January 2010 Archives

A state appeals court panel on Thursday upheld a Long Beach man's conviction for the beating death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old son, who was battered from his groin to his head for wetting himself.
The three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected Genaro Salas Blanco Jr.'s claim that the trial court judge erred in refusing his request to instruct jurors on involuntary manslaughter.
Blanco was convicted of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death in the April 16, 2007, attack on Anthony Ramirez.
"No reasonable juror could have concluded that Blanco was guilty of the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter," Associate Justice Frances Rothschild wrote on behalf of the panel.
"The evidence demonstrated that the injuries to Anthony could only have been produced by a degree of force that any reasonable person would have understood was likely to produce great bodily harm or death to a 2-year-old."  The boy, who was about 3 feet tall and weighed 27 pounds, had about "50 fresh bruises from his head to his genitals," and had "fresh injuries to his lower torso that were consistent with hard punches to the abdomen," according to the appellate panel's ruling.
The toddler, who was beaten after wetting himself, died at St. Mary Medical Center shortly after being taken to the hospital from an apartment in the 1400 block of Magnolia Avenue.
Blanco, who performed CPR on the boy, maintained just before being sentenced last February that "I didn't do anything wrong."
"I was trying to save a life. Now I'm accused of taking a life," he told the judge. "I didn't commit no crime."
Blanco -- who had a February 2001 strike for residential burglary -- is serving a 50-year-to-life prison term. 

Los Angeles County Coroner's investigators have identifed the remains of a 56-year-old man found under a local freeway earlier this week but are withholding the man's name until his family can be notified, authorities said Wednesday night.
Long Beach Police Department Homicide investigators are also looking into the death of the man, who was found lat about 2 p.m. Monday, said Sgt. Dina Zapalski, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
Officers arrived to find what appeared to be a male black, age 50 to 55 years old, under the westbound Artesia (91) Freeway east of the northbound Long Beach (710) Freeway, Zapalski said.
Long Beach Fire Department crews pronounced the man dead at the scene, the sergeant said.
Coroner's investigators are still working to determine the cause of death, officials said Wednesday.
Anyone with information about the case is ask to call LBPD Homicide Detectives David Rios or Hugo Cortes at 562-570-7244.

Homicide investigators are looking into another case of a dead body, this time under a local freeway, authorities said Wednesday.
Police were alerted to the body on Monday at about 2 p.m., said Sgt. Dina Zapalski, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
Officers arrived to find what appeared to be the body of a male black, age 50 to 55 years old, under the westbound Artesia (91) Freeway east of the northbound Long Beach (710) Freeway, Zapalski said.
Long Beach Fire Department crews pronounced the man dead at the scene, the sergeant said.
The cause of death and identity of the subject is being determined by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Department, she said.
Anyone with information about the man is ask to call Homicide Detectives David Rios or Hugo Cortes at 562-570-7244.

Sentencing was postponed for the third time Thursday in the case of a former Compton basketball coach convicted of child molestation.

Russell Otis was convicted last November of one count of misdemeanor child molestation for soliciting sex via hundreds of text messages from a 16-year-old boy who played on the Dominguez High School basketball team Otis coached.

The jury deadlocked 10-to-2 in favor of guilt on a felony count of child molestation and the jury acquitted Otis on all counts related to allegations that he deposited a $15,000 check from Nike made out to Compton Unified School District into his personal bank account.

Because of the misdemeanor sex crime conviction, the nationally renowned coach - who led Dominguez to 10 Southern Section championships and six state titles from 1987 to 2008 - must register as a sex offender for life, effectively ending his career.

Otis also faces the possibility of one year in county jail, court fees and fines, and he may have to submit a DNA sample when he returns for sentencing at the Compton Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 28.

Last year's case was not the first time Otis was charged with child molestation. A former player brought similar accusations in the late 1990s, but Otis was acquitted on all counts in that case and jurors who heard the former victim testify in the current case on background said they also found him unreliable.

Otis' attorney, Leonard Levine, has said he was pleased when prosecutors announced earlier this year that they will not re-try Otis on the felony child molestation charge that resulted in the deadlock.

Levine has also vowed they will appeal Otis' conviction once his sentence is handed down.

Otis, whose job at the Compton School District was terminated last year, remains free on bail.

