black mid-1990s Mercedes-Benz. The suspect is black, in his 60s, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 175 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes.

If you know him, call Detective Michael Rosenberger at 310-802-5127.

Masked Bandit

El Segundo: On Aug. 26, 2008, this man in a painter's mask approached an employee at the Chevron gas station at 601 S. Vista del Mar, racked the slide of a black semiautomatic handgun as if to load it and demanded money. He fled with the cash register tray.

The robber is Latino, 23 to 25 years old, 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, and 160 to 200 pounds. He wore a gray hooded sweat shirt, black pants and cloth gloves

If you know him, contact Detective Vince Martinez at 310-524-2200.

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.

Larry is out at Mackay Lane in Redondo Beach where Cori Desmond's grayish Jeep Wrangler was found today by police. The 28-year-old North High School graduate's body was found near Highway 330. Here's a story on it.

Police said she was last seen at the Bac Street Lounge, where she previously worked, on Artesia Boulevard early Sunday morning. She went there after she left her bartending job at Beaches in Manhattan Beach Saturday night.

Her father, Mark Desmond, was out at the scene. "I don't know what to say," he said. "Somebody knows something."

Police said they did not know how she died, other than that she suffered blunt force trauma.

After graduating North, she earned her degree in criminal justice at Long Beach State University, her dad said.

"She had everything going for her," Mark Desmond said.

Scott Sellars, a Beaches employee, told reporter Andrea Woodhouse that Desmond worked her shift Saturday, then didn't show up Sunday morning. She worked there almost four months, but was an experienced waitress.

"She was great. She was a bundle of energy and always had a smile on her face," Sellars said, calling her a "beautiful young lady."

 

Our sister paper, The Beach Reporter, interviewed the Hermosa Beach resident who confronted a burglar from neighboring Manhattan Beach in his home last week. Here's their story.

Police on Friday identified a man believed to be the "Salt & Pepper Bank Bandit" wanted in connection with at least 15 robberies, including one in Manhattan Beach.


The man was identified as 49-year old Brian Robinson. He is also wanted on an outstanding warrant charging him with bank robbery in Arkansas, police said.

The latest robbery occurred Thursday when he robbed the First Federal Bank at 9618 West Pico Blvd.

The crimes began Jan. 5. Most have been in West Los Angeles, but one occurred Jan. 24 at the Bank of America branch at Manhattan Village in Manhattan Beach.

The Salt & Pepper bandit gets his name because of his graying hair.

He usually presents a note that demands cash from a teller. He flees in a car described as a gold 1993-1997 Toyota Corolla.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Tracy Benjamin at 213-485-2511. The after hours and weekend number is 1-877-LAPD-24-7.

Two men grabbed a man on a Manhattan Beach street, kicked him and robbed him of his cellular telephone, police said Thursday.

The crime occurred Tuesday at 9:45 p.m. at 9th Street and Highland Avenue, police said.
The robbers fled in a gray vehicle. The victim suffered bruises.

One robber was described as Latino, 18 to 21 years old, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11 inches tall. He was wearing a black hooded sweat shirt and blue jeans and had a slight accent.

The second robber was Latino, 18 to 20 years old, 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet tall. He wore a white hooded sweat shirt, blue jeans and brown boots.

The suspect vehicle is described as a newer Toyota 4-door sedan.

The Automobile Club of Southern California office in Manhattan Beach that was robbed earlier this month was burglarized sometime during the Monday holiday.

Employees arriving for work today found the office on Aviation Boulevard near Artesia Boulevard had been broken into, Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Bryan Klatt said.

The burglar or burglars, who entered through a door, rifled through some drawers but could not locate any cash.

Nothing was taken.

An employee arriving for work on Jan. 2 was forced to hand over cash to robbers who were waiting for him.