November 2009 Archives

A private helicopter piloted by a student and flight instructor made a hard landing at the Long Beach Airport Wednesday morning, but no on was hurt, authorities said.
The helicopter, a Robinson R22, crashed from about five feet off the ground at 9:45 a.m. Both the flight instructor and the student were able to get out of the aircraft uninjured, said Long Beach Fire Capt. Jackawa Jackson.
Firefighters who responded the scene found no flames or major damage to the helicopter, but fire crews did detect a small fuel leak, Jackson said.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, he added.

 

A Long Beach Superior Court judge ordered death by lethal injection Tuesday for a Long Beach killer twice convicted for the slashing deaths of two local women.
Calling the defendant "a savage beast" and "the face of evil," Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani denied a motion to reduce Santiago Martinez Jr.'s death sentence to life in prison without parole and ordered he be sent to San Quentin State Prison to be killed by lethal injection.
Martinez was initially sentenced to death by a jury on Oct. 29. It took the panel only 30 minutes to agree that Martinez, who faced life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, should die for his crimes, several jurors said.
Martinez, now 28, was first convicted in 2005 of killing one girlfriend, then convicted last year of killing a second girlfriend when she refused to help Martinez dispose of the first victim's remains.
The first murder victim, Christina Wilkerson, 28, of Long Beach, was stabbed 20 times in the face, neck and body, then shot point blank with a .22 rifle on March 18, 2003. Martinez was sentenced to more than 50 years to life in prison for her death.
He was convicted last November for the murder of Myra Orozco, 24, of Long Beach.
Orozco was stabbed and slashed close to 30 times in the face, neck and body before Martinez pushed the mortally wounded woman from the car they were sitting in, then ran over her two times on March 30, 2003.
The jury in that case convicted Martinez of first-degree murder and the special circumstance of committing multiple murders, paving the way for the possibility of the death penalty.
That same jury, however, deadlocked 11-1 in favor of death, requiring a new jury to be empaneled for a second penalty phase that began on Oct. 5.

A 40-year-old woman who suddenly veered from the fast lane on the southbound San Diego (405) Freeway across all lanes of traffic at a high rate of speed, then plunged through a dense brush-covered embankment and plummeted about 100 feet, suffered only minor injuries Monday afternoon.
The driver was lucky not only due to her relative lack of injury, but also because several motorists saw the crash and were able to pinpoint the dense area she plunged into for first responders, Long Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank Hayes.
"It was so grown over that had they not seen where she went it could have taken us much longer to find her," Hayes said, noting the bushes and trees actually closed around the point where the woman's vehicle punched through the brush.
The crash occurred shortly after 3 p.m. on the south side of the freeway near Lakewood Boulevard, Hayes said.
Fire crews had to make a difficult descent down to the woman's SUV, where they found her with minor injuries. However, she was taken by paramedics to a local hospital due to the damage caused to her car and the question of whether a medical episode or fatigue may have triggered her erratic driving, Hayes said.
California Highway Patrol units also responded to the scene and re-directed traffic to clear the way for rescue crews, Hayes said.
The crash is currently under investigation, a CHP spokesperson said.
For more information and pictures of the rescue check out the LBFD's Web site at http://firechannel.org/blog/?p=1882

Police confirmed Friday that five Poly High School freshmen were arrested Tuesday for alleged sexually battery on two freshman female students during the school's lunch period.
The incident, which included boys grabbing the girls' buttocks, breasts and privates, happened near the campus store of the end of the lunch period, police and school officials said.
The five boys were also arrested at school on different days throughout the week, according to authorities.
And police are looking for any other victims who may have not come forward and who may have been attacked in other incidents at the school, officers said.
Police also said some of the youths arrested are members of the school's football team, but police did not know if they were members of the Varsity or the Junior Varsity squad.
School officials confirmed some the five are members of the Long Beach Poly Freshman football team.
Police did not identify those arrested because they are minors.

A Norwalk councilman arrested last month following an alleged domestic dispute will not face criminal charges, authorities said Friday.
"Based on the evidence that was presented, we felt that there was insufficient evidence
to file any criminal charges," said Shiara Davila- Morales of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Richard Ramirez was taken into custody on Oct. 24 at his home, booked at the Pico
Rivera Sheriff's Station and released after posting $50,000 bail, according to the Sheriff's Department. 