The co-defendant of a former star football player for Lakewood High School will defend himself in the pair's attempted murder case for a drive-by attack in Compton last August.
Lawrence Blake, 31, and his alleged accomplice, former Lancer star running back Jerry Stone, 18, are each charged with two counts of attempted murder - one count for each alleged victim - and two counts of use of an assault rifle, along with the allegation that the Aug. 21 shooting was carried out to benefit their gang.
Although Stone was 17 at the time of the shooting he is being tried as an adult.
While Blake has chosen to represent himself Stone is still being represented by a defense attorney and their cases remained joined, court staff said Thursday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies assigned to the Sheriff's anti-gang unit testified at Blake's and Stone's preliminary hearing in December about the drive-by attack, which targeted two men but resulted in no injuries.
Authorities said the alleged gang link was confirmed after two fellow gang members of the defendants and two confidential informants identified both Stone and Blake as members of the same gang.
Roughly eight or nine members of the defendants' gang also came to court for the first day of the preliminary hearing and when questioned by deputies admitted their membership to the gang and said they were there to "represent Stone and Blake," authorities said.
That gang, deputies said, was involved in a war with one of their rival gangs for most of the summer after the fight at a party over a $25 entry fee. From that fight, Arias said, stemmed four to six shootings, including the August 21 drive-by, which was carried out with an AK-47, according to police and prosecutors.
Defense attorneys representing Blake and Stone questioned investigators at length about the gang allegations and one of the gang experts testified that there were no gang tattoos on Blake or Stone and that neither is listed in any law enforcement database as gang members, nor are there any local contacts from police in the defendants' criminal files to indicate they were members of the gang.
The expert, however, also noted Stone's family ties to the gang - both his father and his uncle were killed in a drive-by in Compton that has been linked to the infamous gang war sparked by the deaths of rival rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. And, under cross examination from the defense, the detective said Stone has a prior conviction from juvenile court for possession of an assault rifle, a crime the detective said he believed was tied to the gang.
Stone and Blake appeared briefly at the Compton Superior Court for a pre-trial conference Thursday morning. Blake is scheduled to return to the court on Feb. 1 and both he and Stone are scheduled for another pre-trial hearing on Feb. 25.
If the pair are convicted on all counts both face the possibility of life in prison.
Both also remain in custody in lieu of $3 million bail for Stone and $2.9 million for Blake.
 

City News Service is reporting that a Long Beach oil transport company agreed to pay $1.3 million and discontinue using a section of pipeline near Pyramid Lake to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. environmental regulators, it was announced today.
The agreement resolves a complaint filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in U.S. District Court against Pacific Pipeline Systems for the discharge of crude oil into the lake, located 60 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
In March 2005, a landslide caused a portion of the company's pipeline that runs from Bakersfield to Los Angeles to burst, according to the EPA.
The resulting break discharged about 3,393 barrels of oil, much of which flowed into Pyramid lake, which is part of the California Aqueduct and is a potential drinking water supply.
Water delivered to the public was not affected by the accident, the EPA noted.
As part of the settlement, PPS will discontinue use of about 70 miles of the pipeline that travels through the Tehachapi Mountains, portions of which are geologically unsound, EPA officials said.

Another day, another body discovered in downtown Long Beach early Wednesday.
Marine Patrol officers working in the 200 block of Aquarium Way found the dead man, described as white and believed to be in his early 50's, lying on the grass next to the Queensway Bay, said Lisa Massacani, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
Officers said there did not appear to be any foul play involved in the unidentified man's death and turned the body over to Los Angeles County Coroner's investigators, Massacani said.
"It will be up to the coroner to identify the body and determine the cause of death," she said.
In the meantime, police are still awaiting the identification of another dead man found floating in the Queensway Bay in the 600 block of Queensway Drive on Tuesday, Massacani said Wednesday.
Patrol officers were called to the area, near the south boat launch, at about 8 a.m. and found the unidentified male floating in the water, said Officer Jackie Bezart, another department spokeswoman.
Coroner's investigators also took that individual into custody and were working to identify the body -- which showed no obvious signs of trauma -- and determine the cause of death, Bezart said.

