Results tagged “san bernardino” from News 24/7

Two Los Angeles-area businessmen who are suspected of trying to bribe a county official with $15,000 for help with a Bloomington project are set for a Superior Court hearing Wednesday.

Prosecutors and lawyers for Arshak and Vartan Kouladjian announced in court proceedings Monday that they were ready for a preliminary hearing where evidence against the brothers will be presented in San Bernardino Superior Court.

The Kouladjians are suspected of attempting to bribe Bob Page, the chief of staff for Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales, with an envelope of cash at a Jan. 3, 2008 meeting where details of the project were to be discussed. Charges were filed against the pair a month later.

Defense lawyers have said there is a lack of evidence to support charges against the Kouladjians.

A teenager took a plea bargain Friday in the deadly shooting of Leonard James Scott on 18th Street nearly a year ago.

Timothy John Vargas Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter and a special allegation for personally using a firearm, during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Vargas, 17, faces a sentence of six years in state prison when he is sentenced May 18, according to Deputy District Attorney Jay Robinson.

After lawyers' negotiations once again failed to reach a resolution in the "on ice" case, the court set a date next month for a defense motion challenging the charges.

If the motion set for May 29 is denied, then lawyers will set a date for a jury trial for Carl Edward Alexander and Maurice Lynell Lockett, Deputy District Attorney Jay Hoffman told the court during proceedings today in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Defense lawyers have alleged one of the defendants was held by a San Bernardino police sergeant without legal cause during a July 2 traffic stop while a search warrant for a drug raid was obtained.

A San Diego man, who was suspected of molesting a teenager he met at Redlands Mall, is scheduled to be sentenced next month after he accepted a plea bargain in Superior Court.

Scott Douglas Oakley, 29, pleaded no contest to one count of oral copulation with a minor under 16 years old during court proceedings Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.

Oakley is scheduled to be sentenced May 8. He told authorities he had been seeking out transient men across the state for sex for 11 years.

Three men charged in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Devin Tervelle McDavis at a San Bernardino apartment complex in August were ordered held over for trial at a court hearing today.

After listening to witness testimony, a judge determined sufficient evidence existed to hold Donte Mack, his twin brother Dorian Mack and Chrystopher Young on murder charges during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to prosecutors.

The three men are scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charges Apr. 28.

Two members of a Los Angeles-area street gang were found guilty today in a home invasion robbery at a Highland apartment complex.

A jury found Singa Rudolph Jones and Corvell Taris Staples, both 19, guilty of one count each of home invasion robbery and special allegations that a firearm was used and that the crime benefitted a street gang, according to prosecutors.

The verdicts were announced today in San Bernardino Superior Court, confirmed Deputy District Attorney Dan Detienne. The men face a maximum of 29 years in state prison when they are sentenced May 28, Detienne said.

Three men charged in a deadly gang shooting, which may have been sparked by a rebuffed request for marijuana, are set for a court hearing Wednesday.

Donte Lazon Mack, his twin brother, Dorian Lavonn Mack and Chrystopher Lamarr Young are scheduled for a preliminary hearing stemming from last summer's slaying of 26-year-old Devin Tervelle McDavis.

Lawyers in the case announced that they were ready for the hearing today in San Bernardino Superior Court, prosecutors confirmed. At the hearing, a judge will listen to testimony and determine whether sufficient evidence exists to hold over the defendants for trial on the charges.

Prosecutors charged the 21-year-old brothers and Young, 22, with murder and street gang allegations in the Aug. 11 shooting at the Foothill Villas apartments on West Second Street in San Bernardino.

Two cold case homicides were recently charged to Patrick Shaun Macon with the help of witnesses who were willing to come forward after Macon was already sent to state prison in another case, say prosecutors.

Macon, 29, was charged last week with two counts of murder in the deadly shootings of 28-year-old Aaron Hines and 21-year-old Joshua Joell Stanton in 2003 and 2006, respectively. Both homicides occurred in San Bernardino.

But while police believed from the start that Macon was the suspect in both shootings, detectives didn't get the information they needed to charge him with the deaths until after he was convicted and sent to prison, explained Deputy District Attorney Lisa Rogan.

"Macon was always a suspect in these cases," Rogan said, in a telephone conversation this afternoon. "All the evidence we had, up to this point, pointed to him. But there was nobody willing to step forward."

A court hearing for the man charged in the DUI-related death of Los Angeles Angels' pitcher Nick Adenhart is scheduled for this afternoon.

Andrew Thomas Gallo, 22, is set to be arraigned on six felony counts, which includes three counts of murder, at 1:30 p.m. in Orange County Superior Court, according to the court.

Gallo, who is associated with addresses in Riverside and San Bernardino, has a previous drunk driving conviction in San Bernardino County. At the time of the crash, Gallo was on probation for a DUI incident in Colton.

A parolee convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend multiple times in the front yard of a San Bernardino home was sentenced Friday to 88 years to life in state prison, court officials said.