Three men were shot, and one killed, in a shooting late Thursday on Long Beach's Westside in what police say may be a gang-related attack.
The victims were walking in the 3600 block of Santa Fe Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. when the armed suspect walked up to them and opened fire, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
Frank Castro Jr., 19, of Long Beach was hit by multiple rounds, suffering gun shot wounds to the upperbody and torso, Pratt said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by Long Beach Fire Department paramedics.
Also struck by gunfire were two other Long Beach men walking with Carstro, one 18 and the other 40. They were both taken to a local hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
They are not being identified because they are victims of a violent crime, Pratt said.
Police said there is no suspect information available and no known motive for the slaying, but they are investigating the matter as possibly gang-related, Pratt said.
Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call LBPD Homicide Detectives William Matsubara or Todd Johnson at 562-570-7244.

A pre-trial hearing for a 57-year-old Montana man accused of killing a former Denver disc jockey in 2006 and allegedly dumping the victim's remains off the coast of Catalina Island was postponed Thursday.

Defendant Harvey Morrow is charged with first-degree murder and an enhancement that alleges the slaying was carried out for profit.

Morrow was a close friend of the victim, Steven B. Williams. In the years before Williams' killing, the two men had planned to sail the world on Morrow's 69-foot boat, authorities said.

At the time of Morrow's arrest and extradition from Great Falls, Mont., to Long Beach, Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators said it was an argument over money that likely spurred Morrow to deadly violence.

"There was approximately $1.9 million missing from Steven's account. We know that money went into Harvey Morrow's account. Steven talked to a close friend the night before and told the friend he was going to confront Harvey Morrow and tell him that he wanted his money back," said Homicide Lt. Al Grotefend.

"We believe that's what caused the actual confrontation which resulted in this murder," the lieutenant said.

Sheriff's investigators said there are no eyewitnesses and no murder weapon was ever found.

An autopsy determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to Williams' head but a coroner's examiner testified earlier this year that the wound could have been self-inflicted, or suicide, or murder; there is no way to know for certain.

The defense argued both those factors as reasons to dismiss the charge against Morrow at Morrow's preliminary hearing in January.

The court did not agree and ruled there was sufficient evidence to try Morrow for the slaying of Williams.

The victim's death made headlines in several states across the country due in large part to Williams' career as a disc jockey in Denver.

"Steven B," as he was known on the air, was half of the popular "Steven B and the Hawk" morning show on KBPI in the 1980s.

Morrow was ordered on Thursday to return to the Long Beach Superior Court on Dec. 17 for a pre-trial hearing. He remains jailed and no trial date has been set.

Gary Dennis Hunt, a contract worker who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor arson charge after accidentally touching off a wildfire on Catalina Island in 2007, was told Thursday he does not have to register as an arsonist but still may face restitution fines beyond the $4 million he was ordered to pay in August.

Hunt, 51, appeared at the Long Beach Superior Court Thursday for what was supposed to be a final restitution hearing in his case. He was ordered in August to pay restitution to the Wilson family, which lost their home in the blaze, and the Santa Catalina Island Co. and the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, entities that monitor the island's economic and residential and ecological interests, respectively.

Two 16-year-old alleged gang members accused of gunning down a 16-year-old honor student at her high school's homecoming game will have to spend the holidays behind bars as they await their preliminary hearing.

Attorneys for the two teens, Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, just received some 350 pages of discovery from the prosecution and will require more time than originally alloted for the prelimineary hearing, said Long Beach Superior Court Judge Judith Meyer.

Meyer also noted that the court will be especially bogged down next month due to the holidays and the number of other judges who will be on vacation and said the extensive delay, while frustrating for many, is necessary to ensure the case is given proper attention.

Vinson and Davis are charged with opening fire on a crowd of hundreds of people at the Wilson HIgh School homecoming game against Poly High last month, striking and killing 16-year-old honor student Melody Ross and wounding two other people.

Both defendants have denied the special circumstance charge that includes one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and an allegation that the shooting was carried out to benefit their gang.

Both teens are being tried as adults and face the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted on all counts.

Witnesses told police Vinson fired into a crowd of roughly 400 to 500 people as they streamed out of the gates of the Wilson campus on Ximeno Avenue, between Seventh and Tenth streets.