Community leaders and concerned citizens in the Downtown Long Beach area will gather Thursday night to talk with Long Beach Police Department South Division Cmdr. Jay Johnson.
The meeting, which will include the South Division Community Leadership and Downtown Neighborhood Watch meetings, is part of a quarterly series Johnson holds and will include updates on crime trends for both residents and businesses and what is being done within the police department to address those issues.
The meeting is scheduled to be held from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, at The Cellar, 201 E. Broadway, in Long Beach.
All residents and business representatives in the South Division are invited. Those who plan are asked to RSVP to Police Specialist Mary Antunez via e-mail at Mary.Antunez@longbeach.ca or by calling 562-570-5829.
 

Gusting winds and steady rain caused a number of problems in Orange County Monday, including power outages that hit local cities such as Huntington Beach and Westminster and a traffic accident in Seal Beach, authorities said Monday.
More than 5,200 customers were hit with power outages countywide, according to Southern California Edison.
Huntington Beach and Westminster were among the cities affected. The high number of outages and continuing rainy forecast for the rest of the week prompted SCE officials to remind customers about safety tips such as avoiding downed power lines.
"If you know someone who has medical equipment that requires electricity, make sure they have back-up power available," said SCE Spokesman Paul Klein.
Battery-operated radios and flashlights are a must, and candles are to be avoided because of the fire hazard they pose, he said.
"If you use a generator, put it outdoors and plug in only individual appliances, and use a heavy-duty extension cord," Klein added. "Connecting generators to your house's electrical circuit can cause back-feed, which is dangerous to repair crews."
Motorists should also treat intersections with malfunctioned traffic lights like a stop sign, Klein said.
Also with the rain came a rise in traffic accidents, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP officials estimated the number of collisions on Monday were double what they are on a dry day, but noted that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday helped keep the number lower than it might have otherwise been.
One of the more serious crashed occurred on the San Diego (405) Freeway in Seal Beach where a motorist had to be cut from their vehicle. There were no fatalities or life-threatening injuries, however.

City News Service is reporting U.S. Coast Guard crews rescued several crews of boats caught in the storm that swept over the Los Angeles Basin Monday afternoon.
No serious injuries were reported, but mariners were warned that gale- force winds and swells up to about 25 feet are possible over the next few days, said Coast Guard officials based in San Pedro.
A Coast Guard helicopter was keeping watch over a 56-foot sailboat beset by strong winds and waves off Santa Cruz Island as the crew tried to make its way to a safe port, authorities said Monday.
Another Coast Guard crew was towing to port a commercial fishing boat that lost power
about 12 miles west of Point Fermin, and a commercial towing company was helping a
disabled 30-foot sailboat make its way back to Ventura Harbor.
Finally, a Coast Guard environmental team was also monitoring a 42-foot pleasure boat that sank at Berth 85 in Los Angeles Harbor because of the possibility of oil and fuel leaks.

Disaster rescue drills were carried out Monday at several Greater Long Beach locations with the base camp set at the Long Beach Fire Training Center.

The timing of the drill was chosen in part because of the recent deployments of at least two California Urban Search and Rescue task forces to Haiti and a series of storms that are expected to batter the local region this week, said Long Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank Hayes.

With the two teams called to Haiti, the local task force teams may have to provide mutual aid assistance to not only their own zones but to other areas of Southern California normally served by the teams sent to Haiti, Hayes explained.

The drill, which began early Monday, included two Urban Search and Rescue Regional Task Forces comprised of 29 team members.

Task Force 2 was made up of firefighters and rescue crew members from Vernon, Downey, Montebello, Santa Fe Springs and Compton while Task Force 3 is comprised of Long Beach Fire Department staff. In addition to the two teams, air support was provided by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

The drill included locations such as the Port of Long Beach, the Downey Studios, and the Long Beach Fire Training Center and simulated swift water rescue during stormy conditions.
The two task force teams had a goal of a 45 minute assembly and response time in light of their purpose in bridging the gap between local first responders and the 12-hour minimum response time of the larger Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) task forces.
During the drill the teams has to carry out reconnaissance missions and search a number of affected areas, both on the ground and in the air. Once victims were located, they were evaluted, extricated (if necessary), and treated for their injuries.Teams also had to triage rescue efforts to determine which situations were most critical and would therefore be the first priority.
The search teams included specialists in the areas of technical, search, rescue, structural, K9 and medical fields.  

More than 60 people participated in the day of drills and the event concluded with a critique and will be followed by a formal debriefing for the teams.

