Recently in Wilmington Category

I'm still catching-up with my cases after a couple of weeks of a lot of time in court, and out sick. Here's one from early last week:

Two Wilmington men are in state prison for holding up a Torrance sandwich shop.
Pedro Nunez, 24, and Matthew Acosta, 21, each pleaded no contest on Nov. 17 to four robbery charges for the March 11 crime. In exchange for the pleas, Torrance Superior Court Judge James Brandlin sentenced Nunez to 16 years in state prison and Acosta to 18 years, according to Acosta's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joe Gualano.

The pair entered The Sub Club deli in the 4300 block of Pacific Coast Highway near Anza Avenue, around lunchtime. One of them, wielding an assault rifle, entered the rear of the shop at 12:15 p.m. The other entered the front door with a handgun. Six employees and customers were held at gunpoint while they were robbed of wallets, cash and jewelry. The robbers also took the cash in the register.

 As they fled, a witness took down the license plate number of their car. Undercover detectives spent the next few days watching Nunez and Acosta and arrested them at Fries Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington. They confessed to the police.

Rodrigo Guevara could have faced, at the most, four years in state prison for felony hit-and-run - despite his egregious driving that left one girl severely injured on April 9 in Wilmington. Deputy District Attorney Danette Gomez said she isn't angry with the judge for offering Guevara three years. She's angry that, without intoxication, that the max he could get was four years, according to California Vehicle Code Section 20001(a)(2).

It doesn't get much better when the victim dies. Gomez, who is also prosecuting Cristian Herrera for a 1992 double fatal hit-and-run in San Pedro, said he is facing only eight years and four months maximum if convicted.

Are you angry? You can channel that into something productive by contacting your state representatives. They're in charge of fixing the punishments. Not sure who to contact? Look here and enter your zip code on the left hand side, down a few scrolls.

Previous blog entries on Guevara are here.

Is anybody at all surprised to hear that my trifecta of campaign lawn sign-related crime stories in today's Daily Breeze has sparked heated political debate in our user comments? I know - shocking.

The most passionate comments are coming from both sides of the same-sex marriage initiative, Proposition 8. I'm a journalist, so I'm supposed to be objective on issues I report on. Which means I can't say publicly what I support or how I vote. But I can say this: There are some vindictive, mean-spirited and hateful people out there when it comes to this issue. I'll just leave it at that.

Here's the package:

• The one that started it all: Proposition 8 may have been at center of Torrance assault  Joseph Storm, the defendant in that case, is schedule to be arraigned today. I'll have an update later, and remember to keep an eye on that Twitter feed over there ---> or subscribe to my feed yourself for up-to-the-minute reports on this and other cases.
• The first one that got piled on my plate after I spoke to my editor about the assault: Proposition 8 signs disappearing from Wilmington church lawn
• The last one from a guy that just made me laugh (and be sure to check out his secretly taped video of the thieves): PVE Obama supporter catches thieves in the act

Don't forget to vote on Tuesday!

A man was found stabbed to death outside a restroom at Banning Park in Wilmington over the weekend.

 

He was stabbed numerous times in the upper body with a knife.

 

Someone found him about 3:40 p.m. Sunday lying on the ground in the park at Pacific Coast Highway at Eubank Avenue, police said.

 

They didn't find the knife.

 

If you know anything about it, call the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division homicide bureau at 310-522-2036.

 

The victim's name was not immediately released.

 

I just got word that Rodrigo Guevara pleaded no contest in Long Beach Superior Court on Thursday to one count of felony hit-and-run. He'll return to court Nov. 4 to be sentenced to an expected three years in state prison. The maximum penalty the charge carries is four years.

Working on a fuller story, but don't have much more to add than that at this point.

To read previous entries about this case, click here.

I got this over the weekend:

"I, as well as my community would like to get an update on the April 9,2008 hit and run on p.c.h. and ronan.in which 2 girls were injured . I heard through word of mouth that the alleged suspect is on trial. there has been no mention of the 2 girls or how they are ."

Rodrigo Guevara, 19, of Wilmington, was scheduled for trial last week. However, he is now scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a "pre-plea report" and pretrial. Although I have not confirmed this with anybody on the case, this usually signifies they are on the verge of working out a plea deal. I'll keep you posted.

I don't have an update on the injured girls beyond what I wrote in the last story about the incident. Follow the jump to see the story that ran July 3 on Guevara's preliminary hearing.

And thanks for the questions!

Sneak peak of one of tomorrow's stories, today!

One of three taggers believed responsible for thousands of dollars in vandalism across the South Bay was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in jail. Mathew Galvez, 18, of San Pedro pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of felony vandalism.

In exchange, he agreed to serve the jail time and three years probation, during which the art student cannot have any vandalism tools, according to Carson Sheriff's Detective Armando Hernandez. Galvez must also serve 30 days performing community service for the state Department of Transportation and pay $4,800 in restitution, Hernandez said.

 

It's Harbor Area Monday apparently. I've been typing non-stop all afternoon trying to keep up.

I just finished a story about all kinds of stuff that went down in the Harbor Area today.

Here's what happened. Look for the upcoming story on dailybreeze.com and in the Tuesday print edition.

Police arrested a burglar who jumped through a double-paned window in San Pedro, searched for car thieves in Harbor Gateway, investigated the death of a 19-year-old woman found floating in the ocean off Royal Palms Beach and examined a hand grenade that forced an evacuation of a fire station and bank in San Pedro.

That's all on top of a separeate story updating the two weekend Harbor Area homicides. One suspect surrendered today in one of them. The other remains a mystery.

UPDATE: Looks like the guy pulled his video off the Web after I posted it.

Carson sheriff's detectives have arrested three young men as suspects in dozens of incidents of tagging along the Harbor Freeway from San Pedro to Gardena. Read the story.

They are still looking for more suspects, including a guy who posted this video of his many graffiti accomplishments. (Can you spell E-V-I-D-E-N-C-E?) His alleged accomplices took photographs of their work. Investigators found the photos during Thursday morning raids and have all those shots ready to take to court.

Here's the video:(Advisory: The dude chose music that contains some offensive language.)