Ross was struck in the side with a single gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Two Long Beach men -- one 18 and the other 20 -- were also shot but survived.

They are believed to be the gang rivals of Vinson and Davis and the intended targets that night, police said.

Ross, an innocent bystander, was caught in the crossfire.

Her senseless death has turned into a rally cry for many in the community to put an end to gang violence. Public memorials have drawn hundreds to thousands of people and a fund set up in her name has received donations from concerned citizens in Long Beach and beyond.

A Long Beach killer twice convicted for the slashing deaths of two local women and condemned to death last month was scheduled for formal sentencing today, but will now be sentenced on Tuesday.
Santiago Martinez Jr.  was sentenced to death by a jury on Oct. 29. It took the panel only 30 minutes to agree that Martinez, who faced life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, should die for his crimes.
Martinez, now 28, was first convicted in 2005 of killing one girlfriend, then convicted last year of killing a second girlfriend when she refused to help Martinez dispose of the first victim's remains.

The first murder victim, Christina Wilkerson, 28, of Long Beach, was stabbed 20 times in the face, neck and body, then shot point blank with a .22 rifle on March 18, 2003. Martinez was sentenced to more than 50 years to life in prison for her death.

He was convicted last November for the murder of Myra Orozco, 24, of Long Beach.

Orozco was stabbed and slashed close to 30 times in the face, neck and body before Martinez pushed the mortally wounded woman from the car they were sitting in, then ran over her on March 30, 2003.

The jury in that case convicted Martinez of first degree murder and the special circumstance of committing multiple murders, paving the way for the possibility of the death penalty.

That same jury, however, deadlocked 11-to-1 in favor of death, requiring a new jury to be empaneled for a second penalty phase that began Oct. 5

Martinez's formal sentencing, to be carried out by Judge Joan Comparet-Casani, was scheduled for today. But because the Los Angeles County Probation Department had not finished its report on Martinez, and its recommendation, formal sentencing was postponed until 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Dept. 10.

A 33-year-old Long Beach man accused of murder and drunk driving in the hit-and-run death of a 1-year-old girl refused to waive time for his preliminary hearing Thursday despite attorney's requests and will return to the Long Beach Superior Court on Dec. 3.
Dinkins is accused of being drunk when he hit a little red wagon that held one-year-old Kaylee Alvarez and her two-year-old brother Oscar. The children were being pulled by their parents, Alex and Yesenia Alvarez, across a cross walk at Redondo Avenue and 10th Street at about 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 11 when the crash occurred.
The parents and other passersby screamed for Dinkins to stop as he sped away with the wagon and the children jammed in the wheel well of a friend's SUV.

Witnesses said he did stop for a moment a short distance away from the point of impact and that is when Oscar fell out of the wagon and was snatched to safety by people standing nearby.

The two-year-old underwent surgery for second-degree burns caused by the dragging but is expected to make a full recovery.

Kaylee, however, was still buckled into the wagon and remained wedged inside of the wheel well of the SUV as Dinkins took off again and wound his way to a residence on Wilton Street just off Redondo, witnesses said

Long Beach police estimate the baby was dragged more than a mile.

Dinkins said nothing during his court appearance Thursday, but he nodded to supporters in the back of the courtroom before he was transferred back to a holding cell. He is being held in lieu of $1.3 million bail.

Also in attendance were Alex and Yesenia Alvarez, the parents of Kaylee and Oscar.

Long Beach Police are looking into whether road rage may have triggered a car-to-car shooting that resulted in a 30-year-old Cerritos man being shot in the face in North Long Beach Tuesday morning.
The shooting occurred at about 11:30 a.m. as both cars were traveling south on Atlantic Avenue, nearing Harding Street, said Nancy Pratt, an LBPD spokeswoman.
Earlier in the day, an update sent by the Chief's office said the cars were traveling in the opposite direction but that was not correct.
Witnesses said a passenger in one car opened fire on the other car, hitting the Cerritos man in the face.
The suspect's car was last seen fleeing west on Harding.
The victim was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and released the same day.