Fore more information the drills and photos check out the Long Beach Fire Department's News Website at http://firechannel.org/blog/?p=1981

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than a quarter of a million counterfeit DVDs worth more than $7 million at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, federal authorities said Monday.
The operation was carried out on Jan. 7, when Customs and Border officials working at the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complex seized a shipment from South Korea.
The shipment included movies and music DVDs designed for import into Los Angeles County with counterfeit "DVD," "Dolby" and "DTS" trademarks, CPB officials said.
Last year, federal authorities seized more than $260 million worth of counterfeit items nationwide with media items among the top ten commodities seized and accounting for four percent of the entire value of goods seized by federal agents.

A Whittier gang member arrested in Mexico in the nearly decade-old shooting of a local Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was brought back to Southern California Wednesday to face trial.
Emigdio Preciado Jr., who was escorted to Los Angeles County custody by FBI agents, was arrested July 17 in a rural town in Nayarit, Mexico, said Brian Doyle of the Sheriff's Norwalk Station.
Preciado allegedly fired at two deputies, wounding one of them, on Sept. 5, 2000 in South Whittier.
Preciado, who was featured on "America's Most Wanted" several times, is scheduled to appear in Whittier Superior Court on Thursday. A tipster who helped lead authorities to Preciado is expected to collect a $150,000 reward, authorities said.
A few days after Preciado's arrest, the deputy he allegedly shot, Michael Schaap, said he looked forward to Preciado facing justice.
"My day of reckoning's going to be the day that he's found guilty in a court of law, and he's sentenced to life in prison behind bars," Schaap said.
Schaap was lucky to escape the shooting with his life after a bullet went into the bridge of Schaap's nose and exited above his right eye.
Schaap's partner, David Timberlake, was not wounded and Schapp was able to return to work the following year.
Three other suspects in the shooting were arrested around the time of the crime, but Preciado -- the alleged triggerman -- remained at large for nearly a decade.
The shooting occurred after Schaap and Timberlake stopped a suspicious van in South Whitteir.
"When the van came to an abrupt stop, the deputies came under immediate attack from a
burst of automatic gunfire," according to Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman.
"The gunman, one of four occupants traveling in the vehicle, appeared from an open door in the van, according to sheriff's detectives," Eimiller said. "Preciado, an American citizen, was identified as the alleged shooter."
Authorities began tracking Preciado in Mexico the same year of the shooting after a video of Preciado surfaced in December of 2000 showing the suspect dancing in Tepuzhuacan,
Nayarit.

A Lakewood man was convicted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter for killing a Cypress bar patron by hitting the victim on the head with a pool cue.
Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes before convicting Richard Lee Thompson, who could face up to four years in prison for the March 17, 2008, attack on 44-year-old Steven Toole at the Breakers Bar, 4360 Lincoln Ave., in Cypress.
Sentencing for the 48-year-old defendant is set for Feb. 19 at the Santa Ana Superior Court.
The brief fight that resulted in Toole's death involved a beer mistakenly delivered to him. The beverage was meant for Thompson's friend, who Thompson had just beaten at a game of pool, which was rare, witnesses testified.
Thompson's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Mark Brown, argued his client was not guilty because he was defending himself during the St. Patrick's Day brawl.
Bartender Cindy Hoth testified that Toole refused the beer she mistakenly delivered to him, angering Thompson, who kept confronting him about it until Toole shoved Thompson.
Prosecutor Jason Baez said Thompson "overreacted" to the shove, grabbed the pool stick, got up and stomped over to Toole and slammed the thick end of the pool stick into the back of his head.
"You can't hit someone in the head with a deadly weapon just because they shoved you," Baez told the jury in his opening statement.
Brown told jurors that Toole egged on Thompson after the shove, but Hoth disputed that in her testimony.
Brown also argued that Toole had called a friend right before the brawl, asking him to come down to the bar to "corral" Thompson.

