Recently in Manhattan Beach Category

Here's the press release from Manhattan Beach PD on what happened today at Target:

Date of Crime Aug. 25, 2008

Location: Target Store, 1200 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach

Suspect: Unknown Female Caller

On Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 at 1:36 p.m., an unknown female caller called the Target Store located at 1200 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach and told an employee there was a bomb in the building.

Manhattan Beach police responded and contacted the store manager, who pursuant to company policy requested the store be evacuated. Customers and employees were evacuated from the building and surrounding area.

A search of the store was conducted by store employees and Manhattan Beach police, however no bombs or suspicious packages were found.

Previous entry

Police have ordered everybody out of the Target store on Sepulveda Boulevard in Manhattan Beach.

Apparently, there's a bomb threat. At this point, we have no real information on whether it's a phone threat or an actual bomb or just some suspicious package.

Sounds like a good place to stay away from for a while.

We'll update later.

Here's the update: It's all over and nothing exploded. Still don't really know what happened, but police surrounded the place and kept everybody out. We'll try to get more.

Trial is expected to start real soon for Erwin Howard, who is accused of killing his former wife, Julia "Deede" Keller. Howard, a 54-year-old former baggage handler, allegedly murdered the popular El Segundo resident and Manhattan Beach real estate

agent in July 2004 because he was jealous she moved on with his life.

The trial will be at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The attorneys will get together next week to formulate juror questionnaires and take care of pretrial motions. On Sept. 2, jury questioning will begin.

I don't have much on this, but former Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Shawn Shelton will soon be relocated from his Nevada prison cell to a jail in Louisiana to face murder charges.

Shelton, 41, left, waived extradition last Friday and will soon be flown to Natchitoches, where he is accused of killing 19-year-old Justin James, right.

Shelton could have fought being extradited to another state to face trial, but he apparently chose not to. He'll likely be housed in a county jail instead of a prison while awaiting his case.

Natchitoches prosecutors believe Shelton drugged James with morphine, cocaine and Xanax and attempted to sexually assault him. James died from the combination.

Shelton already is serving a sentence of 35 years to life for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Las Vegas about five months later. He kidnapped the boy at a bus bench, drove him out into the desert and assaulted him.

The Daily Breeze has been a leader in covering this story. James' mom keeps me informed of what's going on periodically by email and phone calls. She has sought justice for nearly three years.

The fact that Shelton soon will be on his way to a Louisiana courtroom is very important to her and her husband.

She told me:

"This has been a long drawn out process. Lynn and I have fought this every step of the way! You don't raise a child 19 years for someone like this to come in and kill him."

The Shelton story still amazes me. How did someone go from a fast-rising cop whose hand I shook to a child predator to an accused murderer?

Manhattan Beach Police Chief Rod Uyeda is going green.

The chief has turned in his 2005 Mercury Marquis with a gas-guzzling V-8 engine and received a 2008 Saturn Aura Hybrid sedan.

City Manager Geoff Dolan said in a statement that Uyeda is serving as an example.
Police throughout the country have begun looking at hybrid vehicles to save money on gasoline.

Manhattan Beach's Green Team works to study the city's current environmentally friendly practices and future practices.

"Though I'd like to believe I'm still a front line crime fighter, in reality I am more of an administrative department head and my days of involving myself in high-speed police chases and being a first responder are basically over," Uyeda said in a statement.

"I will still roll quickly on calls, but the time I save between driving a V-8 and a 4-cylinder hybrid in dense metropolitan city traffic is minimal. Besides, I'm also saving the City some gas money!"

Here's the top of what I just filed:

A former Manhattan Beach church intern pleaded no contest Monday to a misdemeanor sexual battery charge for groping an 18-year-old co-worker.
Clifford Ames Jr., 28, of Gardena was then sentenced to 40 days of community service on a Dept. of Transportation work crew and three years probation.
He must also register as a sex offender.
Ames changed his plea just as he was about to go to trial before Torrance Superior Court Judge Hector Guzman.
Earlier Monday, Guzman ruled that a jury could hear about two prior incidents of Ames being accused of sexually assaulting boys when he was still a juvenile.

Working Stiff sent this email:

I read about the mail theft in Manhattan Beach. You said two trays were taken and a small tub. My question was: Do you know if the mail that was stolen was only being delivered to Manhattan Beach residents, or to other neighboring cities? Did that mail carrier specifically work for Manhattan Beach residents, or did he deliver mail to other cities later in the day? Could you please find out from the authorities what cities the stolen mail was going to? Was it ALL Manhattan Beach or other cities too? I know it was recovered, and they will be contacting the residents saying it will be delayed, but I am expecting some important mail this week, and was wondering exactly what cities were affected---- (Torrance, Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes, Lawndale, Hawthorne etc.)

Randy DeGasperin, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said that particular carrier was only assigned to one route in that Manhattan Beach neighborhood. All the stolen mail belonged to people on that route.

Mail officials are working to get the mail delivered after photographing it as evidence. Anyone who was waiting for a passport or prescription drug that they need should contact the Manhattan Beach post office.

By the way, the third suspect remains at large. The two men arrested have been charged with robbery.

Here's a preview of photos that will appear in tomorrow's paper from today's search and arrests of the suspected mail robbers:

Redondo Beach police and other agencies just chased a car through the South Bay onto Palos Verdes Drive East, where the three suspects abandoned their car in Rancho Palos Verdes and ran.

A search is underway near Mustang Road. That's what the helicopter is doing.

I'm told the three suspects held up a mail carrier in Manhattan Beach, took some mail and sped away. A Redondo Beach officer spotted them and the chase was on.

We'll have more when we can get it.

Traci Rene Anderson, the former bookkeeper at Church of the Beach Cities, pleaded no contest Monday to embezzling $170,000 from her employer, authorities said today. Most of that money was earmarked for the needy and poor. Needless to say, the church feels devastated and betrayed.

The licensed minister and mother of one teenage son, who also helped teach Bible studies, is on her way to state prison, where she will be a guest during her two-year sentence.

We'll have the full story in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.