Long Beach Police are investigating the shooting death of a 24-year-old Los Angeles man who was gunned down in the courtyard of a North Long Beach apartment complex Tuesday night as gang-related, police said Wednesday.
Long Beach Police responding to a call of shots fired at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday arrived at the residence in the 2700 block of East 57th Street and found the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
The victim was identified as 24-year-old Comontray Lenoir of Los Angeles, Pratt said.
He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body and torso, she added.
Those responsible for the shooting and the motive for Lenoir's slaying are unknown; however, detectives are investigating the shooting as a gang-related incident, Pratt explained.
And the investigation remains ongoing, she said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives William Matsubara and Todd Johnson at 562-570-7244.

And here we always thought marijuana was supposed to help you mellow.
Turns out not to be the case in a robbery that saw a 41-year-old employee of a Long Beach Medical Marijuana clinic shot as two armed bandits stole the store's pungent merchandise Monday afternoon.
The robbery began at about 2:10 p.m. when the suspects entered the marijuana clinic in the 2600 block of Magnolia Avenue.
One of the suspects pointed a handgun at an employee and threatened to shoot him while the other suspect gathered all the marijuana on hand, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
During the robbery, a scuffle broke out between one of the armed suspects and a customer inside the dispensary, resulting in the employee being shot in the lower body.
The two armed men -- described only as male Hispanics and 25 to 30 years old -- then fled the business on foot.
The victim, a 41-year-old male, was transported to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, Pratt said.
The robbery comes on the heels of a string of armed robberies in the Lakewood and Long Beach area, but this incident does not appear to be related, Pratt said.
"It's a different suspect description," she added.
Anyone with information regarding Monday's crime is asked to call Robbery Detective Don Collier at 562-570-7464.

Police are investigating the shooting of a store clerk who was wounded during an armed robbery Monday afternoon, officials said Wednesday.
Officers were called out to the business in the 2600 block of Magnolia Avenue at about 2 p.m. and found the injured store clerk, who was treated at a local hospital and is expected to survive.
The shooting and robbery comes on the heels of a spike in armed robberies in the Long Beach and Lakewood area.
More information is expected to be released on the robbery and the investigation later today, police said.

A car-to-car shooting at Atlantic Avenue and Market Street left at least one person injured, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
The shooting, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, resulted in at least one person being hospitalized for a non-life-threatening injury, according to a daily update issued by the Chief of Police's office.
That person was a passenger in one of two cars traveling in opposite directions that passed one another near the North Long Beach intersection. As the cars passed, a suspect in one car pulled out a gun and opened fire on the other vehicle, police said.
More information is expected to be provided later Wednesday.

Long Beach Homicide detectives are investigating a shooting at a North Long Beach apartment complex that resulted in the death of one individual, preliminary reports showed Wednesday morning.
The shooting took place at about 4:30 p.m. in the 2700 block of 57th Street, according to the Chief of Police's office.
Officers responding to a call of possible shots fired found the victim with a gunshot wound to the torso, and the individual was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The police department plans to release more information on the slaying later this morning, said Officer Jackie Bezart, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.

"Justice For Murdered Children," a 501c3 nonprofit South Bay organization, is seeking donations for its annual Thanksgiving program that provides the families of murder victims with a free turkey dinner.
It costs just $30 to provide one family with a Thanksgiving basket and the need is great this year due to the number of families struggling with job loss and other budget issues.
The recent economic downturn has also affected the number of donations received so far this year, event organizers said.
JFMC is committed to providing a minimum of 50 Thanksgiving baskets for families living in Los Angeles County that have lost a loved one to murder, but would like to surpass their goal if possible. Any assistance toward reaching that goal -- be it a cash gift in any amount or the donation of turkeys, canned goods and other non-perishable food -- is appreciated.
Donations can be made two ways:
Through a Pay Pal account on JFMC's Web site, www.jfmc.org, or by mail to Justice For Murdered Children (JFMC), 24564 S. Hawthorne Blvd., #201, Torrance, CA, 90505.
For more information, call 310-738-4218 or email victimvoices@yahoo.com.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan Tuesday to strengthen security at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles funded by $1.4 million in federal stimulus dollars.
The funds will be awarded to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which will use the money to buy:
-- a custom-built bomb response truck;
-- a platform that attaches to a helicopter to quickly lift a 10-man team aboard a
ship;
-- and an upgrade to a sonar system that screens for explosives.
The federal stimulus grant was offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of a program to protect the nation's port infrastructure.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley issued a stern warning Tuesday, vowing to prosecute marijuana dispensary operators who violate state law.
The warning came via a two paragraph press release from Cooley's office. It was worded politely, but very bluntly, and directed at cities that have recently discussed the expansion or modifications to medical marijuana clinics and marijuana dispensaries.
"Any proposed ordinance allowing for the sale of marijuana is in direct conflict with California's
Compassionate Use Act and Medical Marijuana Program," the press release stated.
"The City Council has no authority to amend state law or Prop. 215. Such authority is solely possessed by California voters."
When voters passed Prop. 215, the DA's office noted, they voted to provide marijuana for those in medical need only.
While the press release was issued primarily as a result of action being discussed by the Los Angeles City Council, the office's interpretation of the law applies to all cities within the DA's jurisdiction, a DA staffer said Tuesday.
Cooley's office handles criminal prosecution for cities throughout L.A. county, including Long Beach and its surrounding communities of Artesia, Bellflower, Carson, Cerritos, Compton, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Norwalk, Paramount, San Pedro, Signal Hill and Wilmington.