A woman and her two children, one two years old and the other 17 years old, were able to escape their apartment after it erupted in flames that broke out windows and billowed above the roof, setting fire to the eaves.
Long Beach Firefighters launched an aggressive attack on the fire, which broke out in an apartment building in the 5900 block of Cherry Avenue at about 11 a.m., said Fire Capt. Jackawa Jackson.
Firefighters pushed into the burning apartment to search for trapped victims while other crews used axes and chainsaws to vent the roof and keep the fire from spreading.
The mother and her two children were home when the fire began and recalled a brief power outage in the unit before dense smoke began to poor from the bedroom and the teenage daughter yelled there was a fire.
All three made it safely outside and the American Red Cross was brought in provide clothing and shelter due to widespread smoke damage, Jackson said.
Firefighters were knocked the blaze down within 10 minutes, he said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, he added.
For more information and photos check out the Long Beach Fire Department's news Web site at http://firechannel.org/blog/

CNS reporter Paul Anderson is reporting that a 48-year-old Lakewood man accused of killing a man in a dispute over a beer at a Cypress bar is being tried on a charge of involuntary manslaughter at the Santa Ana Superior Court.
While the prosecutor dubbed the case one of manslaughter Thursday, defendant Richard Lee Thompson's attorney said it was a case of self-defense.
Thompson is charged in the death of 44-year-old Steven Toole, who was struck in the head with a pool cue on St. Patrick's Day in 2008.
"The only issue in this case for you to decide is can you take a baseball-bat swing
at someone with a pool stick and kill them just because they pushed you," Deputy
District Attorney Jason Baez told jurors in his opening statement Thursday.
But Deputy Public Defender Mark Brown said Thompson acted in self- defense that day
at Breaker's Bar in Cypress.
"This case is about three things -- ambush, a split-second decision and a tragic
result," Brown said.
The two men were drinking and playing pool at Breakers on March 17, 2008, when they got into a dispute about 3:50 p.m. over a beer Thompson ordered for a friend he beat in pool, but which was mistakenly sent to Toole.
Bartender Cindy Hoth testified that Toole refused the beer, angering Thompson, who "got in his face" asking why he wouldn't accept the beer.
Thompson had gotten off work early that day and was feeling so good about the rare defeat of his pool partner that he ordered beers for several people, including his vanquished opponent, Brown said.
Hoth, though, mistakenly gave the beer to Toole, and he shoved it back at her, Brown
said.
Thompson was "befuddled" by Toole's response and tried to smooth things over, insisting Toole accept the beer and even trying to shake his hand as he introduced himself, Brown said.
But Toole said, "I know who the (expletive) you are," and shoved him hard enough that
Thompson stumbled and fell down, Brown said.
What happened next is in dispute.
Baez said Thompson "overreacted," grabbed a pool stick, got up and stomped over to Toole and slammed the thick end of the pool stick into the back of his head in a "full-on baseball swing."
The blow, though it did not break the skin or cut Toole, was enough to bruise his brain, causing swelling and bleeding that killed him, Brown said.
Thompson jumped on top of Toole, who was motionless, and was apparently about to punch him when other bar patrons pulled him off, Hoth and Baez said.
Thompson quickly left the bar with his girlfriend, and Cypress police saw him later excitedly telling her about the brawl while making a mock baseball swing, the prosecutor said.
"You can't hit someone in the head with a deadly weapon just because they shoved you," Baez told the jury.
Toole, who never regained consciousness, was pronounced dead the following day at a
hospital.
Brown said Toole ambushed Thompson because even though the two men had never met
before, Toole supposedly harbored some sort of grudge against Thompson.
Toole called a friend right before the fight and left him a message saying, "Hey, Bob, this is Steve. I'm at the bar and (expletive) is here," apparently referring to Thompson, Brown said.
"Come down and meet me for a drink and we can corral him," the message continued, Brown said.
The call was to Bobby White, who is the brother of Thompson's girlfriend, Ann Marie White, Brown said.
"This tragic result was caused by the actions of Mr. Toole, and Mr. Thompson's split-second decision to protect himself," Brown said

Long Beach Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue Team were called out to cut a seriously injured 54-year-old woman from the wreckage of her SUV after her vehicle slammed through a fence and was left teetering precariously on an embankment under the San Diego (405) Freeway Thursday morning.
Rescue crews were called out to the area of Redondo Avenue and the 405 around 10 a.m. after a two car crash sent the woman's SUV careening under the freeway, said Long Beach Fire Capt. Jackawa Jackson.
Witnesses said the crash occurred when the 63-year-old driver of a four-door, Ford Tauras pulled out of the parking lot of a self-storage center and his car collided with the woman's SUV, which was traveling on Redondo.

The force of the impact sent the SUV through the chain link fence, where it came to rest halfway between street and the top of the embankment.