Orienthal D. Liggins, who was found guilty Dec. 23 of murdering 25-year-old Erika Munoz, was sentenced before Judge Brian McCarville in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Wearing just a T-shirt and plaid boxers, Munoz had bolted from her 10th Street home looking for help two days before Christmas in 2004.

The 25-year-old mother of two found a next-door neighbor outside about 4 a.m. and asked him to call police. Telephone lines to the woman's home had been cut.

San Bernardino police arrested 21 people suspected of vandalism and graffiti related offenses during a sweep Wednesday throughout the city.

Most of the suspects were juveniles involved in large-scale tagging and defacing of property throughout the greater San Bernardino area. This is the third graffiti-related sweep conducted in the city in the last three weeks, police said..

Seventeen of the arrests were on felony vandalism charges, while the remaining four were for similar misdemeanor offenses. The arrests were made by officers from the police department and county housing authority who conducted search warrant and compliance checks.

Lawyers are giving their closing arguments in Barstow this morning in the trial for a Riverside man accused of the execution-style killing of aspiring San Bernardino rapper Robert Raymond Mastrangelo.

Witness testimony has been underway in the trial for Dudzai Pswatai since March 10 in Barstow Superior Court. Closing arguments to the jury were set to begin this morning, and the case would then be presented to the jury for deliberation following final instructions from the judge, confirmed Deputy District Attorney Shannon Faherty.

Pswatai faces charges of murder, robbery, kidnapping and torture in the death of Mastrangelo, whose body was found by a jogger in June in a drainage ditch alongside the 15 Freeway near Barstow. The victim's hands and feet were bound, and he had been shot several times, according to police.

A man charged with last year's deadly shooting of 18-year-old Rey Flores will be held over for trial, a Superior Court judge has ruled.

After listening to witness testimony, a judge determined that sufficient evidence exists to hold over Matthew Austin Solari for trial in Flores' death at a hearing Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to prosecutors.

Solari, 21, faces one count of murder and special allegations for using a handgun in the connection with Flores' death, court records state. The victim was shot in front of his apartment in the 200 block of South Lenore Street, in San Bernardino, in October.

A man from San Bernardino's westside, who was convicted in September in the deadly shooting of Edward Griffin, has been charged with two new homicides in the city.

Prosecutors charged Patrick Shaun Macon, 29, with the deaths of 28-year-old Aaron Hines in May 2003 and Joshua Joell Stanton, 21, in August 2006, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

No information was available about when Macon would be appearing in court.

The pleasant spring weather could soon give way to clouds and possible rain.

By the end of the week, forecasters are predicting lower temperatures and chances of rain for the Inland Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

Today will be mostly sunny, with temperatures in the low 70s and calm winds. Tonight will be partly cloudy, with temperatures near 50 degrees.

After some fog in the morning, Thursday will be mostly sunny - a high temperature of 69 degrees in Ontario and 72 degrees in San Bernardino, according to the National Weather Service.

There is a 20 percent chance of rain Thursday night and temperatures could dip into the 40s.

Another chance of rain is possible Friday before 11 a.m. The rest of the day will be mostly sunny, with a high of 59 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

- lori.consalvo@inlandnewspapers.com

A jury was unable to reach a unanmimous verdict on murder charges for two men accused of fatally shooting 22-year-old Charles Marshall in San Bernardino in 2007.

Judge Bryan F. Foster declared the jury deadlocked Monday on one count of murder each for Todd Jose Tibbs and Brandon Parks Burns during trial proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.

However, jurors found Tibbs guilty of a second count of attempted murder, court records indicate.

A Yucaipa man surrendered to authorities Friday in connection with a automobile fraud investigation for a motorcycle that had been reported stolen.

Nick Alan Thompson, 43, of Yucaipa, surrendered to investigators with the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office, officials announced Tuesday in a statement.

In September 2008, sheriff's deputies found a 2007 Suzuki GSX600 motorcycle which had been reported stolen. The motorcycle was found in Thompson's garage. The location was not available.

A jury has found a Yucaipa woman guilty on one felony count, but deadlocked on another count, in connection with the death of her 6-month old baby in 2006.

Jurors reached the verdict against defendant Lisa Marie VanDyne at 4:38 p.m. Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court. VanDyne was found guilty of willful cruelty to a child causing possible injury or death, according to court records.

However, Judge Bryan F. Foster declared a mistrial on a separate felony count when jurors couldn't reach a concensus on that count: Assault on a child with force likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death.

VanDyne is scheduled to return to court Apr. 10 for a status hearing on the remaining count, court records indicate.

Jurors in the trial for Amber Rose Riley, who prosecutors say aided in the deadly stabbing of a friend in May 2003, are expected to receive the case today for deliberation.

Lawyers began their closing arguments this morning in San Bernardino Superior Court. Riley, 22, faces charges of murder and a special allegation for using a knife.

Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim told jurors that Riley had a fascination with death and wanted to see a dead body. Riley lured her friend Terry Taylor up to Perris Hill, where she assisted co-defendant Jason Lamar Harris in stabbing Taylor to death, Khim explained.