A child safety kit designed to help law enforcement in the case of abduction and promoted by John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted, will be offered free of charge to local families this Saturday.
The DNA Lifeprint Child Safety Event will include a new biometric fingerprinting and DNA sample kit for parents to keep on file in the event their child goes missing.
Biometrics is the most advanced technology available today for obtaining fingerprints and allows parents to submit their child's fingerprints to the FBI Database as soon as they are reported missing.  When the child's fingerprints are entered into the FBI Database, the fingerprints become immediately available to all law enforcement agencies throughout the United States, according to the event's organizers.
Also included in the kit is a free high resolution color digital photo of your child and a Child Safety Journal, which provides law enforcement officials with all the vital information about your child that investigators require in a critical missing case.

 None of the information gathered at the event, which will be held at Dr. Stella Children's Dentistry in Long Beach, will be kept by the event organizers. Everything goes into a file that is given to the parent to keep at home.

The information is state-of-the-art and is recommended not only by Walsh but by the FBI and the US Department of Justice, according to the event organizers.

The program is being paid for by private donation and is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Dr. Stella's office, 2700 N. Bellflower Blvd., Suite 217, in Long Beach.
Those who attend are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to support the local food bank.
For information about the event, call Zulma Rodriguez at 562-628-8800.

The defense portion of the penalty phase for convicted killer Anthony Cain is scheduled to begin at the Norwalk Superior Court at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
Cain was convicted last month of slashing his elderly cousins to death in their Cerritos home.
The jury that convicted the now 34-year-old Carson man in the special circumstance case -- which included two counts of robbery and two counts of first degree murder -- must now decide whether Cain should be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole or death for the crimes.

Cain has remained in custody without bail since his arrest on March 25, 2004, for the slayings of Lamar and Ernestine Matthews.

The bloodied bodies of the couple, both 75, were found in February of 2004 in separate rooms of the two-story house where they had planned on spending their retirement years.

Cain, who was 28 at the time, became the primary suspect when investigators discovered he had cashed a $6,000 check from the Matthews' bank account the day before they were stabbed to death.

While his defense team is scheduled to begin its portion of the penalty phase Thursday morning, court officials said Wednesday, the case could go to the jury as early as Friday.

A Teamsters vice president named in a sexual harassment lawsuit resigned his membership at Covina-based Local 848 and was removed from two elected positions, a union spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
James A. Santangelo of Long Beach was sued by a former union secretary. Although he denied the allegations he and the union's Joint Council 42 agreed to settle the case in September -- reportedly for about $500,000.
A Teamsters spokesman in Washington, D.C., confirmed the resignation but said he had no more information on why Santangelo stepped down.
Santangelo could not be reached for comment.
He resigned from his local on Friday, which triggered his removal as vice
president of the union and head of Joint Council 42, the regional body, said Bret
Caldwell of the union's national office.
Santangelo made about $288,000 per year, according to Teamsters officials.
In the lawsuit Gloria Corral, a union secretary, alleged in March 2008 that
Santangelo offered her a $700-per-week raise if she would "go to a room with me."