The USAR team used specialized shores to stabilize the vehicle, which was in danger or rolling back down the hill and crushing rescue workers and further injuring the driver, Jackson said.

Once the SUV was stabilized, it took fire crews 5 to 10 minutes to remove the woman from the SUV. She was rushed to a local trauma center in severe distress, Jackson said.

The driver of the Ford Taurus was not injured, Jackson said.

A total of 21 firefighters responded to the crash. There were no other injuries reported and no damage noted to the overpass, he said.

Redondo was closed to all traffic during the incident and the crash is under investigation, authorities said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Long Beach Police Department's Accident Investigations Detail at 562-570-7355.

To see photos of the rescue, check out the Long Beach Fire Department's News Website at http://firechannel.org/blog/

A homeless man's unattended bag shut down traffic around the Long Beach Superior Court House, delaying cases and making a mess of traffic on Magnolia Avenue and Ocean Boulevard Thursday morning.
For some insight check out my colleague Jeff Gritchen's blog at http://www.insidesocal.com/gritchen/2010/01/audio-slideshow-homeless-mans.html

One of three suspects charged Tuesday in connection with a New Year's Eve home invasion robbery in Tustin in which a woman was pistol-whipped was tracked to Long Beach, authorities said.
The intruders -- which included a parolee who had been deported -- entered the home in the 15500 block of Williams Street about 9 p.m. Dec. 31, Tustin Police Department Sgt. Jeff Blair said.
As the men attacked the woman, who was later treated at a hospital, another woman who went unnoticed by the suspects managed to call 911, Blair said.
The robbers, who took $200, ran out of the house and into a getaway car just as officers arrived, Blair said.
A high-speed chase ensued, but police aborted the pursuit for safety reasons when the suspects' vehicle veered into oncoming traffic, he said.
The officers found the car abandoned in the 500 block of North Lyon Street in Santa Ana, noticed the license plate was altered with electrical tape and traced the car to Jose Zendejas, 31, of Santa Ana, Blair said.
Police ended up arresting Zendejas on Saturday at his girlfriend's home in Long Beach, Blair said.
Ernesto Garcia, 31, was arrested Saturday as he left a warehouse in a Santa Ana
industrial park where he was living. Alberto Penaloza, 32, was arrested Sunday at a Santa Ana home that police had under surveillance. Penaloza left the residence, he saw the officers and ran, but was arrested a short distance away, Blair said.
At the Santa Ana home police recovered a loaded 9mm handgun that investigators suspect was used to pistol-whip the woman in the home invasion, Blair said. The weapon was reported stolen in a 2004 Santa Ana burglary, he said.
Penaloza had been deported after being paroled for a prior crime and is back in the United States illegally, Blair said.
Penaloza's 23-year-old roommate Mayra Dosal, was also arrested on suspicion of drug charges, but has not been linked to the robbery, Blair said.
Zendejas is charged with first-degree robbery, evading police and reckless driving, and faces a sentence-enhancing allegation of being armed with a firearm while committing a felony, according to court records.
Garcia is charged with first-degree robbery and assault with a firearm, and faces the
same sentencing enhancement as Zendejas.
Penaloza is charged with robbery, assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm by
a felon, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell and possession
of a controlled substance while armed with a firearm.
Penaloza also faces a gun-use sentencing enhancement and an active warrant for his arrest
on drug charges, Blair added.

