Recently in Assault Category

It was a quick change in direction earlier today when the prosecutor offered, and Steve Brown accepted, a deal in the case of the King Henry VIII exotic dancer who accused Brown of sexually assaulting her. Here's the whole story.

As I waited for the elevator after the hearing, Brown's father approached me. He pointed his finger at me and said: "Be careful what you say, OK, because if you don't, I'm gonna sue you."

Previously:

Man accused of raping Gardena exotic dancer caught

Gardena police seek sexual assault suspect

Torrance Superior Court Judge Hector Guzman explained that he was giving Elvin Worthey the maximum sentence he could because of a number of factors, including Worthy's criminal history and his "sinister" acts against a "helpless and unresisting victim."

Worthey was convicted of a slew of charges for breaking into a Torrance home, then confronting the resident who came home in the middle of the burglary. Worthey threatened the resident repeatedly with a gun, then took off with the car and valuables, including family heirlooms.

We'll have a full story, including the victim's statement to Guzman, later on dailybreeze.com.

Previous entries on Worthey are here.

Joseph Storm was re-arraigned today on charges stemming from an alleged assault on a homosexual, No-on-Prop.-8 button wearer in Torrance with a "Yes on Prop. 8" lawn sign. He returns to court for a pretrial on Jan. 22. A Feb. 17 trial date was set, but these things are not in stone.

A woman called police about 9:40 p.m. Sunday to say her boyfriend was beating her.

"He also made threats that he was going to commit great bodily injury against her," the report said.

When officers got there, the boyfriend split out the back door and jumped over a rear fence. Oops.

Unfortunately for him, it had a 20 to 25 foot drop onto a driveway on Ruhland Avenue.

"When the suspect landed on the pavement he appeared to have temporarily lost consciousness," the report said.

He was taken to a hospital.

Two men arrested on suspicion of stabbing two men outside a Redondo Beach bar will not face charges, police said today.

Howard Harman, 52, of Redondo Beach and Jesus Munoz, 42, claimed self-defense and police said there was a "possibility and a probability" that their account was accurate.

The stabbing occurred just before 2 a.m. Saturday in the 2200 block of Artesia Boulevard. The men had been inside Bogey's Sports Bar & Grill, where the trouble began, Redondo Beach police Sgt. Phil Keenan said.

The victims left the bar, drove away and returned.

"We believe that (the victims) possibly came out of the car with a pipe and we did recover a pipe at the scene," Keenan said.

Harman and Munoz also told detectives the stabbing occurred because the victims were assaulting one of them, police said.

The victims' account of the incident was "vague and non-commital," and they did not want to seek charges, Keenan said.

Prosecutors reviewed the matter and rejected it.

LAPD just put this one out:



Los Angeles: An off-duty LAPD Officer stands accused of sexual assault following a holiday celebration at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport.

Police Officer Eduardo Bermudez, 29 years of age, assigned to Pacific Area Patrol Division, two years on the Department, was arrested Sunday morning, December 7, 2008, at around 8:00 a.m. by detectives assigned to Internal Affairs Division.  Officer Bermudez was booked for California Penal Code Section 664-261, Attempt Rape.  Officer Bermudez was booked at Men's Central Jail and was held on $100,000 bail.

Based on preliminary information, it appears that a sanctioned LAPD Pacific Area holiday party had concluded and several Department employees were participating in an unofficial "after party" at the hotel.  When allegations of criminal activity came to light, proper notifications were made and on-duty police supervisors and Internal Affairs Division investigators were dispatched.  

Internal Affairs Division has assumed responsibility for the investigation.                    

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to Internal Affairs Division at
(213) 473-3870.  After-hours and on weekends calls may be directed to the 24-hour, toll-free number, 1-877-LAPD24-7 (527-3247) or texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with LAPD.  Tipsters may also submit information on the LAPD website, and can remain anonymous.

The Torrance Unified School District sent this email today to West High School students' homes. I'm looking into it.

A student was walking to school at 8:25 am on Henrietta & Del Amo Blvd. A man grabbed her arm and asked her what she was doing this weekend.

She tried to pull away. He grabbed her arm tighter and as she pulled away he pulled her towards his car. She pulled away and ran to school.

The man walked in the opposite direction and then turned back and got in his car and drove away. The man was wearing a blue/black suit with a red tie. He was about 5'8" or 5'9" or taller. He had light skin, dirty blonde hair and a dark blue/black/grayish four door compact car.

A man suspected of being the so-called "Bladed Bandit," responsible for about a dozen robberies in Hawthorne, Lawndale, Westchester and Los Angeles, has been arrested.

Kirt Eugene Cole, 49, was taken into custody early Wednesday in connection with the crime spree that began in October, Hawthorne police Lt. Mike Ishii said today.

He actually was busted for allegedly beating up his girlfriend shortly after he allegedly held up a 7-Eleven in Inglewood.

Hawthorne police made the arrest

More coming soon.....