Recently in Kidnapping Category

Two Gardena men were sentenced to prison today for kidnapping people and forcing them to withdraw, or try to withdraw, money from various bank machines around the South Bay.

Alan Islas, 22, was sentenced in Torrance Superior Court to 26 years and four months in prison, while Anthony Valencia, 20, received 24 years and eight months behind bars. They both previously pleaded no contest to charges that arose from a series of crimes in the summer and fall of 2007.

Witnesses at a preliminary hearing in February described how one or two men, using a gun, carjacked them and drove them to various automated teller machines. During three heists, a total of $2,500 was withdrawn from the banks, according to prosecutors. Personal items were taken, too.

Every time I get another update on this case, it amazes me that the national media has blown it off. I just don't get it. Three kids are missing with men who might take them out of the country. Their mothers haven't seen them since June.

Anyway, the Westchester Lutheran Church choirs -- kids and adults -- will perform Thursday at the school to raise money to help search for the boys.

Students Alex and Zaven Silah, and their cousin, Greg, have not been heard from since their fathers, George and John Silah, failed to return them to their mothers following summer custody visitations. Both men have been charged with kidnapping.

In addition to student and adult choirs, Alex's seventh grade classmates will perform a song in his honor.

Alex and Zaven's mother, Zanni Meguerian, will speak during the program. A representative of the Association for the Recovery of Children also will address the case.

The fundraiser will begin at 7 p.m. at the school at 7831 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Donations also can be sent to the school office, made payable to ARC with the designation of "Silah Boys."

Contact the school office at 310-670-5422 for more information.

The FBI and Los Angeles police department are investigating the case. A reward has been offered for information leading to the boys return and the Silahs arrests.

Mothers plead for help

The FBI has released stats showing crime is down in 2007, but check out this clock that's within the press release. It shows how often crimes occur across the country:

I've written a number of entries about the search for Christine Jeanbart's and Zanni Meguerian's sons.

Their ex-husbands, George and John Silah, took off with the kids after failing to return them from summer custody visitations.

The L.A. City Council has offered a reward, the D.A.'s office has charged both men, the women have gone to the media and the FBI and LAPD are investigating. Nothing has happened, unfortunately, to bring Alex, Zaven and Greg home.

Back on Aug. 6, the women stood before the media and pleaded for their sons' return. They spoke directly to their husbands and kids. I taped them on my digital audio recorder, but didn't have the ability to post their words here at the time. Now I figured it out.

So here are the women's pleas. The man introducing them is their attorney, Ronald Brot:

ZanniMeguerian.wav 

ChristineJeanbart.wav

Here is a transcript.

Jurors in Torrance just recommended that Barry Mosley, 48, be put to death for raping and strangling two women and a teenage girl in their Athens area homes.

It didn't take them long for such a serious decision. They've been listening for weeks to testimony about some of the most heinous acts anyone can commit -- Murder during rapes, burglaries and sodomy and multiple murders.

The jury's recommendation goes to Judge Mark Arnold, who will formally sentence Mosley at a later date.

We have Denise Nix and Douglas Morino in the courtroom and will have full coverage for you later.

Previous Mosley entries

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?

Following a preliminary hearing today, Cornell Barber was ordered to stand trial on four charges related to the April 27 early morning attack with a gun of a young woman on a Torrance street. The woman was the only witness to testify at Barber's hearing

Look for a full report in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.

07-10-08 (Thursday):
300 block of North Pacific Coast Highway (between Diamond/Carnelian intersections on State Route 1:
Approximately 8:00 p.m., a pedestrian, crossing mid block (east to west), across North Pacific Coast Highway, was struck by an oncoming vehicle traveling north in the number two (2) lane of travel. The pedestrian (unidentified male adult) suffered serious head injury and trauma. The pedestrian was transported to County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. As of this report date, he remains in a coma.

2300 block of Artesia Boulevard:
Approximately 9:30 p.m., officers observed an adult with an eighteen-month year old child. The child was dirty and chewing on what appeared to be a tobacco cigarette. An uninvolved party reported the same. Officers contacted the adult and ascertained the subject did not possess the means or sustenance to properly care for the child. The subject was subsequently arrested for the investigation of child endangerment. The child was transferred to the custody and care of the Department of Children Family Services (DCFS).

1800 block of South Pacific Coast Highway:
Approximately 11:40 p.m., officers responded to the vicinity regarding a "check the welfare." The officers' tenacious and caring efforts resulted in the location of a subject, who was on the ground, shivering, with little or no movement. Quick thinking on the officers' part netted recognition of medication problems. Paramedics were summoned, and the subject was transported to Little Company of Mary Hospital. Subject was treated without lasting complications.