Trial was delayed Monday for two Long Beach teens charged as adults in the murder of a 16-year-old Long Beach youth and the attempted murder of five others during a gang-related shooting spree.
The defendants, Eric Benites and Jason Trejo, were 15 and 14 years old, respectively, at the time of the shooting but are being tried as adults and could face a lifetime behind bars if convicted on all counts.
The pair are charged in the 2008 slaying of 16-year-old Florentino Rivera, as well as the attempted murder of five others. The killing occurred when Benites and Trejo allegedly opened fire on a group of people near 15th Street and Cedar Avenue on Jan. 6, 2008, according to police and prosecutors.
Sources close to the defendants and the victims said the shooting stemmed from Benites' thirst for revenge in the killing of his 13-year-old brother, Jose Cano, who was stabbed to death in June 2007 by gang rivals at 14th Street Park.
Cano was killed after he allegedly attacked a 14-year-old gang rival's home and the 14-year-old's mother, Eva Daley, on June 25, 2007. Cano also stabbed the 14-year-old in a fight about six months prior to Cano's murder.
A total of six minors were tried for Cano's killing, the stabber was tried as an adult, and all were convicted, as well as Daley.
Friends of suspects in both killings said Benites was so incensed by the lack of action taken by his brother's gang and so distraught over his brother's death that he turned on his brother's gang.
Rivera's family has steadfastly denied he was in a gang, but friends of the victim and suspects said Rivera hung out with gang members and may have been shot accidentally or lumped into the group by association.
Deputy District Attorney Hector Gutierrez said at a preliminary hearing held last year that he could not speak to motive in the crimes, but the Gutierrez did say the investigation found Benites and Trejo are both members of the West Side Longos and that the two teens targeted members of their gang's longstanding and bitter rivals, the East Side Longos. Initially, the District Attorney's Office had charged Trejo with being the triggerman in Rivera's death. However, further investigation revealed evidence showing Benites had the murder weapon prior to Rivera's killing, not Trejo, and Benites is now charged as the triggerman in the Cabrillo High School student's death.
During their preliminary hearing, which was broken up over three days spanning the past couple of months, close to a dozen witnesses - including victims - were called to testify.
The trial was tentatively scheduled to begin Monday, Jan. 4, but was pushed back to Feb. 4 in Dept. C of the Long Beach Superior Court.
 

Sentencing was postponed Monday for a 54-year-old Redondo Beach woman convicted of beating her elderly and disabled mother to death in Long Beach in 2003 and then setting fire to the corpse and house to cover up the crime.
Valeria Garnett was convicted last month of second-degree murder and arson for the slaying of her mother -- Margaret Garnett -- whose scorched remains were found in her fire-ravaged North Long Beach apartment nearly seven years ago.
Margaret Garnett, 69, died Jan. 17, 2003. Her body was discovered after firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze at her apartment in the 2900 block of East 70th Street. The victim's daughter told authorities the blaze was accidentally sparked by an errant cigarette. It was a claim she maintained at the time of her arrest nearly five years later in 2007. But after an extensive investigation, which included a recreation of the fire with a scale model of Margaret Garnett's home and an autopsy report that determined she was dead well before the flames ignited, police and prosecutors were able to prove Garnett killed her mother to avoid the burden of caring for the physically and mentally disabled woman, then torched her body and parts of the home in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Authorities began to suspect Valeria Garnett almost immediately due to her strange behavior and clues found at the scene, arson investigators said. "She had a very bland reaction to her mother's death," recalled now-retired Arson Investigator Richard Birdsall. "She never once asked about her mom's condition ... when we advised her (of the death) it was almost a shrug-of-the-shoulders kind of thing." It took about eight months for experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to come to their final determination, Birdsall said. Los Angeles County Coroner's investigators ruled the victim was dead before the fire began and that the cause of death appeared to be blunt-force trauma. Arson investigators also learned from other family members that Margaret Garnett had spent almost 20 years in a state facility due to mental health problems. About five years before her death, the victim was released from the state-run hospital and her daughter told the rest of the family that she would live with and care for her mom rather than have the family pay for a private convalescent home. Once Valeria Garnett moved in, she steadily began to isolate the victim from the rest of the family and friends, relatives told investigators. Family members told police and fire authorities they feared the suspect was subsidizing her own Social Security and state disability checks with her mother's funds, Birdsall said. The fire was deemed suspicious from the start, prompting Long Beach police and fire investigators to travel to a fire science lab in Baltimore to conduct a battery of tests, a first for local authorities. Several rooms of the victim's apartment were reconstructed, including specific details such as furniture and materials contained within the home, in the confines of the ATF's Fire Research Laboratory. Multiple tests were run, including the version of events related to authorities by the suspect, who was at home at the time of the fire. "We tried to start the fire in the manner which she claimed and there's no way it could happen," Birdsall said at the time of Garnett's arrest. "We have proven it could not have occurred ... and we'll prove it in court."
Police and prosecutors did just that, with a jury returning a guilty verdict on Dec. 1 for one count of second-degree murder and one count of arson, said Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jackawa Jackson. The trial lasted roughly one month.
Garnett was scheduled to return to the Downtown Los Angeles court Jan. 4 for sentencing, but her sentencing was delayed until Feb. 1.
She faces a minimum of 15 years to life in prison, Jackson said.